Research Connections News and Resources

This edition of Research Connections includes resources on the following topics:

• The implementation of a professional development intervention for early childhood education (ECE) teachers
• The relationship between staffing challenges and ECE teachers’ wages
• The potential for using authorized capacity as a measure of actual capacity in ECE programs
• The use of public ECE programs at the same time as Head Start

This month’s critical topic showcases resources on children’s emotional regulation.

Most of the research resources in this newsletter are available to the public for free. We also link to some publications that require a fee or additional steps to access (such as articles in subscription-based journals). Don’t have access? Check out our tip sheet on accessing resources.

Monthly Spotlight

Examining the Implementation of the VLS Momentum Project: A Hybrid Approach to Supporting Foundational Practices in Early Care and Education

Teachers may benefit from more time and workplace support to complete professional development activities. This study examines the implementation of a hybrid professional development intervention for ECE teachers that combined online content with individualized coaching. The intervention asked teachers to complete 21 foundational professional development courses on topics such as “creating safe and healthy environments and supporting children’s physical, cognitive, language, and social-emotional development.” Teachers and coaches positively received the intervention and cited time to complete activities and support from the workplace as facilitators of success. However, they also cited a lack of time and support as barriers; other barriers to success included complications from the pandemic, such as center closures and workload changes.

Find more resources on ECE workforce training, mentoring, and apprenticeships in the Research Connections library.

Other Featured Resources

Compensation and Staffing Challenges in Child Care: Statewide Evidence from Pandemic Relief Applications How are staffing challenges in child care related to compensation rates? This study uses data from child care centers in Louisiana to better understand the relationship between wages and staffing challenges, as well as negative consequences related to these challenges, such as child care centers turning families away or hiring underqualified teachers. Findings indicate child care centers with higher wages for lead and assistant teachers were significantly less likely to experience high vacancy rates and staffing challenges. Higher wages for lead teachers are associated with a lower likelihood of turning families away, and higher wages for assistant teachers are associated with a lower likelihood of child care centers asking staff to work more hours or take on additional roles. The authors discuss potential policies for addressing staffing challenges in child care and highlight areas requiring further research.

Find more resources on ECE workforce wages, compensation, and benefits in the Research Connections library. ?

Is Authorized Capacity a Good Measure of Child Care Providers’ Current Capacity? New Evidence from Virginia This study asks whether current child care capacity can be measured using providers’ authorized capacity, or the maximum number of children for whom a provider can legally provide care. The authors used data from home- and center-based providers in Virginia to understand the gap between authorized and current capacity; they found that providers current capacity was 74% of their authorized capacity, on average. Gaps between current and authorized capacity were more significant among center-based providers who accept child care subsidies and those in neighborhoods with a greater concentration of poverty or people of color; the gap was also larger among centers that reported staff retention and recruitment challenges than centers that reported no staffing challenges.

Find more resources focused on ECE supply and demand in the Research Connections library. ?

Prevalence and Predictors of Multiple, Concurrent Public Early Childhood Education Utilization among Head Start Children How many children who participate in Head Start programs also participate in additional publicly funded programs? According to this study, which uses administrative data from Iowa, the majority (61%) of children who participate in half-day Head Start programs also participate in at least one other public ECE program: 44% participated in half-day state prekindergarten programs, 8.3% participated in child care subsidy programs, and 8.7% participated in both. Findings indicate the use of additional services varied depending on family and child characteristics. The authors discuss the implications of these findings in relation to the need for flexible or extended child care arrangements and coordination across publicly funded ECE programs to support families’ needs.

Find more resources on the intersection of Head Start, Early Head Start, and public prekindergarten programs in the Research Connections library.

Critical Topic

Critical Topic: Children’s Emotional Regulation

Children can have big emotions, and learning how to regulate those emotions is one of the cornerstones of early learning. How educators and caregivers respond to, demonstrate, and teach children about their emotions can significantly affect children’s outcomes. The following resources focus on how educators and caregivers approach emotional regulation and social-emotional learning in early education settings:

• Supporting Social-Emotional Development in Preschoolers: Implementation Evaluation of the PEDALS Program, published by RAND, presents initial implementation findings from a 2-year social-emotional learning program in prekindergarten classrooms that provides a curriculum and support for teachers and directors.
• The Role of Emotional Regulation on Early Child School Adjustment Outcomes, published in the Archives of Psychiatric Nursing journal, uses secondary data analysis to examine how parents and teachers reported emotional regulation behaviors related to school adjustment outcomes in early childhood.
• Time Out as a Regulated and Specified Element of Child Care Licensing Policy: Are Policies Aligned with the Research Base?, published in the Early Childhood Education Journal, explores how time outs are regulated in and across states.

Find more resources on approaches to emotional regulation in ECE settings in the Research Connections library.

Opportunities

Call for Papers

Early Childhood Research Quarterly is hosting a special issue dedicated to infant and toddler research. This special issue invites papers featuring research focused on, but not limited to, areas of interest related to the infant toddler workforce and infant toddler care or services across various countries and contexts. Proposals are due September 30th. Find the full call for papers.

Grant Opportunities

The Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation (OPRE) intends to solicit applications for the following grants:

• Child Care Policy Research Partnerships: Effects of CCDF Provider and Family Friendly Policies: Through this opportunity, OPRE intends to support partnerships between CCDF Lead Agencies and researchers, prioritizing projects that evaluate CCDF provider and family friendly policies in states, territories, or tribes implemented in response to the 2024 CCDF Final Rule, including new flexibilities for Tribes.
• Child Care Policy Research Partnerships: Evaluating Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) Lead Agencies’ Consumer Education Strategies: Through this opportunity, OPRE intends to support partnerships between CCDF Lead Agencies and researchers, prioritizing projects that evaluate the effectiveness of lead agencies’ consumer education strategies that are designed to help parents make informed choices about their children’s early care and education.
• Tribal Child Care Data and Research Capacity: Through this opportunity, OPRE intends to support partnerships between Tribal (CCDF) Lead Agencies and research and coordinating organizations to develop and improve tribal data systems and strengthen capacity-building of Tribal CCDF Lead Agencies.
• Early Care and Education Research Scholars: Child Care Dissertation Grants: Through this opportunity, OPRE intends to support dissertation research by advanced graduate students working on child care policy issues in partnership with a CCDF lead agency and with faculty mentors.
• Center for Research on Coordinated Services Approaches to Support Whole Families: Through this opportunity, OPRE intends to support a Center for Research on Coordinated Service Approaches to Support Whole Families to conduct and strengthen research on the intentional coordination of human services to support the social and economic well-being of whole families. The center will bring together a team that has experience investigating coordinated service approaches to support whole families, assessing the needs and experiences of families with low incomes and those from underserved communities, developing and testing measures for rigorous research and evaluation, building research/evaluation capacity, and conducting research in partnership with state/territory/tribal agencies that administer the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) and CCDF programs.

See?the full list of grants?for the latest information. ?

Looking for Research Translation Topics!

Calling all state and territory leaders in the child care and early education field! The CCEEPRA Research Translation project is inviting you to share topic ideas for short, easy-to-use resources that can help make research-informed decisions that support young children and their families. Learn more about the project here and submit your ideas to [email protected].