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ECD Research
Abecdarian Early Childhood Intervention
The first study to compare the costs and benefits of providing very young children with high-quality, full-day, year-round preschool program proves that every dollar paid generates a four dollar return to the children, their families and all taxpayers, according to findings released today by the National Institute for Early Education Research.
Early Head Start Research
The Early Head Start Research and Evaluation project launches an intense study of the new Early Head Start program and simultaneously begins a far-reaching longitudinal study of infants and toddlers in low-income families. The Early Head Start study will include approximately 3,000 families living in 17 diverse communities that reflect the socioeconomic and political context of low-income families in the United States in the late 1990s. The evaluation team will measure a broad range of outcomes, collect extensive information about the programs and the individual families' experiences with them, and conduct state-of-the-art analyses to link experiences with outcomes. The findings from this national evaluation and longitudinal study will have the potential to influence policies affecting the lives of low-income American families with young children.
The Effective Provision of Preschool Education Project
A Longitudinal Study funded by the Department for Education and Skills; Institute of Education, University of London
The Effective Provision of Pre-School Education (EPPE) Project is the first major study in the United Kingdom to focus specifically on the effectiveness of early years education. The EPPE project is a large scale, longitudinal study of the progress and development of 3,000 children in various types of pre-school education. The study Is intended to explore the characteristics of different kinds of early years provision and will examine children’s development in pre-school education, influences on their later adjustment and progress in infant school up to the National Assessment at age 7 (end of Key Stage1). It will help to identify the aspects of pre-school provision which have a positive impact on children’s attainment, progress and development, and so provide guidance on good practice.
Key findings of the EPPE:
§ good quality pre-school experiences support children’s social and educational development;
§ good quality provision can be found across all types of early years settings, with integrated centres that offer combined education and childcare and nursery schools delivering the best results;
§ learning at home with parents, combined with high quality pre-school education, makes a positive difference to children’s social and intellectual development; and disadvantaged children in particular benefit significantly from good quality pre-school experiences.
International Reading Literacy Study
Thirty-five countries participated in PIRLS 2001, IEA's new state-of-the-art
Progress in International Reading Literacy Study at the fourth grade (9- and 10-year-olds).
With 150,000 students tested, PIRLS 2001 is the first in a planned 5-year cycle
of international trend studies in reading literacy.
Directed by the International Study Center at Boston College, PIRLS consists of a carefully-constructed test assessing a range of reading comprehension strategies for two major reading purposes - literary and informational. PIRLS collected extensive information about home, school, and national influences on how well students learn to read. Of special interest, parents and caregivers completed questionnaires about their children's early literacy activities.
The NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development
The most comprehensive child care study conducted to date (in the United States) to determine how variations in child care are related to children's development.
Young Lives is an innovative long-term international research project, investigating the changing nature of child poverty in Ethiopia, India, Peru and Vietnam.The project will link research and policy makers and planners, so that the information produced is used to improve the quality of children's lives. Young Lives involves academic and NGO partners in these 4 countries, the UK and South Africa
The project arose from DFID's and Save the Children's concerns to monitor progress towards meeting the International Development Targets and the changing situation of children, and to understand how key development policies affect child wellbeing. For more information see papers from the Childhood Poverty Conference: Longitudinal Studies for Policy-Making (September 2003). Click on 'Young Lives.'
Other Links to Policy Research
- Child Care Resource Unit
- Mathematic Policy Research Inc
- OECD
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