Background: Progress monitoring is a vital strategy for evaluating skill development of young children receiving disability related services. Few effective progress monitoring tools exist for infants and toddlers, and research is needed to examine feasibility as they become available. Objective: The current study examined the implementation of an…

A large body of research has established that high-quality early care and education (ECE) has benefits for young children's cognitive and social-emotional development that can lead to improved outcomes later in life, especially for children who are economically disadvantaged. Research also shows that disadvantaged children have unequal access to…

Kansas Early Head Start (KEHS) provides comprehensive services following federal Head Start Program Performance Standards for pregnant women and eligible families with children from birth to age 4. KEHS was implemented in 1998 using Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) quality set-aside dollars augmented by a transfer of federal…

The effectiveness of three types of in-service training designed to improve early intervention practitioners' abilities to use family-systems intervention practices was evaluated in the study of 473 participants. Participants attended either conference presentations or one of two types of workshops (half day/full day or multi-day), or received one…

What constitutes quality in early childhood settings, and how can it best be measured with today's widely used tools and promising new approaches? Find authoritative answers in this book, a must-have for high-level administrators and policymakers as more and more states adopt early childhood Quality Rating and Improvement Systems. The most…

The two bibliographies contains citations to materials available in the library of the Birth to Three Clearinghouse (Illinois) concerning issues on personnel preparation and program evaluation. The 36 citations on personnel preparation and the 46 citations on program evaluation are arranged alphabetically by author and cover the years 1978 to…

This article describes The Hilton/Early Head Start Training Program, a public-private partnership between the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation and the Head Start Bureau, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families. The purpose of the training program was to develop skills and strategies for including infants…

Draws on child-care-quality research to inform our understanding of quality in early-intervention services for infants and toddlers with disabilities and their families. Presents conceptual issues in defining quality and methodological challenges for assessing quality of early-intervention services. Discusses efforts to design a measure of quality…

Suggests eight questions that can serve as a framework for determining the extent to which early intervention has accomplished the goals inherent in a family-centered approach. Conceptual issues and methodological considerations associated with documenting these outcomes are presented and recommendations regarding implementation and future…

This article presents a focused and detailed method for providing meaningful supervision to program administrators of early intervention programs. The Monthly Report and Quality Program Indicators provide anecdotal and statistical information about employee concerns, facility management, curriculum implementation, inservice development, community…

Principles of program evaluation and strategic planning are discussed and applied to a case example of the Anne Arundel County (Maryland) Infants and Toddlers Program. This program contended with issues of increased referrals and enrollment, evolution from a child-centered to a family-centered paradigm, and change to community-based provision and…

This paper outlines a set of "best practice" criteria for designing and evaluating early intervention programs for special needs infants and toddlers, from an international perspective. The paper recommends that early intervention programs be based on six principal values: community coherence, cultural sensitivity, right to services, family…

Offering a discussion for administrators and practitioners serving disabled and at-risk infants, toddlers, and their families, these three addresses explore issues, strategies, and models of program evaluation. "Major Issues in Program Evaluation," by Kathryn Barnard, discusses the purpose of, process of, and ways of doing program…

This annual report details the July 1, 1997-September 30, 1998 activities of First Steps, a system of early intervention services for Missouri children with disabilities, developmental delays, or special health care needs from birth to age three and their families. First Steps is a cooperative, collaborative, interagency effort of the state…

A study of 44 infants and toddlers with disabilities enrolled in 3 diverse early intervention programs in 3 states examined the cost of early intervention services and the core ingredients of hourly service cost. During the 12-month study, all service events were recorded for 1 week per month. Overall, findings revealed an extremely wide range in…