Evaluation of a Practice-Development Initiative to Improve Breastfeeding Rates

The benefits of breastfeeding for infant, mother, family, and community are well recognized, and increasing breastfeeding rates is considered an important health-promotion strategy. Improving breastfeeding knowledge and practice among individuals caring for breastfeeding women is considered an important aspect of this strategy. The practice-development initiative described in this article aimed to improve hospital-based breastfeeding rates through the implementation of The Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding. The initiative included the development and implementation of an education program aimed at changing and improving breastfeeding practices. The program was evaluated in three ways: changes in breastfeeding rates at hospital discharge; client preparation for breastfeeding and satisfaction during the postnatal period; and staff knowledge and skills.     

The Impact of Child Care Subsidy Use on Child Care Quality

In 2008, the federal government allotted $7 billion in child care subsidies to low-income families through the state-administered Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF), now the government's largest child care program (US DHHS, 2008). Although subsidies reduce costs for families and facilitate parental employment, it is unclear how they impact the quality of care families purchase. This study investigates the impact of government subsidization on parents’ selection of child care quality using multivariate regression and propensity score matching approaches to account for differential selection into subsidy receipt and care arrangements. Data were drawn from the Child Care Supplement to the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (CCS-FFCWS), conducted in 2002 and 2003 in 14 of the 20 FFCWS cities when focal children were 3 years old (N = 456). Our results indicate that families who used subsidies chose higher quality care than comparable mothers who did not use subsidies, but only because subsidy recipients were more likely to use center-based care. Subgroup analyses revealed that families using subsidies purchased higher-quality home-based care but lower-quality center-based care than comparable non-recipients. Findings suggest that child care subsidies may serve as more than a work support for low-income families by enhancing the quality of nonmaternal care children experience but that this effect is largely attributable to recipients’ using formal child care arrangements (versus kith and kin care) more often than non-recipients.     

Child Care Subsidy and Quality

This study compared the quality of child care programs serving children receiving government subsidies to those not serving such children. Thirty-four classrooms in full day programs serving preschool aged children (19 subsidized, 15 unsubsidized) were observed using the Early Childhood Environment Rating Scales-Revised (ECERS-R). (1) Research Findings: One way ANOVA indicated that programs not serving children receiving subsidies were rated higher on overall quality, language and reasoning, learning activities, and social interactions. Teacher salary was significantly correlated with overall quality, and after controlling for teacher salary, subsidy density did not uniquely predict variance in overall quality. (2) Policy Implications: Overall low quality indicates a need for a quality improvement initiative using proven methods. Minimum guidelines for quality beyond state licensing standards should be used to ensure that children in subsidized programs are receiving adequate care and to oversee state and federal investments in early childhood education.     

优质护理指征与护士护理质量提高方法探究

目的：探讨研究优质护理指征及改进护理质量控制的措施,使护理质量管理更趋于规范化、合理化、科学化、合理化。方法：自行设计问卷,对334名住院病人进行问卷调查。从问卷调查中的研究对象的答案中找出代表优质护理的指标术语进行编码,用SPSS软件进行分析。运用内容分析的方法对编码的术语进行归类分析。同时对护士加强管理,定期进行经验交流会、分析改进、加以总结、信息反馈。结果：病人对优质护理指征的观点归纳为5个主题：服务态度好、业务精湛责任心强、及时提供满足其需要的护理、对病人有人性化关怀、病人住院期间获得的良好感觉。强化了护理人员的服务意识,加强并提高了护理部的凝聚力,提高了护理部护理人员的整体素质,完善了护士管理系统,提高了护理质量。结论：病人在对护理要求上有其独特的观点。护理人员进行质量分析讨论、交流经验对提高护理质量有着非常重要的作用。     

Four Perspectives on Child Care Quality

National and state child care policies are shaped in part by studies of child care quality. The majority of these studies focus on variables that influence child outcomes. Katz suggests that this is but one of four perspectives on child care quality, and that parents, children, and child care staff have perspectives on child care quality that have not been adequately addressed. This article reviews the variables, measures, and studies associated with each of these four perspectives. The authors argue that given the preponderance of studies conducted from the professional/researcher perspective, more effort should be directed to studying child care quality from parents' children's, and child care staff members' viewpoints.     

Child Care Quality and Children's Engagement

The goal of this study was to understand the relationship between child care quality and children's engagement behavior. Seventy-eight toddlers from 17 child care centers were individually observed to determine the percentage of time they spent in sophisticated, unsophisticated, or differentiated engagement, or focused attention. The percentage of group engagement in classroom activities was recorded as well. Program quality ratings consisted of measures of the classroom environments, including the teachers. All the contextual quality measures but 1 were associated with unsophisticated engagement. Only global classroom quality was related to sophisticated engagement. The percentage of toddlers engaged in activities was associated with other program quality measures but not with observations of individual child engagement conducted at different times.     

