Research Resources and Documents
Effective early childhood programs and practices are continually being informed by current research. This site provides a link to some selected resources regarding relevant early childhood research.
The Center for the Improvement of Early Reading Achievement (CIERA) is a national center for research on early reading, representing a consortium of educators, teacher educators, teachers, publishers, professional organizations, and schools and school districts across the United States. Its website contains many resources related to early reading including reports of research.
Child Care and Early Childhood Research Connections offers a comprehensive and easily searchable collection of nearly 9,000 resources from the many disciplines related to child care and early education.
Early Developments, Spring 2005 (Issue 9, Volume 1) is devoted to the findings of research done over the past four years on public pre-kindergarten classrooms, teachers, and children. Articles include: Pre-K in the States, How is the Pre-K Day Spent, Who Goes to Pre-K and How Are They Doing, Who Are the Pre-K Teachers, and What Are Pre-K Classrooms Like. These articles may be freely printed and shared.
Economic Benefits of High-Quality Early Childhood Programs: What Makes the Difference? by Ellen Galinsky of the Families and Work Institute examines the factors associates with high-quality early education programs. Galinsky examines three well-known, high-quality programs–the High/Scope Perry Preschool Project, the Carolina Abcedarian Project, and Chicago’s Child-Parent Centers–and has examined what those programs actually did to have such lasting impact decades later.
The National Institute for Early Education Research supports early childhood education initiatives by providing objective, nonpartisan information based on research. The goal of NIEER is to produce and communicate the knowledge base required to ensure that every American child can receive a good education at ages three and four. The Institute seeks to provide policy makers with timely information addressing the practical problems they face.
The National Scientific Council on the Developing Child strives to enhance the early development of children through the design and implementation of effective public and private policies and programs.
The NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development: Findings for Children up to Age 4 1/2. This 62-page booklet, published in 2006, is a report on the collected information about different non-maternal child care arrangements, about children and families who use these arrangements, those who do not, and child outcomes.
The Public Policy Forum of Wisconsin, a nonpartisan “government watchdog,” has created an online chart that summarizes the findings of more than 20 early childhood education studies. Longitudinal studies, reviews and meta-analyses, and cross-sectional analyses were examined for outcomes in cognition, behavior, sociability, education, external benefits to society, and benefit-cost ratio.
The Research Network on Early Experience and Brain Development was founded in 1998 to address questions of how the experiences of early childhood are incorporated into the structures of the developing brain, and how, in turn, those changes in the structures of the brain influence behavior.
School of the 21st Century: Linking Communities, Families and Schools. Through both process and outcome evaluations at several 21C sites, the Yale University Bush Center in Child Development and Social Policy has gathered ample evidence of the efficacy of the School of the 21st Century model. The findings from both sources provide compelling evidence that 21C benefits children, parents, and the school as a whole. Information about this, and related research, can be found on this Web site.
Evidence-Based Practice
California Evidence-Based Clearinghouse for Child Welfare
This organization provides ratings of child welfare programs, conducts literature reviews and offers other resources on effective practices.
Nebraska Evidence-Based Practice Policy Consortium
The Nebraska Evidence-Based Practice Policy Consortium is intended to be an outlet for policymakers, researchers, providers, and other stakeholders to gain knowledge about, investigate, and engage in the rigorous research of child and adolescent behavioral health practices in the state of Nebraska.
Promising Practices Network on Children, Families and Communities
The Promising Practices Network (PPN) is dedicated to providing quality evidence-based information about what works to improve the lives of children, youth, and families.