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Early Childhood Policy Research
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 Mathematica evaluates initiatives designed to improve the well-being of young children and their families, particularly those at greatest risk in our society. The projects reviewed here illustrate the diversity of themes we address, the range of clients we serve, and the breadth of our early childhood and family research. Read more about our work in the early childhood area.
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New Report Looks at Children Beginning Head Start  The Head Start FACES study measures program performance at the national level and collects data on children, their families, classrooms, and programs. According to a new report, children entering the program in fall 2006 scored below national norms on most measures of language, literacy, and math development, but mean standard scores for the highest quartile of children were at the national averages in letter recognition and early writing skills. Read more. |
New Study Looks at Early Head Start
 Mathematica's six-year descriptive study of Early Head Start will describe the experiences of children and their families. Researchers will follow children from infancy to age three. Data sources include direct child assessment and videotaped parent-child interactions; interviews with parents, teachers, home visitors, and program directors; and observations of the home environment and child care settings. Read more.
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Reports: |
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“Beginning Head Start: Children, Families and Programs in Fall 2006.” Louisa Tarullo, Jerry West, Nikki Aikens, and Lara Hulsey, December 2008. The Head Start Family and Child Experiences Survey (FACES), a tool for measuring Head Start program performance at the national level, collects data on successive nationally representative cohorts of the children, their families, classrooms, and programs. It also examines developmental progress of children and their families during and after Head Start participation. In fall 2006, approximately 458,000 children were newly enrolled in 14,400 Head Start centers across the U.S. Just over a third were Hispanic/Latino; another third were African American. On average, children scored below the national norms on most measures of language, literacy, and math development, but mean standard scores for the highest quartile of children were at the national averages in letter recognition and early writing skills.
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"Implementation of the Head Start National Reporting System: Spring 2007." Louisa B. Tarullo, Cheri A. Vogel, Nikki Aikens, Emily Sama Martin, Renée Nogales, and Patricia Del Grosso, December 2008. Over four years of implementation of the Head Start National Reporting System, a direct assessment of 4-year-olds in the year prior to kindergarten, Mathematica staff visited multiple nationally representative samples of programs, observed child assessments, and interviewed program staff. This report chronicles the last round of data collection in spring 2007, before the National Reporting System was terminated. In its studies of regional, tribal, and migrant Head Start programs over the years, Mathematica found that assessors met or exceeded certification standards, and children generally reacted well to the assessments. Mathematica has recommended that Head Start provide further information to help programs select, interpret, and use child assessment data.
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“The Chicago Program Evaluation Project: A Picture of Early Childhood Programs, Teachers, and Preschool-Age Children in Chicago.” Christine Ross, Emily Moiduddin, Cassandra Meagher, and Barbara Carlson, December 2008. The Chicago Program Evaluation Project (C-PEP) describes the 4-year-old children attending Chicago’s early childhood education programs in the fall of 2006, the characteristics of teachers and educational environments of the classrooms, and the developmental progress children made during the 2006-07 preschool year. The study included full-day child care programs in community-based centers (funded by a blend of Head Start and state child care subsidies); half-day Head Start programs in centers and schools, and state Preschool for All programs in schools. The project was designed to inform program improvements and policy, and to provide a baseline for future research. The report notes that Chicago’s early childhood education programs serve a diverse population with a high concentration of educationally at-risk children. Teachers meet or exceed the programs’ educational requirements, which are at the high end of such requirements nationally. Classrooms quality ratings were similar to those reported in studies of early childhood education classrooms nationally—in the middle to high range on emotional support and provisions for learning, but in the low to middle range on classroom organization and instructional support. During the preschool year, C-PEP children made progress relative to 4-year-old children nationally on measures of language development, early literacy, and early mathematics achievement.
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Journal Articles: |
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“Family Resources and Parenting Quality: Links to Children's Cognitive Development Across the First 3 Years.” Julieta Lugo-Gil and Catherine S. Tamis-LeMonda, Child Development, 2008. This article examines family resources, parenting quality, and child cognitive performance using Structural Equation Modeling in an ethnically diverse, low-income sample of 2,089 children and families. The authors note that family resources and parenting quality uniquely contribute to children's cognitive performance at 14, 24, and 36 months. Parenting quality mediates effects of family resources on children's performance at all ages. Similarly, children's early cognitive performance relates to later parenting quality, with mothers displaying more warmth and encouraging more cognitive stimulation in response to their children’s developmental achievements.
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“Parental Interactions with Latino Infants: Variation by Country of Origin and English Proficiency.” Natasha J. Cabrera, Jacqueline D. Shannon, Jerry West, and Jeanne Brooks-Gunn, Child Development, September/October 2006. In 2001, Latino children represented 18 percent of the U.S. population 18 years of age and younger, with this percentage expected to rise during this century. This study examined variation in mother-infant interactions, father engagement, and infant cognition as a function of country of origin, socioeconomic status, and English language proficiency in a national sample of Latino infants born in the United States and living with both biological parents. Differences between Mexican-American infants, who had lower mother-infant interactions and less father physical play than did the other Latino infants, were associated with differences in acculturation (both parents' English proficiency). Indicators of acculturation and paternal reports of happiness with partner were associated with paternal engagement. Indicators of acculturation were also related to mother-infant interactions. Infant cognitive scores were associated with maternal interaction but not father engagement, and maternal but not paternal mental health.
