Child Development and Public Policy: Toward a Dynamic Systems Perspective

Little theoretical work exists that proposes general mechanisms for how public policies may influence child development. This article argues that dynamic systems theories may be useful in illuminating such processes, as well as highlighting gaps in current research at the intersection of public policy analysis and developmental science. A brief review of dynamic systems theories as they are currently utilized in other areas of developmental science is provided, as well as a statement of why they may help advance research in public policy and child development. Five principles of dynamic systems theories are presented and discussed using examples from research that address the question, "How do current antipoverty and welfare reform policies affect children?" Also presented are examples of hypotheses and research questions that each principle may generate for future work. The concluding section presents challenges that each principle poses for research methodology, and potential uses of the dynamic systems approach for developing and integrating policy and program initiatives.     

Is Skill Type the Key to the PreK Fadeout Puzzle? Differential Associations Between Enrollment in PreK and Constrained and Unconstrained Skills Across Kindergarten

This study examines whether associations between enrollment in public and non-public PreK and children’s (N = 508; M_age = 5.60 years in fall of kindergarten) math and language and literacy outcomes were more likely to be sustained through the spring of kindergarten for unconstrained versus constrained skills. Associations between public PreK and language, literacy, and math outcomes were more strongly sustained through the spring of kindergarten for unconstrained skills, relative to constrained skills. Only associations between non-public PreK and unconstrained language skills were sustained through the spring of kindergarten. Associations in the fall of kindergarten differed by family income and dual language learner (DLL) status but there was no subgroup variation by the spring of kindergarten. Implications for policy and practice are discussed.     

How Preservice Teachers Engage in the Process of (De)Colonization: Findings from an International Field Experience in Honduras

Critical multicultural education and its promise of cultural inclusion face a crisis induced by powerful neoliberal forces that view education as an economic enterprise rather than open dialogue and inclusive pedagogies. With this in mind, this article uses interpretive phenomenology to examine how US American preservice teachers engage in the process of decolonization to challenge neoliberal influences in education and develop multicultural awareness during an international cross-cultural field experience in Honduras. Participants in this study comprise seventy-six preservice teachers from a Mid-Western university who went on a study abroad program to Honduras. Data for the study were collected through interviews, discussions, class assignments, reflective journals and researchers’ field notes and observations. Multiple levels of data analysis reveal that international cross-cultural field experiences promote a deeper understanding of colonial social relations and questioning of powerful neoliberal networks that perpetuate the status quo to disadvantage diverse and minority students. Findings also indicate that through reflexive and critical dialogue preservice teachers negotiate difference, engage with the self and other, and question their own knowledge and practices in sustaining colonial relations of privilege and domination with implications for classroom practice. This study suggests that ongoing multicultural awareness at every stage of teacher preparation, beginning at the preservice level, has the power to effect change in future classroom practice so that all students, including diverse minority populations experience educational equity and equal opportunities for academic success.     

Children’s Expressive Language Skills and Their Impact on the Relation Between First- and Second-Language Phonological Awareness Skills

The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether the cross-language relations between the phonological awareness (PA) skills of preschool children learning more than one language are dependent upon their first- and second-language oral language skills. Four hundred sixty-six Spanish-speaking language minority children participated in this study. Results indicated that the relation between children’s first- and second-language PA skills varied as a function of their first- and second-language oral language skills. This effect was language specific such that only oral language skills in the same language as the PA outcome moderated the relations between children’s first- and second-language PA skills. This study helps extend findings from prior research on the cross-language transfer of PA.     

Promoting the development of preschool children’s emergent literacy skills: a randomized evaluation of a literacy-focused curriculum and two professional development models

To date, there have been few causally interpretable evaluations of the impacts of preschool curricula on the skills of children at-risk for academic difficulties, and even fewer studies have demonstrated statistically significant or educationally meaningful effects. In this cluster-randomized study, we evaluated the impacts of a literacy-focused preschool curriculum and two types of professional development on the emergent literacy skills of preschool children at-risk for educational difficulties. Forty-eight preschools were randomly assigned to a business-as-usual control, a literacy-focused curriculum with workshop-only professional development, or a literacy-focused curriculum with workshop plus in-class mentoring professional development conditions. An ethnically diverse group of 739 preschool children was assessed on language and literacy outcomes. Results revealed significant and moderate effects for the curriculum and small, mostly nonsignificant, effects of professional development across child outcomes and classroom measures.     

From Drill Sergeants to Maternal Negotiators: Mass-Mediated Business Strategies in the 1980s

By drawing on Foucault's theory of governmentality, this essay posits that media discourses helped to create, deliberate upon, and circulate proper practices for U.S. white-collar working women in the 1980s. Analysis of discourse circulating in mass media about the woman manager, the saleswoman, and the woman union leader shows that media outlets claimed each would offer innovative solutions to counteract the volatile economy in the 1980s. For example, the logic of maternal management propagated in these discourses valorized a “return to the home” for women while simultaneously claiming that men were better maternal managers than women. The privileged subject ultimately emerging in this discourse was a feminized businessman, rather than a maternal or feminized businesswoman.     

The Transition from Early Child Care to Preschool: Emerging Toddler Skills and Readiness for Group-Based Learning

Research Findings: National policy today is on the brink of defining preschool experiences as essential for children’s academic success. Indeed, many children’s classroom experience begins as they transition from infant/toddler care to a preschool classroom. This study examined developmentally relevant skill domains among 36-month-olds (effortful control, social engagement, and language abilities) and tested their organization in a latent factor model of skills hypothesized to promote classroom adaptation. Assessments of low-income children interacting with a parent and examiner from the Early Head Start Research and Evaluation Project were utilized (n = 1,814). The data included observations of mother–child interactions during semistructured activities at home and child behavior assessments. Results indicated that the interrelated structure of children’s skills was best defined in a 2-factor, latent variable model: effortful control and social communication. These learning skills were related to but separate from general cognitive ability. Practice or Policy: Home-visiting programs for infants and toddlers are expected to promote children’s school readiness, yet little research has focused on the skills that facilitate children’s transition to the large-group learning environment at age 3. Implications of this model for early prevention efforts and early childhood teacher training to promote children’s readiness for group-based learning are discussed.