This brief is an effort to explore the meaning of the word "curriculum" when applied to working w... more This brief is an effort to explore the meaning of the word "curriculum" when applied to working with infants and toddlers. The idea for the brief emerged from the early childhood community-specifically two groups of applied researchers funded by the Administration for Children and Families, INQUIRE and NITR. [See insert box on page 12 for more information on these groups]. These groups were getting questions from state policy makers and practitioners about the meaning of the term "empiricallybased curricula for infants and toddlers," a requirement for many accountability systems. Questions included DISCLAIMER: The views expressed in this publication do not necessarily represent the views or policies of the Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation (OPRE); Administration for Children and Families; or the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Infant/Toddler Curricula 2 the concept of a curriculum can be incorporated into and used in programs in a way that is developmentally appropriate for this age range.
The present study examined three hypothesized models that describe associations among coparenting... more The present study examined three hypothesized models that describe associations among coparenting quality (as perceived by both parents), parents' gentle guidance, and toddlers' social emotional competencies: (a) direct associations; (b) mediational associations (coparenting quality is associated with toddlers' social emotional competencies through individual parents' gentle guidance); and (c) moderational associations (coparenting quality moderates the relations between parents' gentle guidance and toddlers' social emotional competencies). Sixty-seven mostly middle-class, two-parent families with toddlers were observed in a laboratory setting. Parents completed a questionnaire describing their perceived coparenting quality and their children's social emotional competencies. As hypothesized, there was evidence for a mediational association of coparenting quality with toddlers' social emotional competencies through mothers' gentle guidance but not fathers' gentle guidance. The direct and moderational models of associations between coparenting quality and children's social emotional competencies were not supported by the data.
At the dawn of the field of child development and university-based child laboratories, early in t... more At the dawn of the field of child development and university-based child laboratories, early in the 20th century, forward-looking early education leaders embraced science as a source of understanding child behavior. In these early years, child study included not only the description and understanding of growth and change in children but also the dissemination of this knowledge and its implications for parents, teachers, and others who guided children. Economist Lawrence Frank, a visionary thinker working with the Laura Spelman Rockefeller Memorial Fund, influenced at least nine ‘‘child welfare research institutes’’ between 1917 and 1930—the first university child lab schools—at such institutions as University of California, Berkeley; Iowa State; Minnesota; Michigan; Columbia; Yale; and Merrill-Palmer in Detroit. He did this through the provision of funds, in some cases through the dissemination of his ideas. Frank is credited with ushering in the modern field of child development by supporting and stimulating interdisciplinary research focused on understanding children’s normal development and promoting optimal childrearing. He saw these sites as generators of knowledge that would inform the development of social policy regarding families and children (Barbour, 2003; Benham, 1985; Senn, Murphy, Gallagher, Stolz, & Stolz, 1969). These first lab schools, as highly visible centers of child study and research-based information about parenting and teaching, were widely replicated throughout the 20th century. Ninety years after their inception, many university lab schools are still thriving at colleges and universities. From the beginning lab schools were organized to fulfill a three-part mission: research (generating knowledge about child development), education (preparing teachers, therapists, and other child and family clinicians), and service (disseminating evidence-based information about child development and childrearing to parents and the general public). Today’s lab schools still embrace these goals, with varying degrees of emphasis on research, teaching, and service (McBride et al., 2012=this issue). However, changes over the years in child development research methods, the scale of modern child studies, demographic changes in the United States, and significant financial pressures have combined to challenge the relevancy of traditional lab schools. For example, studies of child development today often use larger, more diverse
ABSTRACT Research Findings: Developmental evaluation is a process in which researchers and progra... more ABSTRACT Research Findings: Developmental evaluation is a process in which researchers and program implementers communicate collaboratively to produce an evaluation that is attuned to critical program issues, provides useful data during program implementation, and results in rigorous methodology and findings informed by program conditions (M. Q. Patton, 199722. Patton , M. Q. ( 1997 ). Utilization focused evaluation. () , 3rd ed. . Thousand Oaks , CA . View all references). The implementation evaluation of Indiana's Paths to QUALITY™, a statewide quality rating and improvement system (QRIS), provides examples of this developmental evaluation process. Researchers and program leaders engaged in collaborative evaluation planning, QRIS standards validation, and review of formative data about the experiences of child care providers, parents, and children in the system. Frequent communication between evaluators and program implementers during the 4-year evaluation project resulted in (a) QRIS leaders having timely data that they used to fine-tune the program and (b) evaluators making needed adjustments in the research design and making more plausible interpretations of results. Examples of the collaborative evaluation process are given, with reflective comments provided by the state QRIS administrator. Practice or Policy: The collaborative strategies used in the implementation and evaluation of this state-level child care QRIS may be useful for other states or localities as they plan large-scale early care and education systems.
