Infant/Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation (IECMHC) is a relationship-based, collaborative support designed to improve the capacity of early childhood professionals to promote children's mental health. Social and emotional development is the foundation for success in learning and in life. It begins in children's early relationships with…

This brief examines the curricular policies and guidelines of the eighteen Preschool Development or Expansion Grantees. It explores how these states are addressing the curriculum-related requirements of the Preschool Development Grant (PDG) program. This brief clarifies the PDG requirements, discusses aspects of curriculum, and presents a snapshot…

Preschool Development Grant (PDG) grantees and Head Start programs are funded to provide high-quality preschool education and comprehensive services to families meeting federal poverty guidelines. The overlap of program standards and services across these two programs provides unique opportunities for partnerships. This document provides examples…

Calls for universal preschool programs have become commonplace, reinforced by President Obama's call for "high-quality preschool for all" in 2013. Any program that could cost state and federal taxpayers $50 billion per year warrants a closer look at the evidence on its effectiveness. This report reviews the major evaluations of preschool…

The Community Connections preschool program (herein referred to as Community Connections) was developed to help prepare children in home-based child care for success in school and in life. It has three goals: (1) to make state prekindergarten classroom experiences available to children in home-based care, (2) to extend classroom learning…

Head Start, a U.S. federally funded program, prepares children for school through early childhood intervention in social-emotional and cognitive arenas. This article describes program evaluation survey results from the past 5 years of an 18-year collaboration between a university graduate art therapy program and 8 Head Start centers. Graduate art…

Education policy makers identify access to quality pre-Kindergarten programs as a critical step in early childhood development. While most agree on access, definitions of quality vary widely. A new study by the National Center for Early Development & Learning (NCEDL) finds that families define quality in broader terms than educators,…

Documents the similarities and differences between the national Head Start program and the Illinois state program for at-risk four-year olds called the Prekindergarten Program for Children at Risk of Academic Failure. (HB)

Describes and evaluates the ESEA Title I program in Granite City (Illinois) target area schools which provide preschool classes, remedial reading, and supportive health and counseling services. The programs are considered to be efficient. (DM)

The Illinois Prekindergarten At-Risk Program provides early childhood experiences to enhance the development of children at risk of academic failure. This report presents a summary and analysis of the annual evaluation data obtained from school districts participating in this program for the 1990-91 school year. The report includes the following…

This paper presents a profile of Illinois' Quality Counts prepared as part of the Child Care Quality Rating System (QRS) Assessment Study. The profile consists of several sections and their corresponding descriptions including: (1) Program Information; (2) Rating Details; (3) Quality Indicators for Center-Based Programs; (4) Indicators for Family…

This manual lists the procedures followed and presents the checklists used by the Illinois State Board of Education to monitor school districts' special education programs to ensure that the districts meet minimum standards for educational programs, personnel, and fiscal management practices. The first section presents an overview describing the…

This document summarizes information on the second year of operation of 93 projects participating in the State of Illinois prekindergarten educational grant program for children at-risk due to environmental deficits. Contents provide: (1) background information on the legislation establishing the program, program evaluation schedules, and a…

The Child Parent Education Centers, funded through Title I of the Elementary Secondary Education Act of 1965, are administered by the Chicago Board of Education in areas characterized by a high density of low-income families. Approximately 2100 children, ages three through nine, are enrolled in the 11 centers which offer up to six years of…

This report reviews prekindergarten programs in fiscal years 1987-88 in Illinois, where an estimated 112,000 children of 3-4 years of age are at risk of academic failure. Each year, State Board of Education staff collect data on prekindergarten programs and the children they serve in order to answer four primary questions: (1) What are the…