The field of early childhood holds promising keys to unlocking many of the mysteries in learning. Educators in the field, given the right tools, have the potential to have a profound impact on the long-term success of their students. The design of this curriculum comes directly out of the incredible possibilities set in motion while exploring…

Across the country, states are developing more unified and comprehensive education systems for young children. The authors of this article outline seven features that help connect various early education programs across a state. First, supportive governance ensures that all parts of an early care and education system complement, rather than…

The Michigan School Readiness Program (MSRP) is a state-funded prekindergarten program in Saginaw for at-risk 4-year-old children. The overall goal of the program is to provide these 4-year-olds with an environment that will enable them to develop school readiness skills in seven program component areas: cognitive, psychomotor, affective, parent…

The Michigan School Readiness Program (MSRP) is a state-funded prekindergarten program in Saginaw for 4-year-old children from the inner city. Its goal is to provide an environment that develops school readiness skills in seven areas: cognitive, psychomotor, affective, parent participation/education, curriculum, staff development, and community…

This document provides meeting highlights and a background briefing report from a policy seminar about family resource and support programs and parent education programs. At the meeting, one of a series of family impact seminars, Theodora Ooms, the moderator pointed out that a new federal program had been authorized in the previous year to…

In 1940, 8.6 percent of women with children 18 and under were in the labor force. By 1987, that figure was 65 percent. In 1976, 40 percent of the mothers of preschoolers were employed, compared to 58 percent in 1987. In 1988, 53 percent of women with children under 3 years held jobs. Sixty percent of the men in the labor force are married to women…

Speakers at the Lipman Research Institute's inaugural symposium examined research and issues related to appropriate programs for 4-year-olds. David Weikart described the Perry Preschool Project, an ongoing study begun in 1962 of 123 black youths at risk of failing, and the High/Scope Preschool Curriculum Study. Jane Stallings covered short-term…

The "No Child Left Behind Act" of 2001 crystallized the concern for accountability in education. National testing was mandated as a way to improve the "broken" educational system. Publicly funded early education programs were not spared from such testing. While the positive effects of high-quality early education on children's…

This article summarizes the scant existing research on the effects of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) on mothers and their babies during the peripartum period and describes a pilot research project within the Infant-Family Service (IFS) at the New York-Presbyterian Hospital, an outpatient mental health service for inner-city families with…

This pilot study, involving a mother and her 3-year-old child with developmental delays, developed, implemented, and evaluated a model of early intervention that incorporates family-centered assessment and intervention practices. The CARE (Caregiver Assistance, Resources, and Education) project model was both school-based and home-based. The…

The federal Maternal and Child Health Bureau (MCHB) has launched a five-year initiative that will support state efforts to build comprehensive early childhood service systems. This initiative--the State Early Childhood Comprehensive Systems (SECCS) Initiative--provides planning and implementation grants to the state and territory Maternal and…

Part of a series designed to provide guidance for communities interested in building systems of care for children with emotional disturbances, this volume addresses mental health services for very young children and their families. A literature review was conducted, and four Community Mental Health Services for Children and Their Families Program…

Funded by a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, this report examines strategies for linking the health and child care systems in an effort to improve poor children's health. Studies show that poor, African American and Latino children have less access to health care and worse health outcomes than middle-class or non-Hispanic white…

The passage of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act of 1990 mandated the provision of interventions for young children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) under the age of 3 years. Although Strain, McGee, and Kohler (2001) suggested that children with autism benefit from inclusive programming, inclusive early intervention programs are…

The Syracuse University Family Development Research Program (FDRP), which ran from 1969 to 1975, provided support and day care for five years to very deprived families with newborn children. Participants, recruited in the third trimester of pregnancy, were low-education families with an annual income of less than $5,000, 85 percent of which were…