... these questions in light of recent theory and research concerned with the quality of relation... more ... these questions in light of recent theory and research concerned with the quality of relationships formed between infants and their primary caregivers, and then examine the implications these first relationships have for social development during early and mid-dle childhood. ...
Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, Aug 1, 1994
A process model of friendship formation in preadolescence is proposed in this article, and the co... more A process model of friendship formation in preadolescence is proposed in this article, and the continuity of early parent-child relationships (quality of attachment) with later friendship processes and peer competence is explored. Thirty-two preadolescents, subjects in a longitudinal study of attachment and subsequent social development, were observed in 4-week summer day camps. Those who had been securely attached with their caregivers as infants revealed a higher level of peer competence than did those with anxious attachment histories. However, preadolescents of both types of attachment reported and were observed to form friendships. In-depth case studies of four friendship pairs of preadolescents with different attachment histories suggested that there are corresponding differences in the quality and growth processes of those pairs of friendships. A three-stage model of preadolescent friendship growth is proposed, based on relationship dimensions and reflective of earlier relational patterns.
Laura, nearly 6, recently engaged in a challenging and rewarding learning experience. She learned... more Laura, nearly 6, recently engaged in a challenging and rewarding learning experience. She learned how to “chain knit.” She had received a beautiful, small, hardwood knitter as a Christmas gift. One wintry Saturday morning, she asked her father, Jim, if they could do some knitting. When he agreed, she enthusiastically explained how she planned to “make a lot of knitted
This brief is an effort to explore the meaning of the word "curriculum" when applied to working w... more This brief is an effort to explore the meaning of the word "curriculum" when applied to working with infants and toddlers. The idea for the brief emerged from the early childhood community-specifically two groups of applied researchers funded by the Administration for Children and Families, INQUIRE and NITR. [See insert box on page 12 for more information on these groups]. These groups were getting questions from state policy makers and practitioners about the meaning of the term "empiricallybased curricula for infants and toddlers," a requirement for many accountability systems. Questions included DISCLAIMER: The views expressed in this publication do not necessarily represent the views or policies of the Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation (OPRE); Administration for Children and Families; or the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Infant/Toddler Curricula 2 the concept of a curriculum can be incorporated into and used in programs in a way that is developmentally appropriate for this age range.
The present study examined three hypothesized models that describe associations among coparenting... more The present study examined three hypothesized models that describe associations among coparenting quality (as perceived by both parents), parents' gentle guidance, and toddlers' social emotional competencies: (a) direct associations; (b) mediational associations (coparenting quality is associated with toddlers' social emotional competencies through individual parents' gentle guidance); and (c) moderational associations (coparenting quality moderates the relations between parents' gentle guidance and toddlers' social emotional competencies). Sixty-seven mostly middle-class, two-parent families with toddlers were observed in a laboratory setting. Parents completed a questionnaire describing their perceived coparenting quality and their children's social emotional competencies. As hypothesized, there was evidence for a mediational association of coparenting quality with toddlers' social emotional competencies through mothers' gentle guidance but not fathers' gentle guidance. The direct and moderational models of associations between coparenting quality and children's social emotional competencies were not supported by the data.
