Characterizing disability in Head Start programs: Not so clearcut

Head Start programs are required to set aside at least 10% of program slots for children with disabilities, but the percentage of children with disabilities served varies depending on the criteria used and source of the information. This study used the Head Start Family and Child Experiences Survey (FACES) 2000 data for a nationally representative sample to identify subgroups of children meeting three different criteria for having a disability or developmental delay. Results indicated that about one-third of children in Head Start (33%) met one or more of the criteria for a disability or delay, about one-third of those children (33%) met criteria for two or for all three of the subgroups. However, only 8% of children in Head Start had an Individualized Education Program (IEP). Children with disabilities or delays, regardless of the subgroup criteria used, had higher levels of many other risk factors associated with poor developmental and school readiness outcomes. They also exhibited poorer performance on early literacy, social, and behavioral measures both at entry into Head Start and at the end of kindergarten compared with children not in each of those subgroups. Implications of the findings for screening and assessment, serving children in Head Start programs, and the need for linkages between Head Start programs and the preschool special education system are discussed.     

Theories of change and outcomes in home-based Early Head Start programs

Programs to promote children's early development are based on a set of assumptions, explicit or implicit, about intended outcomes and how the program will effect change. The “theories of change” were examined in ten home-based programs in the Early Head Start Research and Evaluation Project (EHSREP), using data collected through multiple interviews with program staff. All home-based programs indicated that parenting outcomes were among their highest three priorities, while only 4 of 10 programs said that child outcomes were in their top priorities. The pattern of outcome differences between randomly-assigned program and control group participants reflected the programs’ theories of change in several ways. Early Head Start home-based programs showed positive impacts on 9 of 9 parenting outcomes, including parental supportiveness, home language and learning supports, emotional responsiveness, and family conflict when children were 24 months of age. Significant program impacts on child cognitive skills (Bayley MDI scores) and social behavior (observed child engagement of parent during play) were found when children were 36 months of age. Mediation analyses showed that the 54% of the program impact on 36-month child cognitive scores was mediated by 24-month program impacts on parental supportiveness, language and learning support, emotional responsiveness, and family conflict, and 47% of the program impact on 36-month child engagement of parent was mediated by 24-month impacts on parental supportiveness, language and cognitive stimulation, and emotional responsiveness. Results from mediation analyses were consistent with these home-based programs’ theories of change, supporting the efficacy of focusing on parent change as a mechanism for child outcomes in home visiting programs.     

Labor Market and Teaching Staff Considerations for Making Early Childhood Education Work for Migrant Head Start Teachers: The Case of Michigan Migrant Head Start

This paper considers the case of the Michigan Migrant Head Start program to describe and analyze the labor market conditions and teaching staff characteristics to identify the challenges faced by Migrant Head Start grantees in attracting, hiring, retaining, and training degreed teachers. The emphasis is on describing and analyzing the child care labor market characteristics that confront Migrant Head Start grantees in upstream locations and on describing the characteristics and opinions of Migrant Head Start teachers and interpreting their significance for developing educational programs that facilitate the ability of Migrant Head Start teachers to become degreed in early childhood education. The implications of the findings for making early childhood education work for Migrant Head Start teachers are discussed from the perspective of administrators of Migrant Head Start programs and teacher preparation programs at community colleges and universities.     

Supporting optimal child development through Early Head Start and Head Start programs: Reflections on secondary data analyses of FACES and EHSREP

We are delighted to reflect on the 10 papers highlighted in this important special issue of Early Childhood Research Quarterly devoted to recent secondary data analyses of the FACES and EHSREP datasets. First, we provide some background on Head Start research and give an overview of the large-scale Head Start and Early Head Start datasets that are available for researchers to analyze. Then, we comment on the papers in this special issue from a methodological and statistical standpoint. Finally, we reflect on themes that stood out across the various papers. Throughout, we make recommendations for future large-scale data collection efforts and future research on Head Start and Early Head Start programs.     

Understanding Head Start children's problem behaviors in the context of arrest or incarceration of household members

Using data from the nationally representative Head Start Family and Child Experiences Survey (FACES), the relationships between living in a household where a household member had been arrested or incarcerated and conduct problems of preschool children enrolled in Head Start were examined. Children who lived in such households showed more aggressive, hyperactive, and withdrawn behaviors than children who lived in households with no such exposure. These associations remained statistically significant after controlling for other family background characteristics. Parental involvement in Head Start, less use of spanking, and more time spent by the child in Head Start were associated with less problem behaviors.     

Parent involvement in Head Start programs: the role of parent,teacher and classroom characteristics

The purposes of this study were to determine the extent and types of parent involvement in Head Start programs, and to examine the relations between parent participation and family, teacher and classroom characteristics. Parents (n = 1131) and teachers (n = 59) from four Head Start programs participated. Data were gathered through volunteer logs, parent interviews, teacher questionnaires, and classroom observations. The most frequent type of parent involvement activity was helping out in the classroom, followed by attendance at parent meetings. This pattern was consistent across the year (fall or spring), and across total amount of participation (i.e. parents participating one, two, three or more times in the year). Parent employment was the strongest predictor of parent involvement compared to other parent characteristics. Among teacher and classroom characteristics, classroom quality was the strongest predictor of parent involvement. Also, teachers with more years of experience in Head Start had more total hours of volunteering in their classrooms and had volunteers returning more times. Teachers’ reports of the involvement of parents in their classrooms were moderately correlated with volunteer logs, while parent self-reports of their involvement were only modestly correlated with volunteer logs, indicating that teachers may be more accurate than parents when reporting parent involvement activities.     

