The Reality and Future of Early Childhood Research in America: Topics, Methods, and Trends

1. The Reality and Future of Early Childhood Research in America: Topics, Methods, and Trends Adam Winsler, PhD George Mason University awinsler@gmu.edu Keynote Address – June 13, 2014 First Sino-American Early Childhood Summit Jinan, Shandong Province, China

2. Outline of the Talk • “Hot Topics” in Early Childhood Research in the USA • English Journals for Research on Early Childhood • “Hot Spots” for Early Childhood Research in the USA • Recent Developments in Early Childhood Research Methods

3. “Hot Topics” in Early Childhood Research in the USA • Executive Functioning/Self-Regulation • English Language Learners (ELL) and Immigrant Children/Families • Qualityand Type of Early Childhood Education Programs and Links to Child Outcomes • Large-Scale Public School Pre-Kindergarten (Pre-K) Programs • Stress, Cortisol, and Child Care • Literacy, Math, and/or Science Practices/Interventions/Curriculum • Physical Activity, Obesity, Eating Practices in ECE Programs • Professional Development, Training of ECE Teachers, and Coaching • ImplementationScience • Quality Rating and Improvement Systems (QRIS)

4. Executive Functioning (EF) Self-Regulation “EF is an umbrella term that refers to the processes that allow individuals to rise above the exigencies of the environment, habits, or internally prepotent behaviors to behave in a contextually appropriate and goal-driven manner” (Bus & Spencer, 2014, p. 1) Also know as: self control, cognitive control, behavior regulation, delay of gratification, sustained attention, cognitive flexibility, impulse control, self monitoring, mindfulness, reflection … • Important developmental outcome of the preschool period • Important component of school readiness - predicts later outcomes in school and throughout life • Curricula that foster EF – i.e., Tools of the Mind (dramatic play), PATHs • Social origins – Transfer from other-regulation to self-regulation via scaffolding - mediated by children’s private speech (self-talk) (Vygotsky, Winsler)

5. English Language Learners (ELL) & Immigrant Children/Families Children who speak a non-English language at home while learning English • 25% of children age 0-5 in USA have immigrant parents and most are ELLs, and many in poverty • English proficiency at school entry and speed of English acquisition are big predictors of later academic outcomes • How best to acquire English but also maintain home language - Additive vs. subtractive bilingualism • Teacher practices that support L1 and L2 language development • 1stvs. 2nd vs. 3rdgeneration immigrant families and the “immigrant advantage/paradox”

6. Quality and Type of ECE Programs - Links to Child Outcomes • How to measure quality (Observations like the CLASS vs. other) • Process vs. structural quality • Center-based programs, vs. family childcare homes, vs. informal/relative care, vs. public school pre-K, vs. Head Start programs • Linear vs. nonlinear/threshold relations between quality and child outcomes • Whether teacher education and years of experience are related to observed quality and/or child outcomes

7. Large-Scale Public School Pre-Kindergarten (Pre-K) Programs • City-, County-, or State-wide pre-kindergarten programs • Half-day vs. full-day, 1 vs. 2 years • Public school only vs. multiple agencies/types of organizations (i.e., centers) • Targeted (for those at-risk due to poverty) vs. universal (for everybody) programs • What actually goes on in these programs and how much time children spend of different activities/subjects

8. Stress, Cortisol, and Child Care • Children’s stress levels (cortisol hormone levels) during different types of childcare vs. home, and at different times of the day • Teacher stress and job satisfaction and links to child stress and outcomes • Teacher practices and quality in relation to child stress and outcomes

9. Literacy, Math, and/or Science Practices/Interventions/Curriculum • Different developmentally appropriate approaches to teaching reading, or math, or science • How teachers and parents ‘do,’ feel, or talk about math or science • Features of literacy instruction like duration, frequency, intensity of book reading, and teacher talk about printthat are linked to child performance later

