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Head Start (head + start)
Kinds of Head Start Terms modified by Head Start Selected AbstractsShyness and emotion-processing skills in preschoolers: a 6-month longitudinal studyINFANT AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT, Issue 2 2008Paul S. Strand Abstract The present study utilized a short-term longitudinal research design to examine the hypothesis that shyness in preschoolers is differentially related to different aspects of emotion processing. Using teacher reports of shyness and performance measures of emotion processing, including (1) facial emotion recognition, (2) non-facial emotion recognition, and (3) emotional perspective-taking, we examined 337 Head Start attendees twice at a 24-week interval. Results revealed significant concurrent and longitudinal relationships between shyness and facial emotion recognition, and either minimal or non-existent relationships between shyness and the other aspects of emotion processing. Correlational analyses of concurrent assessments revealed that shyness predicted poorer facial emotion recognition scores for negative emotions (sad, angry, and afraid), but not a positive emotion (happy). Analyses of change over time, on the other hand, revealed that shyness predicted change in facial emotion recognition scores for all four measured emotions. Facial emotion recognition scores did not predict changes in shyness. Results are discussed with respect to expanding the scope of research on shyness and emotion processing to include time-dependent studies that allow for the specification of developmental processes. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] The relationships between parenting stress, parenting behaviour and preschoolers' social competence and behaviour problems in the classroomINFANT AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT, Issue 2 2005Laura Gutermuth Anthony Abstract Young children develop social and emotional competence through interactions with others in the two major contexts in which they spend time: home and preschool. This study examined whether parenting stress in the home context is related to the children's behaviour while in preschool. Previous research has suggested that parenting stress negatively influences parenting behaviour, which in turn has been shown to impact children's development. This study examined the direct relationship between parenting stress and children's behaviour in two types of preschool programmes: private day care centres and Head Start. Parenting stress was significantly related to teacher ratings of social competence, internalizing behaviours, and externalizing behaviours, and the effects of parenting behaviour do not appear to mediate this relationship. Parenting stress was most strongly related to children's social competence. Parents' reports of expectations for their child's behaviour appear to weakly moderate the relationship between externalizing behaviour and parenting stress. This study suggests that examination of a parent's level of stress, in addition to parenting practices, may be important in research and interventions with preschool children's behaviour and social competence. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Pathways to prevention: A training and technical assistance initiative to increase program capacity to address infant mental health issues in Early Head StartINFANT MENTAL HEALTH JOURNAL, Issue 2 2007Tammy L. Mann This article provides an overview of a training and consultation program aimed at enhancing the capacity of Early Head Start (EHS) and Migrant and Seasonal Head Start (MSHS) programs to address infant mental health issues from a promotion, prevention, and treatment perspective. This program was implemented by the Early Head Start National Resource Center (EHS NRC), operated by ZERO TO THREE. The EHS NRC is funded by the Head Start Bureau to provide a diverse array of training and technical assistance support services to Early Head Start programs throughout the country. In the fall of 2001, ZERO TO THREE was funded to design and implement the Pathways Initiative. While ZERO TO THREE was not funded to test the efficacy of the Pathways Initiative as a research intervention similar to other papers described in this special issue, we worked creatively to identify resources that allowed us to engage an external evaluator to look at both process and outcome measures. This paper describes the consultation program, evaluation activities, and key lessons learned. [source] The early promotion and intervention research consortium (E-PIRC): Five approaches to improving infant/toddler mental health in Early Head StartINFANT MENTAL HEALTH JOURNAL, Issue 2 2007Linda S. Beeber One planned consequence of the national Infant Mental Health Forum held in the United States in 2000 was the funding of five research projects conducted in Early Head Start (EHS) programs. Each project strengthened existing programs by integrating infant/toddler mental health approaches and testing the outcomes on infant/toddler development, behavior, and parent-child interactions. In two of the projects, the effect of offering enrichment for EHS staff was tested. The other three projects tested the effect of services offered directly to parents and children. This article describes the five projects and the theories, methods, and outcome measures used. In order to understand more fully the elevated risk factors in these families and the consequences for mental health in their infants and toddlers, a common set of measures was developed. Data have been used to explore the common threats to mental health and the factors that moderate the impact on infants