Mobile messaging programs are a low-cost, scalable approach to building parents’ knowledge and capacity to support their children’s development. These programs directly deliver simple and straightforward information, tips, and activities that parents can incorporate into daily routines.
Todd A. Grindal
SRI Author
Associations of teacher characteristics with preschool suspensions and expulsions: Implications for supports
Preschool children subjected to suspension and expulsion miss valuable educational opportunities and are more likely to experience academic failure and grade retention. These forms of exclusionary discipline are more frequent in preschool settings than in K–12 education classrooms.
Early Childhood Throughout the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Experiences of Arkansas Educators
The COVID-19 pandemic has transformed the experiences of young children and their caregivers over the past year. SRI Education and the National Center on Children in Poverty partnered with the Arkansas Division of Child Care and Early Childhood Education (DCCECE) to examine early care and education programs throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. This brief, which represents the second of two reports, highlights findings from a second sample of Arkansas (AR) educators who completed surveys and focus groups in spring 2021. It includes information similar to the first report and provides additional information related to vaccination, supports for students with disabilities, and educators’ plans for moving forward.
Our representative survey of Arkansas early educators found that:
The AR early educators who participated in the fall 2020 and spring 2021 studies were consistent in reporting high compliance and agreement with COVID-19 pandemic procedures.
Nearly all AR early childhood educators reported that they changed practices in response to COVID & will continue to implement one or more of these changes even after restrictions are lifted.
Some ECE teachers reported concerns related to children’s ability to focus their attention during group activities and engage in cooperative play.
ECE program directors reported the greatest interest in receiving additional information about vaccines to share with children’s families; ECE teachers reported the greatest interest in whether ECE staff will be required to get the COVID-19 vaccine.
Both ECE directors and teachers also indicated that having someone with expert knowledge to discuss their individual concerns would motivate early educators to become vaccinated.
Early Childhood Education During the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Experiences of Arkansas Educators
The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the provision of early childhood education in Arkansas and across the United States. In partnership with the Arkansas Division of Children Care and Early Education (DCCECE), SRI International and the National Center on Children in Poverty collected information on how Arkansas early care and education center-based and home providers are implementing state COVID-19-related guidelines and coping with the challenges related to these guidelines.
Using Arkansas’ Administrative Data to Inform Suspension & Expulsion Prevention Policy Implementation
Young children are suspended and expelled from early childhood education programs at high rates. Evidence indicates that this form of exclusion can have negative implications for children’s development and later school success (Adamu & Hogan, 2015; U.S. Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights, 2016). In response, the 2014 reauthorization of the Child Care and Development Block Grant requires states to develop policies to prevent the use of exclusionary practices in early childhood programs. As state administrators seek to implement policies that reduce suspension and expulsion, many are interested in learning how to better prepare the workforce to address the behavioral challenges that lead to suspension and expulsion (Conners et al., 2018). The administrators at the Arkansas Division of Child Care and Early Childhood Education (AR DCCECE), which administers the state Child Care Development Block Grant (CCDBG) to support the care of more than 3,500 children birth to age 5 each year, have implemented a set of policies and initiatives intended to support young children’s social-emotional (SE) development, reduce the use of exclusionary practices in their Child Care Development Fund (CCDF) funded programs, and promote overall child care program quality. These initiatives aim to reduce the use of exclusionary practices while giving teachers and providers the necessary tools for creating environments and interactional approaches that support positive social-emotional development.
This report summarizes the existing administrative data infrastructure and recommendations for the Arkansas Suspension and Expulsion Work Group with the next steps to support better use of administrative data. Its purpose is to inform the implementation of Arkansas’ expulsion prevention policy and the use of supports that enable providers to meet the needs of children with challenging behaviors. The recommendations in this report are based on our work with the Arkansas Suspension and Expulsion Work Group led by AR DCCECE.
Racial Differences in Special Education Identification and Placement: Evidence Across Three States
In this article, Todd Grindal, Laura Schifter, Gabriel Schwartz, and Thomas Hehir examine race/ethnicity differences in students’ special education identification and subsequent placement in segregated educational settings. Using individual-level data on the full population of K–12 public school students in three states, the authors find that racial and ethnic disparities in identification persist within income categories and are stronger for those disabilities that are typically identified in a school setting, such as learning disabilities or emotional disabilities, than those more often identified by a health-care provider, such as blindness or deafness. Also, Black and Hispanic students with disabilities were more likely to be placed in a substantially separate setting, compared to white students, regardless of income status. These results suggest that low-income status is insufficient to explain observed inequalities in the rate at which students of color are identified for special education and placed in substantially separate settings. A better understanding of the ways income status and race contribute to students’ interactions with the special education system are critical for building a more equitable and just K–12 education system.
Advancing Local Early Childhood Systems in Virginia: Next Steps for Local, Regional, and State Stakeholders
Strong local early childhood systems are key to ensuring the healthy development of young children. Over the last decade, Virginia communities have leveraged public and private sector efforts to make substantial progress in coordinating and strengthening local early childhood systems. The Virginia Early Childhood Foundation (VECF) partnered with researchers from SRI Education (SRI) to examine the progress and challenges of early childhood systems building in Virginia with a focus on communities that are part of VECF’s Smart Beginnings network. This document summarizes the findings from that examination and provides recommendations for how VECF, state government, and local leaders can more equitably and effectively serve children and families.
Virginia Early Childhood Foundation Local Early Childhood Systems Building Strategy Map and Indicators
This document describes the Virginia Early Childhood Foundation’s (VECF) strategy map. The strategy map is intended to serve as a guide for VECF as well as its public and private partner organizations in planning, executing, and tracking progress on their efforts to build equitable and durable early childhood (EC) systems across the Commonwealth of Virginia. The strategy map also communicates VECF’s organizational goals and strategies to build and strengthen local EC systems and the indicators it will use to assess and communicate its progress to policymakers and the public.
Virginia Preschool Initiative Plus (VPI+) Final Evaluation Report
The Virginia Preschool Initiative Plus (VPI+) was designed to provide 4-year-old children from low-income families with access to high-quality prekindergarten programs. The Virginia Department of Education contracted with SRI International to evaluate the implementation and impacts of the VPI+ program. SRI researchers found that attending VPI+ had a positive impact on children’s academic and behavioral skills, with the largest impact on literacy skills. In the year between enrolling in VPI+ and beginning kindergarten, participating children developed more than 15 months of mathematics skills and more than 20 months of literacy skills within a 12-month time frame. To learn more about the implementation and impacts of the VPI+ program, please see the full report.
