Colleen K. Vesely

Capitalizing on Early Childhood Education: Low-Income Immigrant Mothers’ Use of Early Childhood Education to Build Human, Social, and Navigational Capital

Research Findings: Research indicates that early childhood education (ECE) serves various functions for societies and in turn families, including economic, educational, and social functions (Fukkink, 2008; Vandenbroeck, 2006). Using qualitative methods, we explored an aspect of the social function of ECE for low-income immigrant families. Specifically, in-depth interviews with 40 low-income immigrant mothers (19 Africans, 21 Latinas) were conducted to understand how low-income Latina and African immigrant mothers use their childrens ECE programs to build human, social, and navigational capital. Latin American and African mothers both developed capital through interactions with their childrens ECE programs. However, Latina mothers tended to rely on ECE more for building all 3 types of capital. Practice or Policy: The findings from this study highlight the significant role that ECE providers play in the lives of families, and particularly immigrant families, that goes beyond basic economic and educational supports. These findings point to the importance of training ECE educators and staff in fostering connections among and between families in their programs; educating parents, as many parents rely on their ECE programs for parenting advice and support; and working with local community agencies and resources to benefit children and families.

It Takes Two: Sensitive Caregiving across Contexts and Children's Social, Emotional, and Academic Outcomes.

Research Findings: Using longitudinal survey data from the Welfare, Children, and Families Study: A Three-City Study (n = 135), this study examines how congruence in maternal and child care provider sensitivities contributes to young childrens social, emotional, and academic outcomes among low-income minority families. Congruence groups were created based on levels of high and low maternal and child care provider sensitivity. Children with high maternal sensitivity and low child care provider sensitivity had lower scores on measures of social competence and applied problems compared to children with high maternal and child care provider sensitivity. Children with low maternal sensitivity but high child care provider sensitivity displayed higher emotional competence than children with low maternal and child care sensitivity, implying an important protective benefit of child care. Practice or Policy: Current state and federal policy climates, including recently awarded Early Learning Challenge grants focused on social and personal development and the Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning Act, reflect an important emphasis on social and emotional learning. Given this, the findings from this study implicate the role of families and child care providers as important components in any policy or program focused on shaping childrens early social and emotional outcomes.

Cultural Competence of Parenting Education Programs Used by Latino Families: A Review.

The cultural competence of 13 parenting education programs for Latino families with young children was examined in this study. Based on our analyses, we make several recommendations for improving the cultural competence and effectiveness of parenting education programs for Latino families with young children. Specifically, we recommend the following based on this review: (1) consider the importance of context for cultural competence; (2) recognize that cultural competence is a process that evolves over time; (3) connect with local Latino communities and stakeholders as it is imperative to program cultural competence; (4) ensure that the diverse voices of constituents, including Latinos, are heard throughout all phases of development, implementation, and evaluation of parenting programs for Latino families; (5) go beyond translation of materials and consider cultural values, beliefs, and experiences to move toward cultural competence; and, (6) offer ongoing training and mentoring to program staff.

Two Sides of the Potomac: A Qualitative Exploration of Immigrant Families’ Health Care Experiences in Virginia and Washington, DC

In this chapter we examine how micro- and macro-level issues including access to child-only or family public health insurance shape low-income immigrant families’ health care experiences in two policy contexts in the Washington, DC metropolitan area. This qualitative study includes 40 in-depth interviews with first-generation, low-income immigrant Latin American and African mothers in DC and Northern Virginia. The majority of families living in Virginia had child-only health insurance, whereas most of the families living in Washington, DC, had family health insurance. Regardless of these insurance differences, all mothers had access to free health care for prenatal care. Pregnancy, for most, was their entry into the U.S. health care system. Families’ ongoing health care experiences differed in relation to insurance access, and culture, including parents’ previous experiences with health care in their countries of origin. Future research should consider the experiences of other immigrant groups, mental health experiences of immigrants, and fathers’ experiences with health care. Future initiatives to address health care should focus on providing family health care to low-income immigrant families across the country, improving access to mental health services for immigrant families, and creating more culturally and linguistically appropriate health care services. This study points to the importance of family health care for immigrant families, as well as care that is culturally and linguistically competent. This study illustrates the need for public family health insurance for low-income immigrant families, and the importance of culturally competent health care for immigrants.

Emotions matter: the moderating role of emotional labour on preschool teacher and children interactions

ABSTRACT Teachers’ emotions in the classroom shape their ability to nurture positive relationships with young children. There is increasing interest in understanding how teachers manage and express their emotions on the job through the use of emotional labour, or the deliberate expression or suppression of emotions to achieve organizational goals. This study investigates how preschool teachers’ emotional labour informs their interactions with young children. Using quantitative survey and observation data from 123 preschool teachers, we found that preschool teachers’ use of emotional labour, particularly surface and deep acting, and their limited perceptions of emotional display rules were linked to the quality of their interactions with young children. Also, the associations between emotional labour and teacher–child interactions were moderated by their perceptions of emotional display rules. Findings have implications for early childhood care and education policy and practice, as well as future research related to the emotional aspects of preschool teachers’ work.

Developing cultural humility through experiential learning: How home visits transform early childhood preservice educators’ attitudes for engaging families

ABSTRACT Research calls for teacher education to prepare early childhood educators for the needs of diverse and marginalized young children and their families in the U.S. With an increasing cultural divide between teachers and students, some early childhood educators may demonstrate limited understanding for how diverse cultural, linguistic, racial, and socioeconomic backgrounds inform the daily functions of families of young children. In this article, we examine how the use of experiential learning vis-à-vis conducting a home visit with a family from a diverse and marginalized background can shape early childhood preservice teachers’ (PST) development of cultural humility, an important component of cultural competence. During this experiential learning, PSTs engaged in critically reflective practices to uncover and challenge their implicit biases. While discovering the strengths and challenges among their home visit families, PSTs also learned what they had in common with the families. PSTs noted how the home visit process informed their work as future early childhood educators.

Home and school influences on the behavioral and academic outcomes of low-income children of color

ABSTRACT Framed within contextual systems model, this study examines how home and school operate together to shape behavioral and academic outcomes for 544 low-income African American (56%) and Latino/a (44%) elementary school-aged children (mean age = 7.88 years, SD = 1.46, 50% male). Using data from Welfare, Children, & Families Study: A Three City Study and multiple group path analysis, we found that for children in kindergarten through third grade, the adequacy of the home resources was positively related to applied problem scores (e.g. math literacy) and negatively associated with externalizing behavior. For fourth- to sixth-graders, the adequacy of classroom resources was negatively associated with applied problem scores. For both age groups positive teacher–child relational quality was also a positive predictor of externalizing behavior. Results revealed that barriers to parental involvement in school were a negative predictor of applied problem scores for low-income children in early and later elementary school. Implications for policy and practice aimed at strengthening opportunities for children and families from marginalized communities are discussed.