Comparison of the K-ABC and PPVT-R with Head Start Chidren

The relationship between the new Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children (K-ABC) and the Revised Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT-R) Forms L and M was explored for a sample of 30 predominantly black Head Start children. The highest correlations occurred between the K-ABC Achievement Scale and the PPVT-R. The K-ABC Expressive Vocabulary subtest correlated moderately highly with PPVT-R Form L, while the K-ABC Riddles subtest correlated moderately highly with PPVT-R Form M. Mean standard scores for the K-ABC Scales and subtests ranged from 11 to 20 points higher than those obtained on the PPVT-R. It would not appear redundant to administer the PPVT-R in addition to the K-ABC when one needs a receptive vocabulary measure.     

Towards a framework for creative online collaboration: A research on challenges and context

The OnCreate project was initiated by ten universities with expertise in collaborative work in online-based learning environments and explores the specific challenges of implementing university courses in creative disciplines in such an environment. The first research phase comprises a literature search on creativity and its contextual factors in online collaboration in an educational setting. From this research a first set of possible key challenges and contextual key factors has been selected and applied to categorize the results of interviews and surveys on current good practice in creative online collaboration among experienced online teachers from the partner universities. From the key findings we formulate hypotheses to guide future research towards a framework for creative online collaboration. At the same time, the results can serve as inspiration for the educational practice. Notable observations of the good practice research among the partner universities are that they realise innovative collaboration concepts usually on mashed-up environments of state-of-the-art web services rather than on the omnipresent learning management systems (such as Moodle or Blackboard). Also, they show a paradigm shift from teaching to coaching and promotion of an open peer-review culture among the students.     

Methods for assessing higher education research team collaboration: comparing research outputs and participant perceptions across four collaborative research teams

ABSTRACT

This article suggests that situations in which multiple research teams are convened under similar conditions present an opportunity to discover factors that lead to productive collaboration. It argues that social network analysis of research team outputs becomes more valuable when paired with data about research participant perceptions; and that any variables used as indicators of collaboration need to be calibrated using datasets from multiple studies with cross-team comparisons. The article provides an example of the kind of methodology needed to achieve this, describing a study with data from four research teams based at an Australian university campus, reporting their research performance over four years under conditions in which many variables were controlled and with results augmented by a survey of participant perceptions. Findings from the study indicate that there were exceptions to hypothesized associations between participant perceptions of collaboration and specific social network analysis measures over co-authorship data. The article suggests that, given the methodological challenges of studying research teams in the field, multiple datasets combining findings such as those in the present study are a path towards the development of indicators of productive higher education research collaboration.     

Investigation of the Development of Pre-Academic Skills for Preschoolers in Head Start

Abstract

This study modeled the time-dependent nature of pre-academic skills development for a multi-lingual sample of 382 preschoolers attending Head Start. A two-slope latent variable model accurately described the trajectories, which included five assessment points obtained throughout the school year for both pre-literacy and pre-numeracy variables. Classroom quality and child demographic variables including age, gender, native language (Spanish or English), and disability status served as predictors of growth. Results revealed a reversal effect such that steeper growth from October to March was offset, although not completely, by less growth from March to May. Similar interaction effects were observed for predictor variables and their interaction terms across the two slopes. IEP status predicted less growth, while Spanish-language status predicted increased growth, despite the fact that both were associated with low initial achievement. The complexity of the relationship between classroom quality, native language, disability status, and pre-academic growth is discussed.     

台湾《扶幼计划》述评——兼谈对大陆弱势群体幼儿教育的启示

台湾<扶幼计划>是在台湾公私立幼儿教育机构比例失衡,贫富差距加大,家庭支付幼儿教育经费负担日益沉重的背景下出台的.该计划在对需扶助的弱势对象进行划分的基础上,通过学前教育经费补助以及加大优质公立幼儿园资源供给等方式,为弱势儿童提供优质的早期教育,以达到提升人口素质,落实教育公平的目的.虽然该计划出台后面临着一些质疑,如扶助对象划分不明确和可能造成不同幼儿园之间的不良竞争等,但其在保障弱势幼儿充分入学和改善幼儿教育质量等方面产生了重要作用,对我们大陆当前的幼儿教育改革有一定的借鉴和启示意义.     

Mental Health in Head Start: New Directions for the Twenty-First Century

This article has two aims: to explore the historical reasons why mental health has been a contested issue in Head Start, and to describe areas of challenge and innovation which might further the program's goal of improving the well-being of parents and children in poverty. The historical sources of silence in the program concerning mental health issues are noted, and recent efforts to bring mental health closer to the center of the Head Start agenda described. Four areas of challenge which are crucial in improving mental health in Head Start, are then reviewed: definitional issues at the individual and family levels, program-level consultation and services, system-level coordination, and macro-level policy changes. In each section, the nature of the challenge, current innovative practices in response to the challenge, and recommendations for further action are discussed. A concluding section presents a summary of recommendations for both program practice and research.     