and toddlers. [source] The role of training and technical assistance in supporting the delivery of high quality services in Early Head StartINFANT MENTAL HEALTH JOURNAL, Issue 1-2 2002Tammy L. Mann Training and technical assistance services have been an integral part of the fabric of support that Early Head Start (EHS) programs have utilized as they have worked to implement quality programs. In the same way that EHS has continued to evolve with increased program expansion, so too have the training and technical assistance support services. This article examines that nature of the early system of support and notes challenges that EHS programs faced during their first year of funding and the impact of these challenges on training and technical assistance support. The present day system is composed of a network of national and regional providers and federal staff working in partnership to support EHS programs. The nature of this network is described and recommendations for future areas of emphasis for training and technical assistance support are offered. ©2002 Michigan Association for Infant Mental Health. [source] Improving child care quality in Early Head Start programs: A partnership modelINFANT MENTAL HEALTH JOURNAL, Issue 1-2 2002Lenna L. Ontai Many Early Head Start (EHS) programs do not provide child care directly but instead contract with existing community child care agencies to provide services. Such arrangements challenge EHS programs to create unique ways to ensure quality in the child care component of the program. The current research project reports on the efforts of a partnership between an EHS program and community child care agency to improve child care quality. The goal was to systematically identify changes in quality made within the EHS program as the result of a system of monitoring and assessment carried out under the partnership. The current study utilized ITERS and Arnett scales to assess the quality of the community center-based infant child care at the beginning of the EHS program and nine months later. The results indicate a significant improvement in some areas of child care whereas other areas appeared to be more difficult to enhance with the current method. Additionally, differential areas of improvement were found between infant and toddler classrooms. The discussion focuses on aspects of the partnership that most likely contributed to quality improvements. ©2002 Michigan Association for Infant Mental Health. [source] Early Head Start: Investigations, insights, and promiseINFANT MENTAL HEALTH JOURNAL, Issue 1-2 2002JoAnn L. Robinson The authors review the significance of the research summarized in this special issue, including activities that contribute to successful university,community partnerships. The promise of Early Head Start (EHS) will be realized if investigators focus on moderators and mediators of program effects, program quality, and linkages between Early Head Start and community resources. Key factors that must be taken into account in the analysis of EHS program outcomes include assessing children's transitions to preschool, kindergarten, and elementary school; changes in family personal and social resources; the role of fathers in early child development; and the impact of family bilingualism. ©2002 Michigan Association for Infant Mental Health. [source] Biological, social, and community influences on third-grade reading levels of minority Head Start children: A multilevel approachJOURNAL OF COMMUNITY PSYCHOLOGY, Issue 3 2003Virginia A. Rauh The purpose of the study was to determine the impact of individual and community level risks on school outcomes of children who attend Head Start. We studied a sample of 3,693 African American and Hispanic children who had been born in New York City, participated in Head Start, and attended New York City public schools. The outcome was the score obtained on a citywide third-grade reading test. Individual level risk factors were derived from birth certificate data. Community level risks were extracted from citywide U.S. Census data and other public-access data sets. Multilevel regression analyses indicated that at the individual level, lower reading scores were significantly associated with: male gender, low birth weight, unmarried mother, low maternal education, and inadequate interpregnancy spacing. Controlling for individual-level risk, concentrated community poverty significantly lowered reading scores, and a high percentage of immigrants in the community significantly raised scores. There was also a significant crosslevel effect: boys benefited more than girls from the immigrant community effect. The evidence suggests that we can better identify children at future educational risk and maximize the success of early intervention programs by exploring influences on school success at multiple levels, including the community. