Background: Quality in early care and education (ECE) has been widely studied across several decades, though there is not a single standard definition of quality across ECE contexts. Classroom quality often encompasses both structural and process features of quality. Teachers are often not included in discussions about quality in ECE programs…

To gain insight into the farm to school practices implemented across the country, the U.S. Department of Agriculture Food and Nutrition Service (USDA FNS) regularly conducts the Farm to School Census (Census). The Census is an online survey sent to all school food authorities (SFAs) in the U.S. and its territories that participate in the National…

Young children draw from verbal and nonverbal input to make meaning from texts, a skill that is foundational for later reading comprehension and academic achievement. However, prior studies have focused solely on teachers' verbal input during prekindergarten read-alouds. We examine four Black, female prekindergarten teachers' multimodal enactments…

Many kindergarten teachers are feeling the effects of standard-based education. The problem is that it is unknown whether teachers implement mandated state standards in a developmentally appropriate way. The purpose of this basic qualitative study was to investigate kindergarten teachers' perspectives on implementing standards in a developmentally…

With the increasing frequency and intensity of extreme weather disasters, it is essential for Office of Head Start staff and Early Head Start/Head Start (EHS/HS) program leaders to prepare for and respond effectively to these challenges. This brief presents data on the number and percentage of EHS/HS sites located in extreme weather affected areas…

Background: Early care and education (ECE) has lasting, positive effects on children's school readiness (Phillips et al., 2018; Yoshikawa et al., 2013). Over the past several decades, access to city or state-funded prekindergarten (pre-K) has increased considerably (Friedman-Krauss et al., 2023) with well-documented, positive impacts on child…

The well-being of Head Start teachers is essential to ensuring high-quality early care and education (ECE) and supporting children's development. The COVID-19 pandemic raised unique challenges to teachers' well-being. In this brief, the authors explore Head Start teachers' health, anxiety symptoms, depressive symptoms, stress, and job…

Attention to students' socio-emotional, behavioral, and academic outcomes raises important considerations for the psychological well- being of teachers, especially Head Start teachers who often work with underserved families. This scoping review summarizes current literature on Head Start teacher psychological well-being and identifies (1) how…

We investigated the extent to which practices considered developmentally appropriate and inappropriate varied by preschool program auspice (private, public school, and Head Start). Survey data from a 2010 national sample of 2,664 teachers of 4-year-olds provided teacher reports on the frequency of seven practices (e.g., offering children choices…

Students entering Kindergarten need to obtain readiness skills to make their first year of school a successful one. Many students may appear overwhelmed with the activities and expectations that are placed on them in a kindergarten classroom. Many families and teachers would like for kindergarten to be conducted the way it was many years ago, but…

Grounded in Developmental Systems Theory, especially Ecological Systems Theory, and through the strength-based and whole child lenses, this study examines 15 interviews with Head Start professionals and explores alignment degree of their school readiness perception and practices. Adopting dual mapping, theme screening and in vivo coding, the…

The goals of the current study were: 1) to modify and expand an existing spatial mathematical language coding system to include quantitative mathematical language terms and 2) to examine the extent to which preschool-aged children used spatial and quantitative mathematical language during a block play intervention. Participants included 24…

A growing number of early childhood interventions are intended to be used by classroom teachers to support children's emergent literacy development, yet we know little about for whom such interventions might be effective. In this study, we examined whether children's initial emergent literacy skills (alphabet knowledge, phonological awareness,…

A growing number of early childhood interventions are intended to be used by classroom teachers to support children's emergent literacy development, yet we know little about for whom such interventions might be effective. In this study, we examined whether children's initial emergent literacy skills (alphabet knowledge, phonological awareness,…

This article describes a conceptual and empirical approach for estimating a human capital production function of child development that incorporates mother- or child-fixed effects. The use of mother- or child-fixed effects is common in this applied economics literature, but its application is often inconsistent with human capital theory. We…