10. Physical Activity, Obesity, Eating Practices in ECE Programs • How much physical activity (PA) children receive in different types of programs, or different times of day, or with different equipment present, or with different outside ‘recess’ schedules, or different teacher facilitation of movement. • Links between PA and child weight/obesity • Links between eating/meal practices (like family-style serve yourself vs. pre prepared, vs. teacher-assigned food for children) and child outcomes • State and federal laws/regulations for food practices and its effect on practices and child outcomes

11. Professional Development, Training of ECE Teachers, and Coaching • How best to work with existing teachers to improve their practice (workshops, videos, coaching, length of sessions/programs) • College coursework for future early childhood education teachers • How to support existing teachers with coaching (online vs. in person), videos of practice (themselves or others) and consultation

12. Implementation Science • How best to implement change in teachers’ practices – introduce/teach new curricula? • Do teachers do the new curriculum as planned (Fidelity), and what teacher characteristics are associated with better fidelity? • What kind of support is needed to get teachers to implement new curricula with fidelity? • Does teacher uptake (what they do) or buy-in (how much they like it) of new curricula affect child outcomes?

13. Quality Rating and Improvement Systems (QRIS) • How best to assign ECE programs a rating/score that indicates how good they are (quality) so parents can choose programs on the basis of such quality ratings? • What counts as indicators of quality? (i.e., structural vs. process quality, teacher-child ratios, observations vs. self reports, child performance on tests) • What government policies help improve the quality of ECE programs? • Should we give more government money to programs that are higher in quality according to what number system?) and does that lead to improved practice over time?

14. English Journals for Research on Early Childhood - USA - USAEarly Childhood Journals (USA)

15. English Journals for Research on Early Childhood - USA

16. English Journals for Research on Early Childhood - USA

17. English Early Childhood Journals (International)

18. English Early Childhood Journals (International)

19. “Hot Spots” for Early Childhood Research in the USA 7 8 5 1 3 2 6 4

20. “Hot Spots” for Early Childhood Research in the USA 1) GEORGE MASON UNIVERSITY, Fairfax, Virginia Applied Developmental Psychology (Department of Psychology, College of Humanities and Social Sciences) • Adam Winsler, Child care types, transition to school, poverty, English language learners, bilingualism, immigrants, private speech, self-regulation (Editor – ECRQ) • Susanne Denham, Assessment of socio-emotional skills, school readiness, teacher socialization of emotions (Editor – EED) • Tim Curby, C.L.A.S.S assessment, classroom and teacher quality, instructional processes, quantitative methods • Robert Pasnak, Cognitive/curricular interventions for low-income children Early Childhood Education (College of Education and Human Development) • Julie Kidd, Cognitive, literacy, and numeracy in children from diverse backgrounds, professional development • M Susan Burns, Learning and development for diverse learners (disabilities, poverty, multi-lingual and multi-cultural) • Sarika Gupta, Inclusion settings for children with disabilities, teacher preparation, early childhood special education • Colleen Vesely, Immigrant/refugee family ECE experiences, culture and parenting • Also Elizabeth DeMulderand Ilham Nasser

21. “Hot Spots” for Early Childhood Research in the USA 2) FPG Child Development Institute, UNC, Chapel Hill, North Carolina Margaret (Peg) Burchinal, Mary Bratsch-Hines, Donna Bryant,Virginia Buysse,Frances Campbell, Richard Clifford, Diane Early, XimenaFranco, Kathleen Gallegher,Christina Gillanders, IheomaIruka, DoréLaForett, Samuel Odom, Rebecca New, Ellen Peisner-Feinberg, Elizabeth Pungello, Steven Reznick, Sharon Ritchie, Joseph Sparling, Lynne Vernon-Feagans, Barbara H, Wasik, Michael Willoughby, Pamela Winton, Xiajuan Yin, Noreen Yazejian (+ many others) Effects of childcare on children Longitudinal Abecedarian intervention study Autism and early intervention School readiness interventions Professional development initiatives Home visiting programs Implementation of curricular interventions State-wide assessment of children and programs Scaling up ECE programs Dual language learners Community-wide child data systems Quality of ECE programs Rural families, poverty, and child care Literacy interventions Quality Rating and Improvement Systems (QRIS) Evaluation of local, state-wide, national ECE programs

