Celebrating 50 Years of Child Development Research


Book Description

For more than fifty years, the Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute has conducted groundbreaking research that revolutionized the field of early childhood care and education. Based on presentations made at FPG's 50th anniversary symposium, this essential reference looks back on the Institute (TM)s trailblazing history, analyzes contemporary issues in child development, and recommends critical new research directions. More than a dozen high-profile contributors thoroughly examine the three themes of the anniversary symposium: early care and education, diversity, and children with disabilities and their families. Readers will learn from in-depth chapters on: understanding the social, cultural, educational, and political forces that affect children (TM)s outcomes meeting the challenge of serving diverse populations as U.S. demographics shift preparing practitioners to work with young dual language learners improving connections between the knowledge base and professional practice strengthening the early childhood workforce through effective professional development analyzing decades of research and policy and examining ways to support continuous improvement A celebration of progress and a compelling call to action for the next generation of professionals, this important volume is a must for researchers, policy makers, and faculty. Whether used as a textbook or a reference, this book will help shape the future of the early childhood field--and improve outcomes for tomorrow's young children and families.




Parenting Matters


Book Description

Decades of research have demonstrated that the parent-child dyad and the environment of the familyâ€"which includes all primary caregiversâ€"are at the foundation of children's well- being and healthy development. From birth, children are learning and rely on parents and the other caregivers in their lives to protect and care for them. The impact of parents may never be greater than during the earliest years of life, when a child's brain is rapidly developing and when nearly all of her or his experiences are created and shaped by parents and the family environment. Parents help children build and refine their knowledge and skills, charting a trajectory for their health and well-being during childhood and beyond. The experience of parenting also impacts parents themselves. For instance, parenting can enrich and give focus to parents' lives; generate stress or calm; and create any number of emotions, including feelings of happiness, sadness, fulfillment, and anger. Parenting of young children today takes place in the context of significant ongoing developments. These include: a rapidly growing body of science on early childhood, increases in funding for programs and services for families, changing demographics of the U.S. population, and greater diversity of family structure. Additionally, parenting is increasingly being shaped by technology and increased access to information about parenting. Parenting Matters identifies parenting knowledge, attitudes, and practices associated with positive developmental outcomes in children ages 0-8; universal/preventive and targeted strategies used in a variety of settings that have been effective with parents of young children and that support the identified knowledge, attitudes, and practices; and barriers to and facilitators for parents' use of practices that lead to healthy child outcomes as well as their participation in effective programs and services. This report makes recommendations directed at an array of stakeholders, for promoting the wide-scale adoption of effective programs and services for parents and on areas that warrant further research to inform policy and practice. It is meant to serve as a roadmap for the future of parenting policy, research, and practice in the United States.




Infants, Toddlers, and Families in Poverty


Book Description

Identifying factors related to poverty that affect infants, toddlers, and their families, this book describes promising early child care and intervention practices specifically tailored to these children and families' needs. Leading authorities from multiple disciplines present cutting-edge research and discuss the implications for practice and policy. Contributors review salient findings on attention, memory, language, self-regulation, attachment, physical health, family processes, and culture. The book considers the strengths and limitations of existing early intervention services for diverse populations and explores workable ways to improve them.




Diversifying Pedagogy in Early Childhood Teacher Preparation Programs


Book Description

Diversifying Pedagogy in Early Childhood Teacher Preparation Programs presents the underlying message of situating diversity at the core of early childhood programs. As such, faculty must first examine the practices that are at the center of each program. Of importance is for preservice teachers to know and understand the history, injustices, and struggles that communities of color endure. In order to increase that understanding, faculty who teach in teacher preparation programs must take the lead and discover ways to best reach preservice teachers which may take a shift in beliefs. This book presents examples of faculty taking the lead to help preservice teachers understand the social injustices in aspects of early childhood education. This move can lead to highly qualified early childhood teachers.




Critical Issues in Servicing Twice Exceptional Students


Book Description

This book addresses critical issues related to appropriately servicing gifted students with other learning exceptionalities, also known as twice exceptional (2e) students. Utilizing a social, emotional, and cultural lens, it extends beyond the historical cognitive discussion within the domains of special and gifted education and draws on a variety of interpreted perspectives, featuring leading authors, experts, and specialists from several countries and from different academic disciplines and backgrounds. The collection offers a balance between theoretical/methodological and empirical chapters to provide a discourse for operationalization and implementation of services that best serve the educational and individualized needs for a diverse group of students. This work demonstrates the importance of knowing and attending to the social, emotional and cultural dimensions of 2e students while simultaneously fostering the appropriate cognitive skill development for whole-child well-being.




