Research

This study tested the hypothesis that high-quality kindergarten teachers sustain and amplify the skill development of children who participated in North Carolina’s NC Pre-K program during the previous year. Higher value-added teachers promoted the skill development of all children, but did not differentially benefit the skill development of former NC Pre-K participants compared to non-participants.

In early 2022, CCFP conducted focus groups comprised of diverse parents and child care providers from across North Carolina. This brief synthesizes their views on the system’s strengths, needs, and ideas for improvement with respect to the early care and education workforce.

In early 2022, CCFP conducted focus groups comprised of diverse parents and child care providers from across North Carolina. This brief synthesizes their views on the system’s strengths, needs, and ideas for improvement with respect to availability and affordability.

In early 2022, CCFP conducted focus groups comprised of diverse parents and child care providers from across North Carolina. This brief synthesizes their views on the system strengths, needs, and ideas for improvement with respect to young children’s social and emotional development.

In early 2022, CCFP conducted focus groups comprised of diverse parents and child care providers from across North Carolina. This brief synthesizes their views on the system’s strengths, needs, and ideas for improvement with respect to school readiness.

Project Description Family child care homes (FCCHs) are an important part of the early care and education system in North Carolina. While they make up only about a quarter of licensed care providers, they provide a critical service especially to families that work non-traditional hours, reside in rural communities or speak primary languages other than…

This study assessed whether the peer environment in kindergarten and first grade affected student learning following an early mathematics intervention. Findings suggest that classroom peer effects may play only a limited role in sustaining early intervention effects.

This research brief summarizes the findings of randomized control trial evaluations of the Family Connects program. The findings suggest that, when implemented with high quality, Family Connects has been effective at improving maternal and infant health and well-being and reducing health disparities among racial groups.

COVID-19 has led to a child care workforce and mental health crisis for staff, families, and children under age three (infants and toddlers). The current level of stress for chil­dren, families, and infant-toddler early care and education professionals and its impact on infant and toddler well-being needs our attention.

Estimates indicate that a child’s exposure to higher NC Pre-K funding was positively associated with that child’s academic achievement 6 years later. NC Pre-K funding effects on achievement were positive for all subgroups tested, and statistically significant for most.

Current findings build support for the effectiveness of TCIT-U as universal prevention of behavior problems with an ethnically and racially diverse sample of teachers and children, including children with developmental disabilities.

Together with the Child Trends, researchers from CCFP are gathering feedback from parents and providers on what they think makes a high quality early care and education environment for infants and toddlers.

What is Behavioral Economics A mother, let us call her Madison, intends to breastfeed her child exclusively for the first six months after consideration of the information she has read about the benefits to her and her child. After a few months, however, she adds formula even though breastfeeding has been going well and there…

The pandemic profoundly affected American children with disruptions to their schooling and daily care. A new study found that service sector workers who had a young child reported disruption on 24 percent of days in fall 2020. The disruptions were more common in remote learning and had a negative impact on children’s behavior and on parenting mood and behavior.

This brief examines how the benefits of high-quality ECE might simultaneously diminish and persist in the long run. Strategies are then discussed to sustain the impacts of ECE during elementary school.

CCFP researchers are working with Families and Communities Rising to select, implement, and evaluate a school readiness assessment at their Head Start sites across Durham and Orange Counties.

Together with the Hunt Institute, researchers from CCFP are implementing a collaborative partnership to support NC DHHS’ Division of Child Development and Early Education in completing updates to North Carolina’s Preschool Development (Birth Through Five) Needs Assessment, including information on the impact of COVID-19 on the child care and early education experiences of children and families.

Baby’s First Years is a pathbreaking study of the causal impact of monthly, unconditional cash gifts to low-income mothers and their children in the first three years of the child’s life. The cash gifts are funded through charitable foundations. The study will identify whether reducing poverty can affect early childhood development and the family processes that support children’s development.

Early proficiency in math skills is increasingly being seen as an independent area worthy of early curriculum development and policy investment to reduce socioeconomic disparities in children’s school readiness.

Project Description CCFP researchers have partnered with colleagues at The Hunt Institute and Child Trends on multiple projects for North Carolina’s Preschool Development Grant, within the North Carolina Division of Child Development and Early Education. The Preschool Development Grant Birth through Five (PDG) is administered by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration…

This project seeks to understand whether, for whom, and how the effects of successful early childhood school readiness interventions are sustained across a child’s development.