International Perspectives on Quality Child Care

Some criteria of good child care are presented which were found by researchers. The number of children in class, the teacher–child ratio, the size and equipment of the classroom, the teachers' behavior, cooperation with parents, and the teachers' qualifications are stressed. It is also discussed whether the criteria of high quality child care are shared by teachers and parents. According to studies from Great Britain, Germany, and New Zealand, parents and kindergarten teachers have a sound understanding of good child care. However, there are differences in emphasis.     

规范评估行为提高评估质量——从评估专家的职责、标准和规范谈起

要保证评估工作的健康发展、维护评估工作的良好声誉,在很大程度上有赖于参与评估的专家认真履行好使命,使评估工作日趋专业化、规范化。而要履行好使命,就必须在进一步明确职责的同时,严格坚持标准、遵守规范。此外,还需讲究工作方法,完善工作机制,提高工作效率。     

Relationship-Focused Child Care Practices: Quality of Care and Child Outcomes for Children in Poverty

Research Findings: Child care delivery practices promoting continuous, primary caregiver-child relationships (relationship-focused child care) were evaluated for 223 preschool-age children (45% African American, 55% Latino) attending child care centers serving low-income children. Both relationship-focused and non-relationship-focused centers were accredited by the National Association for the Education of Young Children. Children in relationship-focused programs received more sensitive, involved, and affectionate caregiving and were more engaged with their caregivers than children in comparison centers, but some differences were greater for African American children. Outcomes associated with relationship-focused care included greater parent-reported child compliance and closer parent-caregiver relations, but no consistent benefits for cognitive school readiness, receptive language, or child behavior problems were found. Follow-up assessments were completed 1 year later for 119 children who remained in their programs. Social and cognitive outcomes improved over time, but some changes were moderated by child race/ethnicity and center type. Over time, parents reported greater child compliance and caregivers reported better parent-caregiver relationships in relationship-focused programs. Practice or Policy: Some social benefits of continuous, primary caregivers were found, but children's cognitive competencies improved with sustained attendance at these accredited programs regardless of the relationship-focused practices.     

Consulting Parents to Improve a Child Guidance Service

This paper describes a study undertaken with a group of parents whose children had been referred to the Knowsley Child Guidance Service. A qualitative methodology was used to analyse in-depth interviews with parents. The results led to practical recommendations for the improvement of service delivery. These recommendations had implications for schools and other services involved with parents/carers and children. The survey also provided a base from which to develop a questionnaire for the continuing evaluation of good practice within the child guidance service.     

美国托幼机构教育质量研究述评

自20世纪60年代以来,美国托幼机构教育质量研究在民众追求教育的公平、效果和效率的动力推动下,从对一般性的"托幼机构教育是否利于儿童发展"问题的分析,逐渐深入、具体为对"怎样的托幼机构教育更有利于儿童发展"和"如何提供高质量的托幼机构教育"等问题的探究;研究范式从条件-结果模式逐渐转向生态模式,研究设计从考察短期效果的简单横断研究转向分析长期效果的复杂的长期追踪研究.     

Evaluation of Mental Health Consultation in Child Care Centers

Mental health professionals have speculated that their consultation services should improve the overall quality of a child care center, but few research studies have shown this effect in child care settings. In the present study, mental health consultation services were provided by four agencies to 25 urban child care centers to enhance children's emotional lives and social abilities, and to strengthen child care center staff's capacity to work with children who have difficult behaviors. A one-year evaluation was conducted to assess the impact of the mental health services on the teachers and child care centers using observational measures, director- and teacher-completed questionnaires, and qualitative focus group data. Centers with more than one year of consultation showed increases in overall quality, teachers' self-efficacy, and teachers' competence. In addition, staff expressed satisfaction with the mental health consultation services provided. Implications of findings and suggestions for future interventions are discussed.     

Observed Engagement as an Indicator of Child Care Program Quality

Research Findings. This study investigated the quality of child care programs based on what children do while they are in these programs. Observing engagement is one method of measuring the effects of child care environments. Engagement refers to the amount of time children spend interacting with the environment in a developmentally and contextually appropriate manner. Group engagement was measured by repeatedly counting the percentage of children engaged in child care classrooms from two different licensing levels. Results showed that engagement levels were related to independent measures of program quality. Furthermore, engagement levels differed as a function of licensing level. Policy Implications. Observation of group engagement is an effective and unique measure of program quality. The group engagement measure not only discriminates between levels of quality; it focuses directly on child behavior and child experience offering a much- needed supplement to global and teacher-related measures. Observation of group engagement is both uncomplicated and expeditious, making it an ideal measure for use by licensing personnel as well as child care staff.     

