A r c h i v e d I n f o r m a t i o n
ED Award to Establish National Center to Enhance Early Development and Learning
Lynn Kimmerly
National Institute on Early Childhood Development and Education
The National Institute on Early Childhood Development and Education has awarded a $13.7 million, five-year cooperative agreement to the Frank Porter Graham Child Development Center at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, to establish a national center to improve and enhance the learning and development of America's young children. Collaborative research sites will be located at the University of Virginia, the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, and the University of California at Los Angeles. The Center, which is directed by Don Bailey, Ph.D., involves 19 senior investigators at the four universities working in collaboration with the Office of Educational Research and Improvement; 12 internationally recognized early educators, family researchers, and policy experts; national organizations; and a team of technical consultants.
Research Focus
The purpose of the Center is to promote the healthy development of young children, including those placed at risk because of economic, linguistic or disability factors. Toward this end, investigators propose to identify effective practices in the care and education of young children, determine the extent to which these practices are being used, identify barriers to them, and test results and models for improvement.
Specifically, the Center will study the quality of child care and early intervention programs as well as critical transitions in the earliest years, with special attention given to transitions to kindergarten. It will also examine broad models for helping preschoolers at risk of educational failure because of failure to thrive syndrome, early onset of antisocial or behavioral problems, or family illiteracy.
Research at the new Center will generate knowledge about the complex ways in which individual, program and systems variables interact with research and public policy to influence programs designed to serve and support young children and their families. As the research progresses, investigators will focus on effective strategies for translating their findings into practice in a multitude of settings, including child care programs, early intervention programs, state and federal administrative agencies, and training programs.
Significant Role for Social Policy Studies
One of the Center's goals is to conduct a series of major policy studies in several critical areas of early development and learning, including the quality of child care; transitions; child aggression; and professional development. Studies in the first year will examine current standards for quality child care; barriers to the implementation of existing policies; and alternative policies which hold high promise for creating positive change in child care and early intervention programs.
Dynamic Dissemination Strategy
Early in each of the five years, the Center will conduct a large-scale, nationally representative survey which will address an early childhood topic of national importance. The investigators will categorize survey findings and generate ideas for future research directions. Results will be made available to parents, teachers, child care professionals, and state and local early childhood administrators and policymakers.
To complement the national surveys, the Center will sponsor a series of annual conferences, to be held in the latter part of the year, that will provide a synthesis of the critical issues in the field of early childhood. These interactive conferences will bring together experts from a variety of perspectives to discuss research questions, identify solutions, and generate ideas for improving programs and practices.
The Center promises to be a national collaboration involving parents, early childhood researchers, practicing professionals and government officials. They will all be working toward a common goal: to improve and enrich the lives of America's young children and their families.
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