With the Whole Child in Mind


Book Description

Among the many models of school reform that have emerged in the late 20th and early 21st centuries, one has endured for more than 50 years: the School Development Program (SDP). Established in 1968 by renowned child psychiatrist James P. Comer and the Yale Child Study Center, the SDP is grounded in the belief that successful schooling—particularly for children from disadvantaged backgrounds—must focus on the whole child. With that in mind, the SDP encompasses both academics and social-emotional development, and it is founded on positive and productive relationships among students, teachers, school leaders, and parents. With the Whole Child in Mind describes the SDP's six developmental pathways (cognitive, social, psychological, physical, linguistic, and ethical) and explains how the program's nine key components (in the form of mechanisms, operations, and guiding principles) create a comprehensive approach to educating children for successful outcomes. Firsthand recollections by Comer, school leaders and teachers, and SDP staff members provide an inside look at the challenges and successes that eventually transformed severely underperforming schools into models of excellence. Linda Darling-Hammond, one of the country's foremost experts on K-12 education, and her colleagues argue persuasively for the continuing relevance of the SDP. Far too many schools still operate in a high-pressure environment that emphasizes testing and standardized curricula while ignoring the fundamental importance of personal connections that make a profound difference for students. Fifty years on, the SDP is still just as powerful as ever.




The Routledge Handbook for Advancing Integration in Mixed Methods Research


Book Description

This groundbreaking edited book, The Routledge Handbook for Advancing Integration in Mixed Methods Research, presents an array of different integration ideas, with contributions from scholars across the globe. This handbook represents the first major volume that comprehensively discusses this topic of integration. Perhaps the most fundamental and longstanding question in mixed methods research is: How does one best integrate disparate forms of information to produce the best form of inquiry? Each of the 34 seminal chapters in this handbook accelerates the discussion of integration across a broad range of disciplines, including education, arts-based analyses, and work in the Global South, as well as special topics such as psychometrics and media research. Many of the chapters present new topics that have never been written about before, and all chapters offer cutting-edge approaches to integration. They also offer different perspectives of integration – leading the introductory chapter to offer a new and comprehensive definition for integration, as follows: "referring to the optimal mixing, combining, blending, amalgamating, incorporating, joining, linking, merging, consolidating, or unifying of research approaches, methodologies, philosophies, methods, techniques, concepts, language, modes, disciplines, fields, and/or teams within a single study." The concluding chapter offers a meta-framework that accounts for this definition and is designed to help scholars think more about integration in a way that represents a continuous, dynamic, iterative, interactive, synergistic, and holistic meaning-making process. This handbook will be an essential reference work for all scholars and practitioners using or seeking to use mixed methods in their research.




Infancy


Book Description

This comprehensive, accessible, market-leading infant development (prenatal-age 3) core text for infant and early childhood development weaves together research, theory, and current issues of diversity of culture for students seeking to engage in the lives of our youngest children with understanding and compassion.




Advances in Child Development and Behavior


Book Description

Advances in Child Development and Behavior is intended to ease the task faced by researchers, instructors, and students who are confronted by the vast amount of research and theoretical discussion in child development and behavior. The serial provides scholarly technical articles with critical reviews, recent advances in research, and fresh theoretical viewpoints. Volume 32 discusses cultural contributions in development, infants' representation of objects and events, the impacts of affluence, mechanisms of early categorization and induction, attentional inertia, the early development of pictoral competence, and classroom competence.




Family Routines and Rituals


Book Description

While family life has conspicuously changed in the past fifty years, it would be a mistake to conclude that family routines and rituals have lost their meaning. In this book Barbara H. Fiese, a clinical and developmental psychologist, examines how the practices of diverse family routines and the meanings created through rituals have evolved to meet the demands of today’s busy families. She discusses and integrates various research literatures and draws on her own studies to show how family routines and rituals influence physical and mental health, translate cultural values, and may even be used therapeutically. Looking at a range of family activities from bedtime stories to special holiday meals, Fiese relates such occasions to significant issues including parenting competence, child adjustment, and relational well-being. She concludes by underscoring the importance of flexible approaches to family time to promote healthier families and communities.