Overview
In FY 2016, the Institute initiated a new grant program, Research Networks Focused on Critical Problems of Policy and Practice, to focus resources and attention on education problems or issues that are high priority for the nation, and to create both a structure and process for researchers who are working on these issues to share ideas, build new knowledge, and strengthen their research and dissemination capacity. Each Network consists of several research teams working on the same issue, and is coordinated by a Network Lead. The ultimate objective of the Networks it to advance the field’s understanding of a problem or issue beyond what an individual research project or team is able to do on its own, and to assist policymakers and practitioners in using this information to strengthen education policies and programs and improve student education outcomes.
The Supporting Early Learning From Preschool Through Early Elementary School Grades Network (Early Learning Network) will examine why many children—especially children from low-income households or other disadvantaged backgrounds—experience academic and social difficulties as they begin elementary school. Network members will focus on identifying malleable factors (such as state and local policies, instructional practices, parental support, and others) that are associated with early learning and achievement from preschool through the early elementary school grades. The Network’s ultimate objective is to advance the field’s understanding and implementation of policies and programs that support early learning and ongoing academic success.
The Early Learning Network includes a Network Lead, an Assessment team, and five Research Teams. The teams met regularly to discuss research plans and progress and to identify ways that they can strengthen their collective work by collaborating on data collection tools, common measures, dissemination of study findings, and other activities.
Network lead
The Early Learning Network Lead (PI: Susan Sheridan, University of Nebraska) will plan and facilitate annual network meetings, coordinate network supplementary activities, develop and host a network website, organize briefings and presentations, host annual meetings with Preschool Development Grant recipients, and provide research guidance and tools for early childhood practitioners.
Assessment team
- Optimizing Learning Opportunities for Students' (OLOS) Early Learning Observation System (PI: Deborah L. Vandell, R305N160050). The purpose of this project is to develop an observation tool can be used reliably by practitioners in prekindergarten through third grade (P-3) classrooms to assess instruction, teacher-child interactions, and classroom learning environment. It will build on three existing, integrated, well-validated, and reliable measures and use technology to make it easy to use by practitioners.
Research teams
The Research Teams will each conduct three complementary, prospective studies: (1) a descriptive study of systems-level policies and practices that support early learning; (2) a classroom observation study to identify teaching practices and other classroom-level malleable factors associated with children's school readiness and achievement in preschool and early elementary school; and (3) a longitudinal study to identify malleable factors associated with early learning and school achievement over time from preschool through the early elementary school grades (e.g., kindergarten through third grade) for preschool attenders and non-attenders. This research will take place in Boston Public Schools; Fairfax County Public Schools, Virginia; twelve urban and rural school districts in Nebraska; four rural counties in North Carolina; and the State of Ohio.
The research teams are:
- Early Education in Rural North Carolina (PI: Ronald Seifer, R305N160022). This research team will explore malleable factors in early education from preschool through third grade that are believed to promote early learning and development for children in selected rural counties to address links between malleable factors and student outcomes.
- Boston P-3: Identifying Malleable Factors for Promoting Student Success (PI: JoAnn Hsueh, R305N160018). This research team will work in collaboration with Boston Public Schools to identify policies, classroom-level factors, and school experiences that are associated with children's school success during pre-k and early elementary school grades.
- Early Learning Network: Critical Contributions of Classroom Ecology to Children's Learning (PI: Laura Justice, R305N160024). This research team will conduct its research in pre-k programs and public schools in Ohio. The primary goal of the project is to generate a comprehensive, empirically driven model of the dimensions of classroom ecology and how they shape children's academic and social development during the elementary grades.
- Building an Effective PK–3 Education System: Actionable Aspects of Policies, Programs, Schools, and Classroom Processes that Promote Children's Learning in the Nation's 11th Largest School District (PI: Robert Pianta, R305N160021). This research team will examine associations between district policy, classroom processes, and early learning trajectories of low-income children during preschool and the early elementary school grades in Fairfax County, Virginia.
- Early Learning Contexts in Rural and Urban Nebraska (PI: Susan Sheridan, R305N160016). This research team will investigate cumulative influences on early learning and achievement for young children at economic disadvantage across rural and urban settings in a Midwestern state.
Products
- Early Learning Network website: http://earlylearningnetwork.unl.edu/
- Early Learning Network Newsletter
- Early Learning Network Blog
- Presentations
- Publications by Early Learning Network members
- Press release for the Early Learning Network, January 2016