Key Takeaways:
- Harsher immigration law enforcement by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement leads to decreased use of prenatal care for foreign-born mothers and declines in birth weight.
- The uptick in ICE activities under the Trump administration may have long-lasting, harmful effects on U.S.-born citizens.
- Sheriffs and local governments should terminate their 287(g) agreements with ICE or allow them to expire.
- Educating immigrant communities on their rights may help protect immigrant families from enduring abuse from ICE and possibly lead to less stressful encounters with immigration authorities.
Esther E.Palacios-Barrios, Jamie L.Hanson, Kelly R.Barry, W. Dustin Albert, Stuart F.White, Ann T.Skinner, Kenneth A.Dodge, Jennifer E.Lansford. Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience (2021) 48: 100920. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dcn.2021.100920
Lisa Barao, Anthony A. Braga, Brandon Turchan, Philip J. Cook. Policing: An International Journal (2021). doi: 10.1108/PIJPSM-01-2021-0011
Steven W. Hemelt, Helen F. Ladd, Calen R. Clifton. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis (2021) 43 (2): 280-304. https://doi.org/10.3102/0162373721990361
Romina Tome, Marcos A. Rangel, Christina M. Gibson-Davis, Laura Bellows. PLoS One (2021) 16 (2): e0245020. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0245020
By: Ennis Baker, Sharon Little & Lauren Thomason
As we confront the challenges facing communities and families and look for creative and effective strategies to promote resilience in young children, the vulnerabilities and opportunities presented by the first 1,000 days of life demand our attention. The science that informs best practice in early intervention, early childhood education, and early childhood mental health is clear: the most important resource infants and toddlers have is the relationships they develop with adult caregivers. For young children in child care programs, relationships with their teachers are a resource they depend on.
Infants and toddlers enrolled in group child care spend up to 50 hours a week in classroom settings and rely on their teachers to provide safe, stable, nurturing, and responsive relationships; yet our child care systems do not prioritize relationship-based practices. From birth to age three, children are growing and forming neural connections faster than at any other point in their lives, with more than one million new neural connections forming every second.
The disproportionality between the representation of white students and students of color in gifted education programs is both persistent and pervasive. Attempts over the years to remedy the issue have done little to narrow this disparity.
Elizabeth O. Ananat, Anna Gassman-Pines. Journal of Marriage and Family (2021) 83(1): 10-26. doi: 10.1111/jomf.12696
Social and emotional development was in peril prior to the pandemic. After this time apart, it will take systematic, intentional, and intensive efforts to get social and emotional learning back on track.
Kailey White, Philip J. Cook, Harold A. Pollack. Preventive Medicine (2021) 143. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ypmed.2020.106381
Project Description
The National Research Center on Hispanic Children & Families (Center) is a research hub to generate evidence and support programs and policy to better serve low-income Hispanic children and families. Areas of research focus include poverty reduction and economic self-sufficiency; family stability; and early care and education. A key part of the Center’s mission is to advance the research community by providing tools, resources, and support for emerging scholars and practitioners. The Center is a collaboration directed by Child Trends, in partnership with Duke University, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, and University of Maryland, College Park. The Center is supported by the Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation within the Administration for Children and Families in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Charles T. Clotfelter, Helen F. Ladd, Calen R. Clifton, Mavzuna R. Turaeva. Race and Social Problems (2021) 13 (2): 131-160. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12552-020-09309-w
In response to police killings of Black people and the ensuing protests that took place in communities across the country in 2020, media coverage in North Carolina and in much of the nation this past year has focused heavily on instances of police violence and the protests and counterprotests that have since occurred throughout the United States.
Project Description
Over the past two years, this project team has been examining how race and nonverbal communication, such as gesture and affect, impact children’s learning. Through a set of in-lab studies that measured learning outcomes in response to a series of instructional videos, the team generated strong pilot data suggesting gestures may not only improve children’s memory for new information but also function as a “cultural bridge” between teachers and students of different races.
By combining extensive interdisciplinary expertise in racial identity development, cognitive and language development, educational psychology, and public policy with deep-rooted community partnerships, this team hopes to develop and share more equitable teaching models.
Project Goals
The team is working to replicate their research in the lab and pilot a gesture intervention in first and second grade classrooms in local elementary schools. They hypothesize that children of all races will have better recall of vocabulary when their teachers use gestures in their instruction.
Related Resources
Key Takeaways:
- Economic instability remains high among hourly service workers — from both job and household income loss.
- Food insecurity has increased significantly among working families.
- Safety net programs can help families maintain their incomes and reduce food insecurity, however benefits are not reaching everyone.
- Keeping vulnerable families afloat during the pandemic will require policymakers extending benefit programs such as Pandemic Unemployment Compensation (PUC) and reducing administrative barriers to accessing government social safety net programs.
The Duke University Center for Child and Family Policy partnered with the Durham Crisis Response Center, the Exchange Family Center, the Center for Child and Family Health, and the Durham County Department of Social Services to create the Durham Integrated Domestic Violence Response System (DIDVRS). DIDVRS is an evidence-based, community-led approach to more appropriately address the needs of children and families experiencing domestic and familial1 violence.
