Urie Bronfenbrenner is almost certainly best known for his theoretical writings about the ecology of human development. His interest in theory was not, however, separate from his practical concerns, particularly those related to early education and care of children and the families and teachers who interact with them. From the role that he played…

Raising a child with a disability often makes it difficult to find child care. Many families learn that child care programs are simply unable to meet the special needs of their children, while specialized facilities have limited space, and specialized private care is expensive. To meet the needs of all children, Head Start and Early Head Start…

This paper presents an overview of the Early Head Start program. The objective of the Early Head Start program is to enhance the cognitive, social and emotional development of low-income children, including children on federally-recognized reservations and children of migratory farm workers, through the provision of comprehensive health,…

Describes past and present federal programs to prevent hunger, poor nutrition, and poor health. Presents evidence suggesting a link between nutrition and cognitive functioning, later ability to earn a living, and mortality. Maintains that nutrition is a vital component of any welfare reform and economic development strategy. Presents evidence of…

"Childhood Programs and Practices in the First Decade of Life" presents research findings on the effects of early childhood programs and practices in the first decade of life and their implications for policy development and reform. Leading scholars in the multidisciplinary field of human development and in early childhood learning…

This paper discusses ways that students can better be taught to think. It argues that poor/low-achieving students served by Chapter 1 of the Education Consolidation and Improvement Act of 1981 could genuinely profit from instruction on thinking and that, for maximum impact, such instruction should be introduced as a course in itself, separate from…

Research programs of the human learning and behavior branch of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHHD) are described in five sections of this document. The specific programs conducted in the areas of learning and cognitive development, development of communicative abilities, biological bases of behavioral development,…

This paper describes the Parent Child Development Center (PCDC) model and related experimental programs at Birmingham, Houston and New Orleans and summarizes findings from data gathered during the first five years of program operation. Preliminary findings from data collected after 1975 are also reported. All PCDC programs share several common…

Explains philosophy of the Higher Order Thinking Skills Project, which utilizes microcomputers in a learning laboratory to develop in upper elementary school students the thinking ability needed to construct sophisticated associations between ideas; describes curriculum used to teach these skills; and reviews software and hardware utilized and…

"Reaching the Goals" is a series of eight books designed to inform people involved in education reform, or people who want to be involved, of the myriad of programs and resources that are available from the Federal Government to support each of the National Education Goals defined in 1990. This first book is dedicated to Goal 1,…

In his State of the Union Address delivered January 2002, President Bush outlined the next critical step in education reform: to prepare children to read and succeed in school with improved Head Start and early childhood development programs. This report describes early childhood as a critical time for children to develop the physical, emotional,…

A bilingual, bicultural program in the Edgewood Independent School District in San Antonio, Texas, part of the Experimental Schools Program, was designed to reverse "negative self concept, motivation, and attitudes" of its Mexican American students, and by so doing, improve their academic achievement. Efforts were employed to: (1)…

Between 1995 and 2004, Early Head Start (EHS) grew from 68 to more than 700 programs nationwide, serving more than 62,000 children and securing the program's reputation as a beacon of hope for the nation's low-income families with infants and toddlers. According to a comprehensive 5-year national evaluation of EHS, children who participated in…

The National Research Council (NRC), through the Center for Education (CFE), wishes to build on the work in early childhood it has already done. In particular, the NRC wishes to focus on research on young children and their learning of mathematical and scientific ideas. The workshop that is the subject of this report, one in a series of workshops…