Partnerships between Early Head Start (EHS) programs and child care providers strive to improve access to high-quality, comprehensive services for infants and toddlers whose families have low incomes. Early Head Start-Child Care (EHS-CC) Partnership grants provide a dedicated funding stream to support some of these partnerships. In 2015, the…

Service coordinators (SCs) in Part C early intervention (EI) programs fulfill critical supportive roles assisting families in accessing and successfully navigating services needed for their infants/toddlers identified with delays or disabilities. However, evidence of effective training for SCs is limited. One state scaled up training in the…

Background: Parenting is a primary mechanism through which children develop. Much is known about how parenting influences development over time; it is also critical to know what shapes specific aspects of parenting, particularly for families with higher socioeconomic risk. Objective: The current study examined how parenting stress, child behavior…

Positive parent-child relationship quality is critical for buffering children from the effects of stress on development. It is thus vital to develop interventions that target parent-child relationship quality for families experiencing stress. We examined the moderating role of parent-child relationship quality (as measured by parental emotional…

Despite extensive research and investment, persistent disparities in educational achievement continue to be observed for children from disadvantaged backgrounds. Public health experts emphasize the significance of early language experience and caregiver talk, also known as "language nutrition," in improving children's outcomes. A large…

Background: Public preschool can provide opportunities for earlier detection of child health problems and receipt of special needs services. This is especially important for children from low-income households who disproportionately face cost barriers to obtaining health screenings and services. Objective: This study explores the possibility that…

The Buffering Toxic Stress (BTS) consortium included six sites in locations that varied widely in racial/ethnic composition and population density. Each site tested a promising parent-child intervention designed to supplement Early Head Start (EHS) services and prevent "toxic stress." To better understand family risk in a large and…

As availability of parent-child interaction curricula increases, Early Head Start (EHS) provides a relevant context to test research-based parenting models as part of everyday practice. We trained EHS staff to incorporate the Promoting First Relationships (PFR) intervention into ongoing weekly home visits with mothers and their young children (n =…

Research Findings: The ability to manage emotions is thought to be important for regulating stress at a physiological level, yet no prior published studies have examined young children's emotion understanding or knowledge in relation to the stress hormone cortisol. The present study investigated the statistical relation between emotion knowledge…

Prekindergarten (Pre-K) programs are designed to prepare young children for kindergarten and increase their likelihood of academic success. This research brief examined the fall 2024 kindergarten readiness rates of students who were enrolled in Pre-K programs (public and private) in Miami-Dade County Public Schools (M-DCPS) during the 2023-2024…

Adverse experiences superseding a child's capacity to sustain regulation of emotion and adaptive function are theorized to constitute "toxic stressors" when they induce a deleterious biological response within an individual. We ascertained presumptive parameters of toxic stress among 164 low-income infants and toddlers (ages 4-48 months)…

Educators shape the quality of early education programs and are essential to children's learning and healthy development. However, the early childhood education field is often challenged in retaining educational staff. Using a descriptive research design this study explores turnover and retention through the voices of Head Start and Early Head…

This report examines the implementation of Summer 305, an enhanced summer program which operated from June 24 through July 26 during the summer of 2024 at 103 sites in Miami-Dade County Public Schools. Twenty-two program offerings were provided to accelerate learning recovery, develop foundational skills, and address social and emotional needs.…

Early intervention services are an important federally funded program for families with children under three years of age who may be diagnosed with or are at risk of developmental delay or disability. The program's impacts can be profound: Early intervention helps strengthen cognitive, motor, and language skills; reduces the likelihood of…

Early care and education (ECE) programs can provide a lifetime of benefits to children and families, but a lack of public support leaves these valuable services vulnerable to collapse during economic downturns. The COVID-19 pandemic was a particularly intense emergency for ECE providers: closures due to illness or shelter-in-place ordinances…