Observed Engagement as an Indicator of Child Care Program Quality

Research Findings. This study investigated the quality of child care programs based on what children do while they are in these programs. Observing engagement is one method of measuring the effects of child care environments. Engagement refers to the amount of time children spend interacting with the environment in a developmentally and contextually appropriate manner. Group engagement was measured by repeatedly counting the percentage of children engaged in child care classrooms from two different licensing levels. Results showed that engagement levels were related to independent measures of program quality. Furthermore, engagement levels differed as a function of licensing level. Policy Implications. Observation of group engagement is an effective and unique measure of program quality. The group engagement measure not only discriminates between levels of quality; it focuses directly on child behavior and child experience offering a much- needed supplement to global and teacher-related measures. Observation of group engagement is both uncomplicated and expeditious, making it an ideal measure for use by licensing personnel as well as child care staff.     

Quality of Center Child Care and Infant Cognitive and Language Development

The relations between quality of center-based child care and infant cognitive and language development were examined in a sample of 79 African-American 12-month-old infants. Both structural and process measures of quality of child care were collected through interviews with the center director and observation of the infant classroom. Results indicated that quality of infant care positively correlated with scores on standardized assessments of cognitive development ( Bayley Scales of Infant Development ), language development (Sequenced Inventory of Communication Development), and communication skills (Communication and Symbolic Behavior Scales). In addition, quality of care in child care centers and at home was positively related. Analyses that adjusted for this association between quality of care at home and in child care suggested that the process measure of quality of child care independently related to the infant's cognitive development, and one structural measure, the infant-adult ratio, independently related to the infant's overall communication skills. Neither child nor family factors was found to moderate the association between child care quality and infant development. These findings, in conjunction with the growing child care literature, suggest that researchers and policymakers should focus on how quality of child care can be improved to enhance, not impair, infant development.     

构建教学质量监控体系,提高教学质量

构建教学质量监控体系的目的是为了对教学质量进行全方位的监控.教学质量监控体系建设包含教学质量监控队伍建设,教学监控制度建设,教学质量标准建设.教学质量监控的主要手段是教学质量评估,它包含构建教学质量评估体系的内涵、教学质量评估的作用、教学质量评估体系的原则、教学质量评估体系的组织机构及教学质量评估信息处理和反馈制度.     

引进社会评价．促进高等教育质量的提高

现行高等教育教学评估及实际操作还存在自评机制不健全,重规范、轻创造,评估专家组成单一,以及课堂考察多、实践考察少等问题。要使评估更加客观、合理,我们应该把社会评估引进到高校评估中来,建立和培养社会评价中介机构,使评估标准多样化,实现评估主体社会化,这样才能更好地克服评估中的不足,促进教学质量大幅度提高。     

Improving SET Response Rates: Synchronous Online Administration as a Tool to Improve Evaluation Quality

Institutions of higher education continue to migrate student evaluations of teaching (SET) from traditional, in-class paper forms to online SETs. Online SETs would favorably compare to paper-and-pencil evaluations were it not for widely reported response rate decreases that cause SET validity concerns stemming from possible nonresponse bias. To combat low response rates, one institution introduced a SET application for mobile devices and piloted formal synchronous classroom time for SET completion. This paper uses the Leverage Salience Theory to estimate the impact of these SET process changes on overall response rates, open-ended question response rates, and open end response word counts. Synchronous class time best improves SET responses when faculty encourage completion on keyboarded devices and provide students SET completion time in the first 15 min of a class meeting. Full support from administrators requires sufficient wireless signal strength, IT infrastructure, and assuring student access to devices for responses clustering around meeting times.     

如何提高学生在大学数学课堂上的积极主动性

针对现在各所大学数学课堂上学生的现状,文章从教师在授课的时候应该加入自己对知识点的理解、利用直观教学提高学生的参与度、大学学习和中学学习的不同之处等方面进行了阐述,并提出了几点建议和意见。     

Revisiting the Two Faces of Child Care Quality: Structure and Process

While child care quality has been examined in numerous studies, the definition of quality and specifically, the concepts of structural and process quality, have not been adequately explored. In this qualitative analysis of the constructs of process and structural quality, a content analysis of the Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale-Revised (ECERS-R), a commonly used measure of process quality, was conducted to investigate its use as a measure of process quality. Through constant comparative analysis of the ECERS-R at the indicator level, definitions of structure and process were formulated. Results show that over half of the indicators of the ECERS-R are measuring structural quality rather than process quality. Further examination of quality as a dynamic exchange between individuals and context is needed to advance research in the area of early childhood program quality.