Mental Health in Head Start: New Directions for the Twenty-First Century

This article has two aims: to explore the historical reasons why mental health has been a contested issue in Head Start, and to describe areas of challenge and innovation which might further the program's goal of improving the well-being of parents and children in poverty. The historical sources of silence in the program concerning mental health issues are noted, and recent efforts to bring mental health closer to the center of the Head Start agenda described. Four areas of challenge which are crucial in improving mental health in Head Start, are then reviewed: definitional issues at the individual and family levels, program-level consultation and services, system-level coordination, and macro-level policy changes. In each section, the nature of the challenge, current innovative practices in response to the challenge, and recommendations for further action are discussed. A concluding section presents a summary of recommendations for both program practice and research.     

Teacher collaboration in the context of the Responsive Classroom approach

This mixed‐method study examined characteristics and predictors of teacher collaboration. Limited research exists that describes the characteristics of teacher collaboration, and surprisingly little work explains the ways in which teaching experience and teachers’ perceptions of the school environment influence teacher collaboration. Questionnaire data were collected from a sample of 118 elementary school teachers in six schools in a northeast urban school district, and interviews were conducted with administrators in each school. Three schools were in their second year implementing the Responsive Classroom ^® (RC) approach, and three schools were comparison schools. Teachers reported collaborating approximately once or twice per month, generally with fellow grade‐level teachers about student‐centered topics. Teachers in RC schools reported more frequent formal collaboration than comparison school teachers. In regards to predicting teacher collaboration, teachers who used more RC practices and/or resources reported collaborating more, valuing collaboration to a higher degree, and perceiving greater involvement in school decision‐making, controlling for whether they taught at a RC school. Also, teachers’ perceptions of the school environment related positively to teacher collaboration. The current study adds to the understanding of teacher collaboration and its antecedents, contributing uniquely to the literature on how a school‐wide educational initiative is associated with teachers’ perceptions of their school environment as well as their collaborative behaviors and beliefs.     

Buffering boys and boosting girls: The protective and promotive effects of Early Head Start for children's expressive language in the context of parenting stress

Children's characteristics, including gender, influence their development by eliciting differential responses from their environments, and by influencing differential responses to their environments. Parenting-related stress, associated with poverty environments, negatively influences children's language, likely through its impact on parent–child interactions, but may impact boys’ and girls’ development differently. Early intervention represents one tool for supporting development in at-risk toddlers, but gender-differences in effects of intervention are rarely described. The current studies assessed the effects of Early Head Start (EHS) on children's productive vocabulary in the context of parenting stress and examined gender differences in program effects on vocbulary. Data were from the national EHS Research and Evaluation (EHSRE) study (Study 1, N = 3001), and from a dataset associated with one EHSRE site (Study 2, N = 146) where additional data on productive vocabulary were collected. Study 1 found that at 24 months of age, the EHS program protected girls’ productive vocabulary from the negative effects of parenting stress, but had little impact on boys’ vocabulary. In Study 2, the local EHS site promoted girls’ vocabulary development over time from 14 to 36 months despite the negative effects of parenting stress, and protected boys’ vocabulary from the negative parenting stress effects. These results suggest differential ways in which at-risk toddlers are affected by early intervention.     

Scaffolding strategies for wiki‐based collaboration: Action research in a multicultural Japanese language program

Wikis can be used to encourage and support collaborative constructivist learning. However, their effectiveness depends upon the use of scaffolding strategies to guide the students in their use. This action research investigated three scaffolding strategies for wiki‐based multicultural Japanese language learning: worked examples, grouping and peer assessment. It was found that the use of a template explaining the learning objectives and expected learning process was more effective than detailed worked examples. It was also found that heterogeneous grouping and internal and external peer review were important factors and that wiki‐based collaborative learning can be culture laden and in conflict with traditional teaching and learning.     

全球化背景下的教师:挑战与对策

全球化已成为世界经济和社会发展不可抗拒的潮流,它所带来的教育变革也是深刻的。在此背景下,教师在身份、权威与自由方面都面临着新的挑战。要应对这些挑战,不仅需要教育政策与制度方面的支持,而且有赖于教师角色的积极转变。     

The Social Construction of Parent Involvement in Head Start

In the field of early childhood education, dominant discourse is premised on assumptions and values that privilege uniformity, generality, and even the “essential” nature of children and programs that should then be judged according to common criteria. In this article, we focus not on common factors that vary but on particular social practices that have very different meanings for people in two social settings (Taylor, 1979). Specifically, we describe how parent involvement- and parents themselves-were socially constructed within Head Start programs located in different communities, and we suggest how these social practices made particular forms of involvement possible and even necessary. We argue that discourses do not merely represent; they constitute, and different discourses construct both subjects and social relations in particular ways. Finally, we suggest how alternative ways of structuring knowledge and social practice in early childhood might become “communal tools” for exploring yet to be realized possibilities.