Sustaining Early Childhood Learning Gains: Program, School, and Family Influences

Description

How gains from early childhood experiences are initiated, increased, sustained, and affect life-course development are fundamental to science and society. They also have increasing policy relevance, given public investments in early learning programs and the need to measure their effectiveness in promoting well-being. With contributions from leading researchers across many disciplines, this book emphasizes key interventions and practices over the first decade of life and the elements and strategies through which gains can be enhanced by schools, families, communities, and public institutions. Three critical themes are addressed: firstly, the importance of documenting and understanding the impact of investments in early childhood and school-age years. Secondly, increased priority on elements and principles for scaling effective programs and practices to benefit all children. Thirdly, a focus on multiple levels of strategies for sustaining gains and promoting long-term effects, ranging from early care and family engagement to school reform, state, and federal policy. Cover Half-title page Reviews Title page Copyright page Contents List of Figures List of Tables List of Contributors Foreword Acknowledgments 1 Introduction: Increasing and Sustaining Gains in Early Learning Part I Program Dosage and Quality 2 Synthesis of Preschool Dosage: How Quantity, Quality, and Content Impact Child Outcomes 3 Teacher Influences and Program Effectiveness in Early Childhood Education 4 Boosting School Readiness with Preschool Curricula Part II Continuity from Preschool to Third Grade 6 Patterns of Experiences across Head Start and Kindergarten Classrooms That Promote Children’s Development 7 Quality and Continuity in Young Children’s Educational Experiences 8 The Child–Parent Center Preschool-to-Third-Grade Program: A School Reform Model to Increase and Sustain Learning Gains at Scale 9 State Policies That Support Children’s Literacy through Pre-K–Third Grade Education Part III School and Family Processes of Impacts over Time 10 School-Related and Family Processes Leading to Long-Term Intervention Effects 11 Lessons on Sustaining Early Gains from the Life-Course Study of Perry Preschool 12 Sustaining Gains from Early Childhood Intervention: The Abecedarian Program 13 Differential Effects of High-Quality Early Care: Lessons from the Infant Health and Development Program Part IV Synthesis and Guiding Principles 14 Enhancing Children’s Outcomes since “Eager to Learn” 15 Reframing Policy and Practice Deliberations: Twelve Hallmarks of Strategies to Attain and Sustain Early Childhood Gains Subject Index Name Index