Best Practices & Results

Promising Practices Network Updates

Below are recent updates to the Promising Practices Network on Children, Families and Communities. http://www.promisingpractices.net

Children Ready for School
http://www.promisingpractices.net/research.asp#childrenreadyschool

• How Are Children Affected by Employment and Welfare Transitions? Joint Center for Poverty Research. March 2003
  
  
• A Snapshot of Head Start Children, Families, Teachers, and Programs: 1997 and 2001. Center for Law and Social Policy, March 2003 (PDF file)

Children Succeeding in School
www.promisingpractices.net/research.asp#childrensucceedingschool

• Data on Dropout Rates. Child Trends, Spring 2003
  
  
• Summer Learning Loss: The Problem and Some Solutions, Educational
  Resources Information Center Clearinghouse on Elementary and Early Childhood Education (ERIC/EECE). May 2003
  
  
• KIDS COUNT Data Book. Annie E. Casey Foundation, 2003

Research Briefs

Child Care Quality Matters: How Conclusions May Vary With Context.
John M. Love, Linda Harrison, Avi Sagi, Marinus H. van IJzendoorn, Christine Ross, Judy Ungerer, Helen Raikes, Christy Brady-Smith, Kimberly Boller, Jeanne Brooks-Gunn, Jill Constantine, Ellen Eliason Kisker, Diane Paulsell, and Rachel Chazan-Cohen. Child Development, July/August 2003.
Does more time spent in child care - even in centers that are good quality - lead to behavioral problems in young children? A recent National Institute of Child Health and Human Development study of early child care reported that children who spend more time with a caregiver other than their mother tend to have more behavior problems, even if the quality of care is good. The authors of this paper explore whether the link between behavior problems and time spent in early child care shows up in other situations, using data from Australia, Israel, and the United States collected in child care settings with different ranges of child care regulations and quality. The study included families from a variety of cultures, races, family backgrounds, and incomes. Because of this diversity, the findings are useful for understanding how quality and quantity of child care can influence young children both intellectually and behaviorally.
http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0009-3920

Has School-to-Work Worked? Alan M. Hershey. The School-to-Work Movement: Origins and Destinations, 2003.
Despite uncertainty about whether school-to-work concepts will play a lead role in redirecting schools, the school-to-work movement has helped to elevate awareness among educators, students, and parents of the contribution that career exposure, workplace experience, and goal-oriented educational decisions can make to a successful future. Although school-to-work has not achieved the ambitious goals set forth in the legislation, it has probably contributed a constructive thread to the evolving fabric of American Education. http://info.greenwood.com/books/0275970/0275970167.html

Increasing Opportunities for Older Youth in After-school Programs
This report documents the successes and challenges of serving older youth. http://www.workforcetools.org

Measuring the Well-being of African-American and Latino Children
The KIDS COUNT Project of the Annie E. Casey Foundation recently released two new KIDS COUNT Pocket Guides based on the 2000 Census. The first Pocket Guide, African-American Children: State-Level Measures of Child Well Being from the 2000 Census, provides state-level data on child well-being for Blacks and non-Hispanic Whites. The second, called Latino Children: State-level Measures of Child Well-being from the 2000 Census, contrasts Latinos and Non-Hispanic Whites in each state. Download free copies from the Web site or call (410) 223-2890. http://www.kidscount.org

National Governor's Association (NGA) Center for Best Practices Database
This online database catalogs best practices of state-level programs that provide extra learning opportunities for school-age children. The database also helps governors, state policymakers, and agency staff to identify innovative programs. To add your program to the NGA database, call Liam Goldrick at (202) 624-5359.

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