At the dawn of the field of child development and university-based child laboratories, early in t... more At the dawn of the field of child development and university-based child laboratories, early in the 20th century, forward-looking early education leaders embraced science as a source of understanding child behavior. In these early years, child study included not only the description and understanding of growth and change in children but also the dissemination of this knowledge and its implications for parents, teachers, and others who guided children. Economist Lawrence Frank, a visionary thinker working with the Laura Spelman Rockefeller Memorial Fund, influenced at least nine ‘‘child welfare research institutes’’ between 1917 and 1930—the first university child lab schools—at such institutions as University of California, Berkeley; Iowa State; Minnesota; Michigan; Columbia; Yale; and Merrill-Palmer in Detroit. He did this through the provision of funds, in some cases through the dissemination of his ideas. Frank is credited with ushering in the modern field of child development by supporting and stimulating interdisciplinary research focused on understanding children’s normal development and promoting optimal childrearing. He saw these sites as generators of knowledge that would inform the development of social policy regarding families and children (Barbour, 2003; Benham, 1985; Senn, Murphy, Gallagher, Stolz, & Stolz, 1969). These first lab schools, as highly visible centers of child study and research-based information about parenting and teaching, were widely replicated throughout the 20th century. Ninety years after their inception, many university lab schools are still thriving at colleges and universities. From the beginning lab schools were organized to fulfill a three-part mission: research (generating knowledge about child development), education (preparing teachers, therapists, and other child and family clinicians), and service (disseminating evidence-based information about child development and childrearing to parents and the general public). Today’s lab schools still embrace these goals, with varying degrees of emphasis on research, teaching, and service (McBride et al., 2012=this issue). However, changes over the years in child development research methods, the scale of modern child studies, demographic changes in the United States, and significant financial pressures have combined to challenge the relevancy of traditional lab schools. For example, studies of child development today often use larger, more diverse
ABSTRACT Research Findings: Developmental evaluation is a process in which researchers and progra... more ABSTRACT Research Findings: Developmental evaluation is a process in which researchers and program implementers communicate collaboratively to produce an evaluation that is attuned to critical program issues, provides useful data during program implementation, and results in rigorous methodology and findings informed by program conditions (M. Q. Patton, 199722. Patton , M. Q. ( 1997 ). Utilization focused evaluation. () , 3rd ed. . Thousand Oaks , CA . View all references). The implementation evaluation of Indiana's Paths to QUALITY™, a statewide quality rating and improvement system (QRIS), provides examples of this developmental evaluation process. Researchers and program leaders engaged in collaborative evaluation planning, QRIS standards validation, and review of formative data about the experiences of child care providers, parents, and children in the system. Frequent communication between evaluators and program implementers during the 4-year evaluation project resulted in (a) QRIS leaders having timely data that they used to fine-tune the program and (b) evaluators making needed adjustments in the research design and making more plausible interpretations of results. Examples of the collaborative evaluation process are given, with reflective comments provided by the state QRIS administrator. Practice or Policy: The collaborative strategies used in the implementation and evaluation of this state-level child care QRIS may be useful for other states or localities as they plan large-scale early care and education systems.
... these questions in light of recent theory and research concerned with the quality of relation... more ... these questions in light of recent theory and research concerned with the quality of relationships formed between infants and their primary caregivers, and then examine the implications these first relationships have for social development during early and mid-dle childhood. ...
Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, Aug 1, 1994
A process model of friendship formation in preadolescence is proposed in this article, and the co... more A process model of friendship formation in preadolescence is proposed in this article, and the continuity of early parent-child relationships (quality of attachment) with later friendship processes and peer competence is explored. Thirty-two preadolescents, subjects in a longitudinal study of attachment and subsequent social development, were observed in 4-week summer day camps. Those who had been securely attached with their caregivers as infants revealed a higher level of peer competence than did those with anxious attachment histories. However, preadolescents of both types of attachment reported and were observed to form friendships. In-depth case studies of four friendship pairs of preadolescents with different attachment histories suggested that there are corresponding differences in the quality and growth processes of those pairs of friendships. A three-stage model of preadolescent friendship growth is proposed, based on relationship dimensions and reflective of earlier relational patterns.
Laura, nearly 6, recently engaged in a challenging and rewarding learning experience. She learned... more Laura, nearly 6, recently engaged in a challenging and rewarding learning experience. She learned how to “chain knit.” She had received a beautiful, small, hardwood knitter as a Christmas gift. One wintry Saturday morning, she asked her father, Jim, if they could do some knitting. When he agreed, she enthusiastically explained how she planned to “make a lot of knitted
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