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During the spring of 2020, a statewide survey was undertaken to understand how early childhood educators sought to navigate the transition to remote learning during the COVID-19 pandemic.
This brief uses data from a survey of educators in nine districts participating in the North Carolina Resilience and Learning Project on the challenges of remote learning and education during the COVID-19 pandemic. It offers recommendations for improving educational equity during remote learning, addressing the following areas: technology access, availability of adult support, student well-being, adapting to virtual learning, reimagining expectations, and supporting teachers.
This Brief Will Cover
- Emotional and Mental Health Support for Teachers. Survey data from N.C. teachers on their concerns about returning to school in the fall. Recommended strategies for helping school administrators promote wellness among school staff upon their return.
- Re-envisioning the Way Students and Schools Interact. Recommended practices for promoting relationship building among teachers, staff and students.
- Changes in Curricula. Suggestions for school districts on how to integrate a socialemotional learning (SEL) model into the larger schoolwide curriculum.
- A Team Effort. Recommendation for school administrators to consider establishing a pandemic response team to support implementation of trauma-informed practices across schools.
This brief provides an overview of the various channels through which COVID-19 has affected the lives of children and families, and proposes 4 key actions to help communities heal and build stronger, equitable systems:
- Create a “new” public health system centered upon a universal approach to care with a focus on equity.
- Invest in early childhood systems to maintain and strengthen childcare providers in the long term.
- Invest in K-12 education to minimize educational loss caused by the pandemic.
- Expand social safety net to be robust enough to keep families afloat during an economic crisis.
This brief provides an overview of lessons learned about online schooling for young children during the COVID-19 pandemic from K-1 classroom and ESL teachers, and 5 recommendations for how to support the continuation of online learning into the next school year.
Findings from a Statewide Survey of Teachers, by Robert C. Carr, Ph.D.
Key Takeaways:
- Government officials halted housing evictions in North Carolina as a response to the COVID-19 crisis.
- We analyze administrative data on evictions from the N.C. Administrative Office of the Courts and on public school children in Durham to identify characteristics of children who experience eviction.
- Our analysis shows that an additional benefit of the moratorium is protection for children who are already at risk for negative education, health and family economic outcomes.
- A forward-looking housing policy is needed to help protect these vulnerable children and families once the moratorium is lifted.
Children’s earliest experiences shape their brain’s architecture and create the foundation for healthy development and future learning. High-quality early learning environments support children in meeting critical developmental milestones, and children who attend high-quality early education programs are better prepared for success in school — academically, socially and emotionally.
This policy brief focuses on how necessary responses to the COVID-19 pandemic alter the health and social service landscape for children and families, particularly those who were already vulnerable, and offers policy guidance.
Inside:
- Protecting the Physical Well-Being of Essential Child Care Providers and Young Children
- Supporting the Social-Emotional Well-Being of Essential Child Care Providers and Young Children
- Caring for Older Children
- Supporting Child Care Administrators Whose Facilities are Staying Open to Meet Essential Needs
This brief provides an overview of key ways in which COVID-19 has impacted working families, as drawn from our
study’s survey analysis.
1. Drastic Reductions in Work Hours and Increase in Job Loss
2. Harmed Well-Being of Both Parents and Their Children
3. Policy Supports Not Reaching Families
4. Employer-Provided Benefits Reaching Some Families
Clara G. Muschkin, Helen F. Ladd, Kenneth A. Dodge, Yu Bai. Educational Policy (2020) 34 (2): 377-407. https://doi.org/10.1177/0895904818773901
Lisa A. Gennetian, Christopher Rodrigues. Journal of Economics, Race, and Policy (2020) 4 (1): 34-46. https://doi.org/10.1007/s41996-019-00046-w
Education Finance and Policy (2019) 14 (3): 492–521.
Kristin A. Gross, Carolyn Barnes, Deondra Rose. Policy Studies Journal (2019) 47(2): 451-470. https://doi.org/10.1111/psj.12312
Carolyn Y. Barnes, Sarah Nolan. Children and Youth Services Review (2019) 98: 238-251. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2019.01.004
Leslie M. Babinski, Desiree W. Murray, Wilkie A. Wilson Jr., Cynthia M. Kuhn, Patrick S. Malone. Journal of Adolescent Health (2018) 63(4): 489-496. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2018.05.016
Hans Saint-Eloi Cadely, Joe F. Pittman, Gregory S. Pettit, Jennifer E. Lansford, John E. Bates, Kenneth A. Dodge, Amy Holtzworth-Munroe. Journal of Interpersonal Violence (2018) 36 (9-10): NP4679 – NP4704. https://doi.org/10.1177/0886260518795173
Leslie M. Babinski, Steven J. Amendum, Steven E. Knotek, Marta Sánchez, Patrick Malone. American Educational Research Journal (2017) 55 (1): 117-143. https://doi.org/10.3102/0002831217732335