Noreen Yazejian

The relation of preschool child-care quality to children's cognitive and social developmental trajectories through second grade

The cognitive and socioemotional development of 733 children was examined longitudinally from ages 4 to 8 years as a function of the quality of their preschool experiences in community child-care centers, after adjusting for family selection factors related to child-care quality and development. These results provide evidence that child-care quality has a modest long-term effect on childrens patterns of cognitive and socioemotional development at least through kindergarten, and in some cases, through second grade. Differential effects on childrens development were found for two aspects of child-care quality. Observed classroom practices were related to childrens language and academic skills, whereas the closeness of the teacher-child relationship was related to both cognitive and social skills, with the strongest effects for the latter. Moderating influences of family characteristics were observed for some outcomes, indicating stronger positive effects of child-care quality for children from more at-risk backgrounds. These findings contribute further evidence of the long-term influences of the quality of child-care environments on childrens cognitive and social skills through the elementary school years and are consistent with a bioecological model of development that considers the multiple environmental contexts that the child experiences.

Effects of a Preschool Music and Movement Curriculum on Children's Language Skills.

This quasi-experimental study evaluated the effects of a supplementary preschool classroom music and movement curriculum on Head Start childrens language skills. The curriculum consisted of sequenced music and movement activities conducted by outside interventionists. The evaluation compared the language skills of children attending either intervention or comparison classrooms. Results revealed that children receiving the intervention made greater gains in teacher-rated communication skills than children in the comparison group. Results for receptive language and phonological awareness indicated no significant differences between groups. These findings provide limited support for the beneficial effects of offering specialized music and movement curricula to preschool-age children.

Embedded, Collaborative, Comprehensive: One Model of Data Utilization

As noted by Stein, Freel, Hanson, Pacchiano, and Eiland-Williford (this issue), the field of early childhood education (ECE) has witnessed an increasing demand for the utilization of research-based practices and data-driven decision making. At least two assumptions underlie this demand. First, there is an assumption that there is a research literature on best practices that supports specific data use procedures. In ECE, this is a flawed assumption. The call for using data has not been accompanied by clear guidance on how to utilize data most effectively. For example, are some types of data more helpful than others? With whom should data be shared to have the most impact, and in what format is it best shared? What frequency of data sharing is most useful? As more and more programs are collecting and using data, systematic research on the practices and procedures is warranted and feasible. All too often, without such guidance, programs may collect data, then not know what to do with the information. Programs that do use data may focus narrowly on one level, typically the child level, without considering using data that might address aspects of the broader systems within which children and families function. For example, recent response-to-intervention approaches in ECE use child assessment data within tiered intervention hierarchies to deliver research-based curriculum, instruction, and focused interventions to meet children’s learning needs. With these approaches, data that would inform work with families to support their children’s learning may not be collected or translated in a useful way. Second, the demand for data utilization assumes that programs have the capacity—including the personnel, knowledge, and financial means—to gather data and use results for individualization and program improvements. Again, this assumption is incorrect. In ECE programs, data collection tasks are often undertaken by teachers, using measures that may require more training than is provided to administer and=or interpret properly. There is a great need for professional development on measurement selection and training as well as increased resources to support the utilization of data for individualizing children’s activities as well as improving the quality of overall classroom programming (Cromey, 2000). This almost always requires a person whose dedicated job is evaluation. Most early childhood programs cannot afford such a person, although programs in collaborative networks (e.g., Head Start or state-funded prekindergartens) may have

Music and Movement in Head Start Classrooms: Implications and Applications

This article describes a music and movement intervention for children in preschool classrooms. The intervention, consisting of sequenced music and movement activities, has been studied as a curriculum conducted by outside interventionists (Yazejian & Peisner-Feinberg, 2009/this issue) with results providing some support for the beneficial effects of the program. This article describes the curriculum and provides recommendations for how classroom teachers might adapt the activities for use in Head Start and other preschool classrooms.