In the 2016 General Session, the Legislature passed Senate Bill 101, High Quality School Readiness Program Expansion, which expanded access to high quality school readiness programs for eligible students. This program was funded with $120,000 ongoing from the Education Fund for program administration and $9.0 million in Temporary Assistance for…

Parental sensitivity and nurturance are important mechanisms for establishing biological, emotional, and social functioning in childhood. Sensitive, nurturing care is most critical during the first three years of life, when attachment relationships form and parental care shapes foundational neural and physiological systems, with lifelong…

Research findings: This study uses newly available data on low-income children and their teachers in a mixed-delivery, publicly funded early care and education (ECE) system to document the prevalence of personal and economic stressors that ECE teachers experience. We go on to explore whether these stressors are associated with child academic,…

The present study examined the relations between teacher-child interactions, teachers' Spanish use, classroom linguistic composition, and the school readiness skills of low-income, Latinx, Spanish-speaking dual language learners (DLLs), controlling for home and teacher background characteristics, with a national probability sample of Head Start…

"Education in a Pandemic: Learning from Illinois Students & Caregivers to Plan for the Road Ahead" highlights the testimonies of more than 120 students, parents and caregivers from across Illinois as they share their experiences of remote, hybrid, and in-person learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. The findings, coupled with…

In any K-12 classroom in America, chances are that at least one student is dealing directly with bullying, harassment, or another type of emotional or physical violence. What can teachers, principals, and school district leaders do to improve safety at their schools? There is some evidence that improving the social and emotional skills of both…

Teachers and administrators across the United States struggle to maintain safe, civil, community- and achievement-oriented schools. Disciplinary actions (such as school suspensions) and security measures (such as school resource officers/security guards and security cameras) are some approaches commonly used in schools to try to improve school…

The main goal of this social policy report is to propose a holistic approach for promoting developmental success among Latinx children and youth. This report highlights the need to 1) redefine success and 2) account for intersectional inequalities. First, the current demographic landscape of Latinx students is presented to showcase the variability…

This poll was conducted between July 14-July 15, 2022 among a sample of 2,200 adults. The interviews were conducted online and the data were weighted to approximate a target sample of adults based on gender, educational attainment, age, race, and region. Among the key findings are: (1) Parents most frequently reported their children participating…

In this paper, I reflect on the changing role of higher education by focusing on the case of online education. I consider the promise of online education as a means to mitigate educational inequalities. Based on the available empirical evidence, I argue that this promise is unlikely to be fulfilled because online education is not well-suited to…

Many studies have identified the positive "link" between imaginary play and emotion regulation in laboratory settings. However, little is known about "how" play and emotion regulation are related in everyday practice. This article examines how families use play as a tool to support young children's emotion regulation in…

With school-based physical activity emerging as a public health issue, it is more important than ever to understand what keeps children and adolescents interested and participating in physical education and physical activity. As the research on physical activity patterns indicates, the middle school years may be a watershed moment in the lives of…

Military dependent children remain a largely unexplored subject, particularly in early childhood education. In an effort to fill the gap in the current literature, this research study focuses on how early childhood teachers perceive the educational needs of military dependent children. Previous research in the areas of geographic mobility,…

"Autonomous Learner Model Resource Book" includes activities and strategies to support the development of autonomous learners. More than 40 activities are included, all geared to the emotional, social, cognitive, and physical development of students. Teachers may use these activities and strategies with the entire class, small groups, or…

For various reasons, many students with emotional disturbances are unable to succeed in traditional classroom environments. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore the perceptions of administrators, teachers, paraprofessionals, parents, and related service providers towards therapeutic intervention classrooms for students…