22. “Hot Spots” for Early Childhood Research in the USA 3) UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINA, Charlettesville, Virginia Curry School of Education Daphna Bassok, Jason Downer, Grace Funk, Bridget Hamre, Marcia Kraft-Sayre, Jennifer LoCasale-Crouch, Natalia Palacios, Robert Pianta, Sara Rimm-Kaufman, Tina Stanton-Chapman, Jessica Whittaker, Amanda Williford Childcare access Pre-K and kindergarten programs, My Teaching Partner Head Start Impact Follow up Teacher-child interactions Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS, CLASS infant, inCLASS) Responsive Classroom Efficacy Preschool relationships and social competence Teacher education courses (online too)

23. “Hot Spots” for Early Childhood Research in the USA 4)U of Miami & Florida International U, Miami Florida University of Miami - Department of Psychology Michael Alessandri, Christine Delgado, Daryl Greenfield, Heather Henderson, Rebecca Bulotsky Shearer Autism Preschool children with disabilities, Head Start Early childhood science curricula Temperament Self-regulation Early childhood assessment Emotion and behavior problems Florida International University – College of Education Charles Bleiker, Laura Dinehart Math talk and curriculum School Readiness Drug-exposed infants

24. “Hot Spots” for Early Childhood Research in the USA 5) PURDUE UNIVERSITY, West Lafayette, Indiana Human Development and Family Studies James Elicker, Blake Jones, Douglas Powell, David Purpura, Sara Schmidtt Child care quality Evaluation of QRIS Obesity Sleep Literacy/reading Professional development programs Math Behavior problems School readiness interventions Self-regulation Department of Psychological Sciences George Hollich, Theodore Wachs, Barbara Younger, Infant cognitive development Language development Environmental chaos Temperament

25. “Hot Spots” for Early Childhood Research in the USA 6) UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA (UCLA), Los Angeles, California Human Development and Psychology Alison Bailey, Eva Baker, CarolleeHowes, RashmitaMistry, Bilingual language development Parent-child interactions Large-scale assessment Effects of infant/toddler daycare ECE quality Teaching quality Autism Poverty effects Early math Immigrant families Department of Psychology James Stigler, Scott Johnson, Catherine Sandhofer Early math teaching Early language and cognitive development

26. “Hot Spots” for Early Childhood Research in the USA 7) BOSTON COLLEGE, Boston Massachusetts Lynch School of Education MarielaPáez, Maria Estela Brisk, Eric Dearing, Curt Dudley-Marling, Penny Hauser-Cram, Rebekah Levine Coley, Marina Vasilyeva English Language Learners (ELLs) Bilingual language development Literacy/Writing Disabilities and Inclusion Quality ECE Poverty Family involvement/Parenting Behavior problems Department of Psychology Karen Rosen, Sara Cordes Parent-child attachment Early cognitive and math development

27. “Hot Spots” for Early Childhood Research in the USA 8) TEACHER’S COLLEGE, Columbia University, New York, NY Lynch School of Education Sharon Lynn Kagan, Celia Genishi, Susan Recchia, Mariana Soto-Manning ECE policy and systems Bilingual language development Poverty ECE teacher training Infant care Young children with visual impairments Multicultural ECE Department of Human Development Jeanne Brooks-Gunn, Carey Cooper, Herbert Ginsburg, Peter Gordon, Deanna Kuhn Early childhood interventions Poverty Parent involvement School readiness Math curricula Early language and cognitive development

28. Recent Developments in Early Childhood Research Methods • Randomized Control Trials (RCTs) experimental designs with good control/comparison groups • Propensity Score Analysis/Matching to control better for selection bias when you don’t have RCT • Hierarchical/Mixed Linear Models (HLM) to control for repeated observations nested within children (Level 1), children nested within classrooms (Level 2), classrooms nested within schools (Level 3) • Survival Analysis to examine whether and how long until important events occur (i.e., retention, graduation, drop-out, English proficiency, entrance into or departure from special education) • Qualitative and mixed methods • Creation and validation of new assessments, observation systems, measures

29. Questions? Discussion?