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Comm Psychol 31: 255,278, 2003. [source] Caries Risk Assessment and Prevention: Strategies for Head Start, Early Head Start, and WICJOURNAL OF PUBLIC HEALTH DENTISTRY, Issue 3 2000Michael J. Kaneilis DDS Abstract Objective: This review updates the evidence regarding caries risk assessment for infants, toddlers, and preschool children and formulates recommendations for preventive strategies for WIC, Head Start, and Early Head Start. Methods: Literature on caries risk assessment and preventive strategies for infants, toddlers, and preschool children were reviewed and synthesized. Recommendations for WIC, Head Start, and Early Head Start were made based on the review. Results: Individual caries risk for children in WIC, Head Start, and Early Head Start should be based on: (1) previous caries experience, (2) precavity lesions, (3) visible plaque, and (4) perceived risk by examiners. Recommended preventive strategies for WIC and Head Start populations include: (1) daily toothbrushing in Head Start centers using fluoridated toothpaste; (2) fluoride varnish application to children enrolled in WIC, Head Start, and Early Head Start; (3) use of chlorhexidine gets and varnishes (following FDA approval); and (4) increased use of sealants on children with precavity pit and fissure lesions. Conclusions: Early screening, risk assessment, and preventive programs in WIC, Head Start, and Early Head Start populations hold a great deal of promise for preventing dental decay in high-risk children. [source] Response to Kanellis: Caries Risk Assessment and Prevention, Strategies for Head Start, Early Head Start, and WICJOURNAL OF PUBLIC HEALTH DENTISTRY, Issue 3 2000Maria-Rosa Watson DDS No abstract is available for this article. [source] Working to eat: Vulnerability, food insecurity, and obesity among migrant and seasonal farmworker familiesAMERICAN JOURNAL OF INDUSTRIAL MEDICINE, Issue 4 2010Kristen Borre PhD Abstract Background Food insecurity and obesity have potential health consequences for migrant and seasonal farm workers (MSFW). Methods Thirty-six Latino MSFW working in eastern North Carolina whose children attended Migrant Head Start completed interviews, focus groups and home visits. Content analysis, nutrient analysis, and non-parametric statistical analysis produced results. Results MSFW (63.8%) families were food insecure; of those, 34.7% experienced hunger. 32% of pre-school children were food insecure. Food secure families spent more money on food. Obesity was prevalent in adults and children but the relationship to food insecurity remains unclear. Strategies to reduce risk of foods insecurity were employed by MSFW, but employer and community assistance is needed to reduce their risk. Conclusions Food insecurity is rooted in the cultural lifestyle of farmwork, poverty, and dependency. MSFW obesity and food insecurity require further study to determine the relationship with migration and working conditions. Networking and social support are important for MSFW families to improve food security. Policies and community/workplace interventions could reduce risk of food insecurity and improve the health of workers. Am. J. Ind. Med. 53:443,462, 2010. © 2010 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source] Head Start's Comparative Advantage: Myth or Reality?POLICY STUDIES JOURNAL, Issue 3 2010William T. Gormley Jr. In recent years, Head Start's prominent role in preparing low-income 4-year-olds for school has been affected by rapid growth in state-funded pre-K programs, some of which are based in public schools. This has led to questions about the comparative advantages of these two approaches to early education. An analysis of data from Tulsa, Oklahoma, indicates that the school-based pre-K program is more effective in improving early literacy outcomes, while Head Start is more effective in improving health outcomes. The two programs are comparable with regard to early math learning. Social,emotional effects are more subtle, but the school-based pre-K program has demonstrable positive effects, while the Head Start program does not. [source] The Birth of Head Start: Preschool Education Policies in the Kennedy and Johnson Administrations , Maris VinovskisPRESIDENTIAL STUDIES QUARTERLY, Issue 3 2006Elizabeth Graue No abstract is available for this article. [source] Preventing conduct problems and improving school readiness: evaluation of the Incredible Years Teacher and Child Training Programs in high-risk schoolsTHE JOURNAL OF CHILD PSYCHOLOGY AND PSYCHIATRY AND ALLIED DISCIPLINES, Issue 5 2008Carolyn Webster-Stratton Background:, School readiness, conceptualized as three components including emotional self-regulation, social competence, and family/school involvement, as well as absence of conduct problems play a key role in young children's future interpersonal adjustment and academic success. Unfortunately, exposure to multiple poverty-related risks increases the odds that children will demonstrate increased emotional dysregulation, fewer social skills, less teacher/parent involvement and more conduct problems. Consequently intervention offered to socio-economically disadvantaged populations that includes a social and emotional school curriculum and trains teachers in effective classroom management skills and in promotion of parent,school involvement would seem to be a strategic strategy for improving young children's school readiness, leading to later academic success and prevention of the development of conduct disorders. Methods:, This randomized trial evaluated the Incredible Years (IY) Teacher Classroom Management and Child Social and Emotion curriculum (Dinosaur School) as a universal prevention program for children enrolled in Head Start, kindergarten, or first grade classrooms in schools selected because of high rates of poverty. Trained teachers offered the Dinosaur School curriculum to all their students in bi-weekly lessons throughout the year. They sent home weekly dinosaur homework to encourage parents' involvement. Part of the curriculum involved promotion of lesson objectives through the teachers' continual use of positive classroom management skills focused on building social competence and emotional self-regulation skills as well as decreasing conduct problems. Matched pairs of schools were randomly assigned to intervention or control conditions. Results:, Results from multi-level models on a total of 153 teachers and 1,768 students are presented. Children and teachers were observed in the classrooms by