This report includes information on the 2021-2022 Study of Family and Staff Experiences in American Indian and Alaska Native Head Start Family and Child Experiences Survey Programs (the 2021-2022 Study). The 2021-2022 Study collected data from children's parents, teachers, center directors, and program directors in Region XI Head Start programs in…

Following a set of state meetings held throughout fall 2020, the Virginia Education Assessment Collaborative (VEAC) decided to offer a mini-conference in November 2020 to round out offerings and to buttress conversation around topics of high need and interest to Educator Preparation Providers (EPPs). Leveraging the familiar process of the…

The Hawai'i State Department of Education is excited to provide a comprehensive menu of engaging summer learning opportunities for students in the upcoming summer months. This summer, offerings will span all grade levels, from a transition program for incoming kindergartners to paid summer internships for our graduating seniors. Schools have…

As part of its evaluation of the Illinois State Board of Education's Preschool Development Birth through Five Planning Grant (PDG B-5), Illinois Workforce and Education Research Collaborative (IWERC) completed an overview and evaluation of strengths and weaknesses in the current early childhood data systems. To complete this review, IWERC examined…

The preschool landscape is complex, consisting of several publicly funded programs supported by federal, state, and local funds. Included in this landscape is Head Start, a critical early childhood education (ECE) program that serves--in every state and territory--young children in families with incomes at or below the federal poverty line,…

The premier Tier 3 intervention for the Pyramid Model, Prevent-Teach-Reinforce for Young Children (PTR-YC) is a research-proven, family-centered approach used in preschool settings nationwide to resolve persistent challenging behaviors. Now this bestselling PTR-YC guidebook is in a thoughtfully revised second edition, with enhancements and…

Programs that improve teaching effectiveness represent a core strategy to improve student educational outcomes and close student achievement gaps. This article compiles empirical values of intraclass correlations for designing effective and efficient experimental studies evaluating the effects of these programs. The Early Childhood Longitudinal…

Objectives: In the USA, 18% of school-aged young people are classified as obese, and rural populations appear to be particularly at risk. Achieving high levels of fitness reduces the risk of obesity and underlying health conditions. To better understand youth obesity trends and fitness levels, annual fitness testing ([FT], that is, surveillance)…

The COVID-19 pandemic negatively impacted child care and early education (CCEE) programs and the families they serve. During the pandemic, researchers working in CCEE programs paused and then shifted their research strategies to adapt to the new context. In April 2023, Child Trends hosted a virtual convening with researchers from nine research…

A growing understanding of the importance of children's earliest years has led to an increasing desire to measure early childhood development (ECD) outcomes. There are now nearly 150 tools for measuring ECD outcomes internationally, which can make it challenging to choose an appropriate measurement tool for a given measurement effort. This…

Reported percentages of young children who engage in challenging behavior is estimated between 10% and 20%. This percentage is even greater for children with disabilities. Not surprisingly, when young children with challenging behavior do not receive services and supports early on, they can experience negative social and emotional outcomes long…

The purpose of this brief is to increase states' awareness of national data resources that can support states in sharing, linking, integrating, and using data on young children with disabilities to enhance the provision of early intervention (EI) and early childhood special education (ECSE) services. The audience for this brief includes states'…

Ongoing professional development is a critical component of high-quality early childhood education systems. To guide the content of such professional development, teacher and classroom quality assessments are often used. These assessments generally address universal or tier 1 instruction but omit information to guide teachers' practices to support…

Teaching children with individualized education programs (IEPs) can pose challenges such as determining materials to use, managing the materials, and keeping data organized. This paper reviews those challenges that teachers (e.g., general and special education) encounter and describes the necessity for systematic data collection. Guidelines are…

Each year, Austin Independent School District Department of Research and Evaluation (DRE) staff develop a plan of work to describe the scope of work for the coming year. The plans that make up this document identify programs to be evaluated and services to be provided by DRE staff and provide the blueprints for evaluation that staff will follow…