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"Mother-Child Bookreading in Low-Income Families: Correlates and Outcomes During the First Three Years of Life." Helen Raikes, Gayle Luze, Jeanne Brooks-Gunn, H. Abigail Raikes, Barbara Alexander Pan, Catherine S. Tamis-LeMonda, Jill Constantine, Louisa Banks Tarullo, and Eileen T. Rodriguez, Child Development, July/August 2006. Although reading to preschoolers has been shown to influence their later language and cognitive development, few studies have examined these relationships for children under age 3. Researchers studied over 2,500 low-income English- and Spanish-speaking families across the country who were participating in the Early Head Start evaluation. About half of the mothers reported reading daily to their children, and frequency was higher among white mothers than other ethnic groups, as well as among mothers of girls, firstborn children, and children in the Early Head Start program. English-speaking mothers who read to their children at a very early age had 2-year-olds with greater language comprehension; larger, more expressive vocabularies; and higher cognitive scores. Spanish-speaking mothers who read to very young children every day had 3-year-olds with greater language and cognitive development. The researchers note that language-oriented interventions for vulnerable children should begin earlier than has been generally proposed.
More Journal Articles
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“Profile of Children Entering Los Angeles Universal Preschool (LAUP), Fall 2007.” This research brief prepared by First 5 LA provides a snapshot of the children and families participating in the LAUP center-based preschool programs, with information about their ethnicity, primary language, household income, children’s literacy and math skills, family composition, and parent’s country of origin and employment. Mathematica collected the data as part of the First 5 LA/LAUP Universal Preschool Child Outcomes Study (UPCOS). A full report on the preschool study will be available in the near future.
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"Reaching Out to Kith and Kin Caregivers in Early Head Start." Trends in Family Programs and Policy, Issue Brief #2. Diane Paulsell, Debra Mekos, Patricia Del Grosso, Patti Banghart, and Renée Nogales, April 2006. Although children's care before they enter school influences readiness in important ways, quality of care can vary widely. Low-income families tend to rely on family, friends, and neighbors—“kith and kin caregivers”—especially for infants and toddlers. The Enhanced Home Visiting Pilot Project, funded by the Head Start Bureau in 2004, supports the quality of care that kith and kin caregivers provide to infants and toddlers enrolled in home-based Early Head Start programs. This four-page issue brief describes characteristics of enrolled children, families, and caregivers. It also details early implementation experiences of pilot programs based on site visits after one year of operation. Full Report Appendix
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Quality prekindergarten can help provide children with the skills they need to succeed in school and later in life. As a result, states have begun to invest millions of dollars for state-funded early education programs. And they need to know if those investments are achieving the desired outcomes. The Pew Charitable Trusts launched the National Early Childhood Accountability Task Force in 2005. In fall 2007, the task force released its final report and recommendations for developing a comprehensive assessment system to improve the performance of early education programs. The following background papers were commissioned by the task force:
"Uses of Data on Child Outcomes and Program Processes in Early Childhood Accountability Systems: Assumptions, Challenges, and Consequences." John Love, September 2006. This paper examines a number of issues crucial in establishing state early childhood accountability systems. The author notes that these systems require careful consideration of who will be using the results and how the results are likely to be used. Challenges exist in attributing outcomes to program characteristics, implementing a large system with limited resources, and anticipating negative unintended consequences. The paper concludes with five actions that can lead to effective accountability.
"Measuring Children's Progress from Preschool Through Third Grade." Sally Atkins-Burnett, July 2007. Research in the past few decades illustrating the potential benefits of quality early childhood education has led to an increase in state-funded programming. This paper discusses measurement of child outcomes in the context of evaluating effectiveness of preschool programs and highlights ways in which this challenge is being addressed. Problems related to relying solely on traditional, on-demand standardized tests to assess achievement of young children are explained. The author notes that observational measures that span the preschool to elementary age range offer an alternative to direct testing. The use of these measures in formative evaluation efforts is discussed with the caution that high stakes should never be attached to these measures. Using a multimethod approach would provide a richer portrayal of children's performance. The paper concludes with a brief discussion of measuring classroom quality and recommendations for next steps.
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"Observations of Mother-Twin Interactions at 9 Months: User's Manual for the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Birth Cohort (ECLS-B) 9-Month Twin Triad Restricted-Use Data File." Nikki Aikens, Nana Kwakye, Amy Rathbun, Jennifer Park, and Jodi Jacobson Chernoff, 2007. This user's manual describes the design, instrumentation, coding methodology, and special issues pertaining to the twin triad data file from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Birth Cohort base year (9-month) data collection. Also included is information to help users access and use the twin triad data file in conjunction with the main ECLS-B restricted-use data files.
"Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Birth Cohort (ECLS-B) 9-Month Twin Triad Restricted-Use Data File." Nikki Aikens, Nana Kwakye, Amy Rathbun, Jennifer Park, and Jodi Jacobson Chernoff, 2007. This CD-ROM contains restricted-use base year (9-month data collection) twin triad data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Birth Cohort (ECLS-B). The twin triad data file contains data from a subsample of twins videotaped with their mothers during a teaching interaction. Triadic interactions are coded using the Parent Infant Coding Scheme coding system. The data file is accompanied by a record layout, SAS, SPSS, and Stata syntax files. The twin triad data file, when merged with the larger ECLS-B data set, can be used to investigate numerous research topics regarding twinship, child development, and maternal behaviors.
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