Evaluation of a unified strategy to early childhood development called Responsive Early Access for Durham’s Young Children (READY). READY was created by a Durham-based nonprofit in partnership with early care and education, pediatrics, family support, mental health, and homeless services organizations and professionals.

Project Description The Durham Children’s Initiative (DCI) (formerly East Durham Children’s Initiative) is a place-based, nonprofit organization that supports children and families from cradle to college or career. Established in 2010, DCI’s vision is that all children in Durham graduate from high school ready for college or career. To achieve this vision, DCI provides children…

Project Description Evaluation of the Incredible Years Dinosaur Classroom Prevention Program (IY Dina) paired with teacher training in Incredible Years Teacher Classroom Management (IYT). IY Dina is a universal social-emotional curriculum that trains children in the skills they need for self-regulation, improved school behavior, and enhanced social competence. IYT targets teachers’ use of effective classroom…

Project Description The Larry King Center for Building Children’s Futures is a new initiative aimed at improving the lives of children in Charlotte, North Carolina. Project Goals The Larry King Center has identified the following key objectives: improve school readiness, reduce the incidence and impact of child abuse and neglect, and increase access to health…

Project Description There is a concerning lack of available mental health services for children aged zero to five with serious emotional disturbances and their families in Alamance County. Alamance County Department of Social Services, through this grant, is building such services within the framework of a comprehensive home- and community-based System of Care. Evaluation of…

Project Description Evaluate the work and activities of the Larry King Center in Charlotte, NC. Project Goals The evaluation of the activities of the Larry King Center involved four components: Survey with participants of the School Readiness Action Planning Process that occurred in 2011. The goal of this survey was to assess what activities have…

Project Description The purpose of the “Impact of Toxic Stress on Self-Regulation: Implications for ACF Programs” project was to Thoroughly describe research on the impact of toxic stress on the development of self-regulation skills and capacity from early childhood though young adulthood. Review and describe the effectiveness of interventions to promote self-regulation for universal and…

The Infant-Toddler Trauma-Informed Care (ITTI Care) Project leverages the existing early childhood education workforce support system to expand and strengthen trauma-informed knowledge and practice within the communities they serve.

Project Description Children whose parents use substances or are incarcerated (or both) are at-risk for experiencing negative outcomes, e.g., physical and mental health declines, early substance use initiation, criminal activity, being exposed to maltreatment or harsh parenting, and poor school outcomes. In the U.S., at a point in time, 2 million children have an incarcerated…

Project Description Book Babies is a program created by Book Harvest to provide Medicaid-eligible Durham area children with books. Book Babies staff visit families starting at a child’s birth and every 6 months thereafter until the child starts Kindergarten. At each home visit, Book Babies staff deliver 10 age appropriate books and spend time with…

Project Description This project involves data analyses related to early childhood programs and initiatives housed at North Carolina’s Department of Health and Human Services, including the North Carolina Early Childhood Action Plan. Project Goals The goal of this project is to analyze early childhood programs within North Carolina’s Department of Health and Human Services. Project…

In 2017-18 and 2018-19, with funding from the Institute of Education Sciences, we provided training to 54 classrooms in Guilford County to promote the implementation of two of the Incredible Years Series of Programs: Incredible Years Teacher Classroom Management and Incredible Years Dinosaur School.

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.

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 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…

Findings from a Statewide Survey of Teachers, by Robert C. Carr, Ph.D.

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.

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

Based on growing evidence of the long-term benefits of enriched early childhood experiences, we evaluate the potential for addressing gender disparities in elementary school through early care and education programs.

Carolyn Barnes uses ethnographic accounts of three organizations to reveal how interacting with government-funded after-school programs can enhance the civic and political lives of low-income citizens.

North Carolina’s Smart Start and More at Four (MAF) early childhood programs were evaluated through the end of elementary school (age 11) by estimating the impact of state funding allocations to programs in each of 100 counties across 13 consecutive years on outcomes for all children in each county-year group (n = 1,004,571; 49% female; 61% non-Latinx White, 30% African American, 4% Latinx, 5% other).

This study examines the community-wide effects of investments in two early childhood initiatives in North Carolina (Smart Start and More at Four) on the likelihood of a student being placed into special education.