blinded observers at the beginning and the end of the school year. Results indicated that intervention teachers used more positive classroom management strategies and their students showed more social competence and emotional self-regulation and fewer conduct problems than control teachers and students. Intervention teachers reported more involvement with parents than control teachers. Satisfaction with the program was very high regardless of grade levels. Conclusions:, These findings provide support for the efficacy of this universal preventive curriculum for enhancing school protective factors and reducing child and classroom risk factors faced by socio-economically disadvantaged children. [source] Cortisol Reactivity Is Positively Related to Executive Function in Preschool Children Attending Head StartCHILD DEVELOPMENT, Issue 3 2005Clancy Blair This study examined relations among cortisol reactivity and measures of cognitive function and social behavior in 4- to 5-year-old children (N=169) attending Head Start. Saliva samples for the assay of cortisol were collected at the beginning, middle, and end of an approximately 45-min testing session. Moderate increase in cortisol followed by down-regulation of this increase was positively associated with measures of executive function, self-regulation, and letter knowledge but not with measures of receptive vocabulary, emotion knowledge, or false belief understanding. Regression analysis indicates that executive function accounted for the association between cortisol reactivity and self-regulation and letter knowledge. [source] Dyadic Analyses of Friendship in a Sample of Preschool-Age Children Attending Head Start: Correspondence between Measures and Implications for Social CompetenceCHILD DEVELOPMENT, Issue 3 2001Brian E. Vaughn Friendships among a large sample of preschool-age children (N= 471) attending Head Start were assessed. Based on sociometric data, friendship dyads were identified as reciprocated (mutual choice) or nonreciprocated (unilateral choice). Dyads were further classified with respect to gender composition as either same- or mixed-gender dyads. Older children were more likely to participate in a reciprocated friendship than were younger children and reciprocated dyads were more likely to be same-gender than were nonreciprocated dyads. Analyses of interaction between dyad partners revealed that reciprocated friends interacted more frequently across all categories of interaction coded and looked at each other more frequently than did members of nonreciprocated dyads. For the positive interaction subscore, the friendship status effect was modified by a significant interaction with gender composition such that significant effects of friendship status were obtained only for same-gender dyads. Additional analyses indicated that the average social competence level was greater for reciprocated dyads than for nonreciprocated dyads. The findings suggest that reciprocated friendships are meaningful for preschool-age children and may serve as special socialization contexts in which the repertoire of behavior can be exercised and perhaps improved. They also highlight the salience of same-gender friendships in the preschool classroom. [source] The implications of US experiences with early childhood interventions for the UK Sure Start ProgrammeCHILD: CARE, HEALTH AND DEVELOPMENT, Issue 6 2007R. Gray Abstract Background, The UK Government introduced a large-scale early childhood intervention programme, Sure Start, in 1999. Sure Start is to be further expanded, to achieve national coverage. US experience is highly relevant for anticipating challenges that this expansion will raise. Methods, This is a focused, narrative review. We examine the impact, funding, quality-improvement and programme objectives of Head Start and Early Head Start programmes. Results, (1) Early childhood interventions can make a significant difference to children's life chances; (2) expansion without adequate funding threatens quality; (3) narrower objectives, which are easier to measure, can crowd out broader objectives, which are difficult to measure; (4) programmes must balance fidelity to the model and flexibility to local conditions; (5) multiple objectives may conflict; and (6) programmes may have differential impacts. We consider the implications of these findings for Sure Start, focusing on funding, quality control and parental involvement. We also consider that the potential Sure Start should offer for tackling health inequalities in early childhood and suggest ways in which this aspect of the Programme could be enhanced. Conclusion, Head Start has been dogged by concerns about quality and effectiveness. Many of these problems stemmed from an over-hasty expansion, which locked the Programme into inadequate funding and uneven project- and staff-quality. These issues have been addressed through large funding increases and more rigorous performance measures. Nevertheless, concerns about the aims of the Programme and the extent of parental involvement in management remain. Current funding for Sure Start appears to be adequate, while systematic evaluation procedures have been built in from its inception. Concerns have been raised about the implications of expansion for funding, quality and for parental involvement in management of local programmes. US experience shows that these are centrally important issues and that, if they are not addressed early on, they can take many years to rectify. [source] From Head Start to Sure Start: Reflections on Policy TransferCHILDREN & SOCIETY, Issue 2 2010John Welshman This article uses the history of debates over the US Head Start programme (1965), Early Head Start (1994) and