The Illinois Child Welfare Department implemented a statewide health care system to ensure that children in foster care obtain quality health care by providing each child with a medical home. This study demonstrates that the Medical Home model works for children in foster care providing better health outcomes in higher immunization rates. These…

Background: Two understudied risk factors that have been linked to emotional difficulties in adolescence are chronotype and sleep deprivation. This study extended past research by using an experimental design to investigate the role of sleep deprivation and chronotype on emotion in adolescents. It was hypothesized that sleep deprivation and an…

Authors conducted a systematic review of the literature to determine whether differences exist for children with ASD versus children without ASD in the utilization, accessibility, and cost of their health care services. Population and outcome variables of interest were used to search for articles in Medline and PsycInfo databases. Thirteen studies…

Purpose/Objectives: The new nutrition standards for the school meal programs implemented in 2012 align the school meal patterns with the US Dietary Guidelines for Americans, including more fruit, vegetable and whole grain offerings and minimum and maximum amount of calories per meal averaged over a week. The purpose of this study was to assess…

One in three children in this country is overweight or obese. One in five children lives in food-insecure households that struggle to put food on the table. Both problems affect millions of children. Both can occur in the same child at the same time. Both are linked to poor academic performance, behavior problems, and high rates of school…

In 2006, the Anchorage School District implemented a school wellness policy to address the problem of obesity among its elementary-aged students. We assessed whether the addition of this policy is effective in protecting or preventing students from becoming overweight/obese over time. The methods involved following two cohorts of students for 5…

This analysis involves an investigation of the corporate control of food in relation to low income and culturally dominated schoolchildren in cities. This includes an exploration of the problem as expressed globally and historically in relation to transnational policy networks. Since corporate growth always necessitates controlling the direction…

In the debate over health, one political message has become more and more dominant in western societies over the past decade: "Get moving!" The logic seems to be that physical activity per se equals better health and that the more physical activity, the better one's health. This logic has, among other things, induced an increased…

Local school wellness policies (i.e., wellness policies) provide an opportunity to create and support a healthy school environment, promote student health, and reduce childhood obesity. Because they are required for all school districts participating in the federal Child Nutrition Programs including the National School Lunch Program and the School…

Quality Rating Improvement Systems (QRIS) frequently include the Infant-Toddler Environment Rating Scale-Revised (ITERS-R) as part of rating and improving child care quality. However, studies utilizing the ITERS-R consistently report low quality, especially for basic caregiving items. This research examined whether the low scores reflected the…

This paper is based on qualitative research undertaken in West Nile Uganda and Coastal Kenya as part of a broader "development" project. A wide range of stakeholders, including government officials, parents, and early childhood practitioners were involved in sharing their perspectives of what life is like for young children (birth to age…

This policy plan offers an approach to early childhood policies that get to the roots of racial equity. It describes how to promote social, economic, health, and educational equity by broadening the current early childhood public policy focus in Minnesota on early education and service programs to also include funding efforts that promote positive…

Countries that have sustained rapid growth over decades have typically had a strong public commitment to expanding education as well as to improving learning outcomes. South Asian countries have made considerable progress in expanding access to primary and secondary schooling, with countries having achieved near-universal enrollment of the…

This brief focuses on Head Start children's developmental progress and kindergarten experiences, drawing on data from the 2009 cohort of the Head Start Family and Child Experiences Survey (FACES 2009). The focal population is children who entered Head Start for the first time in fall 2009, completed one or two years of the program, and were…

Meeting the health and wellness needs of students in school is a necessary and effective approach to reducing educational barriers for children and ensuring America's economic dominance in the 21st century. Since 1988, Medicaid has permitted payment to schools for certain medically necessary services provided to children under the Individuals with…