the UK Sure Start initiative (1998), as a window on to policy transfer. In all the three, the aim was that early intervention could offer a means of boosting children's educational attainment and of countering the wider effects of poverty on development. Nevertheless, there were also important differences between them. The first part of the article looks at UK responses to Head Start, the second at Early Head Start and the creation and subsequent direction taken by Sure Start. In the Conclusion, we sum up the arguments relating to Head Start and Sure Start and offer some broader reflections on policy transfer. [source] Birth order, atopy, and symptoms of allergy and asthma among inner-city children attending Head Start in New York CityCLINICAL & EXPERIMENTAL ALLERGY, Issue 6 2008M. S. Perzanowski Summary Background In past research, children with older siblings were more likely than others to wheeze at age 2 years, but less likely by age 6 years. Higher infection transmission and a down-regulated allergic immune response as a result of these infections, respectively, were suggested as the causes. However, in a study of children aged 0,3 years in a low-income urban community in New York City, USA, with high asthma prevalence, we observed no birth-order effect. Objective To evaluate the association between birth order and atopy and respiratory symptoms in 4-year-old children attending Head Start programs in NYC. Methods Respiratory symptoms were assessed by questionnaire for 1005 children (mean age 4.0 years) living in high asthma prevalence neighbourhoods. Serum was collected from a subgroup of the children (n=494) and specific IgE responses to dust mite, cockroach, mouse, and cat allergens were measured. Results Prevalence of specific IgE (0.35 IU/mL) did not differ significantly among first (35%), second (35%), and later-born children (28%) (P=0.23). Increasing birth order was associated with increasing prevalence of respiratory symptoms in the prior year, including wheeze (first 20%, second 27%, third or later 35%; P<0.001), being awakened at night by cough (28%, 33%, 38%; P=0.005), emergency department visits (14%, 17%, 21%; P=0.02) and hospitalizations for difficulty breathing (6.1%, 6.6%, 10%; P=0.04). The associations of birth order with respiratory symptoms were statistically significant only for the non-seroatopic children and those without an asthmatic parent. Conclusions Non-seroatopic children with older siblings were more likely than those without older siblings to have respiratory symptoms at age 4 years. Although the stability of these associations over time remains to be determined, the differences in findings between this study and our previous NYC birth cohort study suggest that patterns of asthma development may vary even among low-income populations within the same city. [source] MicroRNA regulation in Ames dwarf mouse liver may contribute to delayed agingAGING CELL, Issue 1 2010David J. Bates Summary The Ames dwarf mouse is well known for its remarkable propensity to delay the onset of aging. Although significant advances have been made demonstrating that this aging phenotype results primarily from an endocrine imbalance, the post-transcriptional regulation of gene expression and its impact on longevity remains to be explored. Towards this end, we present the first comprehensive study by microRNA (miRNA) microarray screening to identify dwarf-specific lead miRNAs, and investigate their roles as pivotal molecular regulators directing the long-lived phenotype. Mapping the signature miRNAs to the inversely expressed putative target genes, followed by in situ immunohistochemical staining and in vitro correlation assays, reveals that dwarf mice post-transcriptionally regulate key proteins of intermediate metabolism, most importantly the biosynthetic pathway involving ornithine decarboxylase and spermidine synthase. Functional assays using 3,-untranslated region reporter constructs in co-transfection experiments confirm that miRNA-27a indeed suppresses the expression of both of these proteins, marking them as probable targets of this miRNA in vivo. Moreover, the putative repressed action of this miRNA on ornithine decarboxylase is identified in dwarf mouse liver as early as 2 months of age. Taken together, our results show that among the altered aspects of intermediate metabolism detected in the dwarf mouse liver , glutathione metabolism, the urea cycle and polyamine biosynthesis , miRNA-27a is a key post-transcriptional control. Furthermore, compared to its normal siblings, the dwarf mouse exhibits a head start in regulating these pathways to control their normality, which may ultimately contribute to its extended healthspan and longevity. [source] How should we interpret the evidence about head start?JOURNAL OF POLICY ANALYSIS AND MANAGEMENT, Issue 3 2007Janet Currie [source] Do Selection Criteria Make a Difference?: Visa Category and the Labour Market Status of Immigrants to AustraliaTHE ECONOMIC RECORD, Issue 232 2000DEBORAH A. COBB-CLARK This paper assesses the role of selection criteria in the immigrant settlement process. Do skill-based immigrants have higher participation and employment rates than family-based immigrants? Does this represent a head start or a persistent labour market advantage? The Longitudinal Survey of Immigrants to Australia is used to address these questions. Generally, migrants selected for their skills have better labour market outcomes. Over time, the relative gap in participation rates increases, while the gap in employment rates decreases. Net of visa category, outcomes are better for native English speakers and for those who visited Australia prior to migration. [source] | |||||||||||||||||||