Progress 06/01/04 to 05/31/10

Outputs
OUTPUTS: I have participated in many dissemination activities to share what was found in the Getting Ready Project with many different kinds of audiences of child development researchers, educational researchers, teachers and practitioners, and the general public; and they have been influential in helping create awareness of the important part that a parent engagement component can play in early education and intervention efforts. For example, I am co-author of many research articles and book chapters intended to disseminate the Getting Ready findings to researchers, through such journals as Early Childhood Research Quarterly, Early Education and Development, Early Childhood Services, Young Children. I am also co-author of more general chapters on parent-child relations and school readiness, as informed by Getting Ready findings and other findings, in invited chapters for several encyclopedias intended to influence the educated public, including the Encyclopedia of Infant and Early Childhood Development, 2010, Encyclopedia of Infant and Early Childhood Development, 2008, and International Encyclopedia of Early Childhood Education, 2007. I was part of refereed research-based presentations of Getting Ready findings at national/international meetings of the Society for Research in Child Development (2007, 2009), Head Start National Research Conference (2006, 2008, 2009, 2010), and National Association for the Education of Young Children (2006). As an invited speaker, I gave keynotes or plenary addresses based on Getting Ready findings (often integrated with findings from findings from my other research and teaching projects) to large mixed audiences of practitioners and college teachers at conferences sponsored by the University of Hawaii,Manoa (2009), Colorado Association for the Education of Young Children (2008), Fresno State College (2006), and University of Indiana, Bloomington (2005). For local audiences composed of practitioners, policymakers, and/or the general public, I gave public service lectures based on Getting Ready findings as a distinguished faculty university lecturer at the President's Club Recognition Event, University of Nebraska (2008); Summit on Research in Early Education, sponsored by the University of Nebraska Center for Research on Children, Youth, Families, and Schools (2010), Getting Ready Data Sharing Session, sponsored by the same organization (2009), Osher Life-Long Learning Institute (2008), to many local groups and organizations as a speaker on "What Works in Early Childhood Education" for the University Speakers Bureau (2007-2010). PARTICIPANTS: Nothing significant to report during this reporting period. TARGET AUDIENCES: Nothing significant to report during this reporting period. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Nothing significant to report during this reporting period.

Impacts
The Getting Ready Project contributed to beneficial impacts in promoting the parent engagement and school readiness of young at-risk children in Nebraska. The intervention was shown to demonstrate significant effects of the social-emotional functioning of infants and toddlers and the school readiness (oral language, preliteracy skills) of preschool children, all of whom were part of community programs (Early Head Start, Head Start, and Student Parent Programs). Getting Ready professional development experiences were also demonstrated shown to be effective at changing practitioners' practices in working with the parents of the children. The sample from which these data are drawn included 292 infants (age 2 to 36 months) and 219 preschool-aged children (36 to 60 months of age). Finding 1: The Getting Ready intervention demonstrated significant effects on children's social-emotional functioning, for infants/ toddlers. However, there were significant moderators, as follows: Getting Ready intervention was more effective for children who did not speak English relative to those who did, and relative to the control group; for treatment group children with disabilities over those without; and only for children who experienced few risk factors. Finding 2: The Getting Ready intervention is demonstrating significant effects on children's early language and literacy skills, specifically for preschoolers. Again, there were significant moderators, so that the intervention was more effective in cases where a concern was noted for a child upon entry into preschool; when a child entered preschool not speaking English; when parents had relatively higher education (high school education); and when parents reported fewer health concerns; and where there were more adults residing in the home compared to fewer adults. Finding 3: Collaborative (conjoint) problem solving used in Getting Ready around specific concerns for teachers/ parents is effective at addressing child needs. Finding 4: The Getting Ready intervention is demonstrating significant effects on parenting behaviors in Early Head Start families. Getting Ready strategies were effective for promoting the quality and appropriateness of some parental engagement behaviors. The effect of the intervention is slightly different for English- and Spanish-speaking families. Finding 5: Getting Ready professional development experiences are effective at changing behavior, and transforming for early childhood educators in experimental group. Finding 6: Relative to the control group, educators in the treatment group are observed engaging in significantly more statements affirming parents' competence, more efforts to establish parent-child dyad, more exchanges wherein parents and professionals brainstorm, and less time on paperwork. Finding 7: Authentic evidence in the form of home visit reports, and newsletters from Head Start teachers indicated a difference in the way teachers communicated and collaborated with families.

Publications

• Sheridan, S. M., Knoche, L. L., Edwards, C. P., Bovaird, J. A., and Kupzyk, K. A. (2010). Parent engagement and school readiness: Effects of the Getting Ready Intervention on preschool children's social-emotional competencies. Early Education and Development, 21, 125-156.
• Knoche, L. L., Sheridan, S. M., Edwards, C.P., & Osborn, A. Q. (2010). Implementation of a relationship-based school readiness intervention: A multidimensional approach to fidelity measurement for early childhood. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, Special issue on Implementation.
• Edwards, C.P., Sheridan, S.M., & Knoche, L. (2010). Parent-child relationships in early learning. In E. Baker, B. McGaw and P. Peterson (eds.), International Encyclopedia of Education, 14-Volume set, 3rd Edition. Oxford, England: Elsevier.

Progress 10/01/08 to 09/30/09

Outputs
OUTPUTS: DATA SHARING MEETING held with project stakeholders, 10/27/2009. CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS to disseminate findings to research community: (1) Getting Ready: the Effects of a Relationship-Focused Intervention on Parent Engagement. Head Start National Research Conference, Washington, D.C., June, 2009. Susan M. Sheridan, Lisa L. Knoche, Carolyn P. Edwards, Kevin A. Kupczyk. (2) Getting Ready: Intervention Effects on the Social Competence of Low-Income Infants and Toddlers. Part of a symposium, The Interagency School Readiness Consortium (ISRC): Preliminary Findings. Society for Research in Child Development, Denver, CO, April 2-4, 2009. Sue Sheridan, Lisa Knoche, Carolyn Edwards, James Bouvaird, Kevin Kupzyk. (3) Adult Support and parental self-efficacy: Moderating and mediating factors for low-income parents of young children. Society for Research in Child Development, Denver, CO, April 2-4, 2009. Brandy Clarke, Susan Sheridan, Carolyn Edwards, James Bouvaird, Kevin Kupzyk. (4) Getting Ready: One-Year Effects of a Parent Engagement Intervention on Parenting Behaviors in Low Income Families. Society for Research in Child Development, Denver, CO, April 3, 2009. Keely Cline, Lisa Knoche, Carolyn Edwards, Susan M. Sheridan, M. Marilu Martinez. (5) Parents and Teachers as Partners in Young Children's Competence. Invited panelist in Early Years Forum on Competent Children, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, Scotland. April 22, 2009. PARTICIPANTS: PARTICIPANTS University of Nebraska faculty and research staff: (1) Susan Sheridan, Professor of Educational Psychology, University of Nebraska--Lincoln, PI; (2) Carolyn Pope Edwards, Professor of Psychology and Child, Youth, and Family Studies, University of Nebraska--Lincoln, Co-PI; (3) Lisa Knoche, Research Assistant Professor, University of Nebraska--Lincoln, Project Manager; (4) James Bouvaird, Assistant Professor of Educational Psychology, Quantitative, Qualitative, & Psychometric Methods Program, University of Nebraska--Lincoln, statistics director; (5) Kevin Kupzyk, MA, UNL Center on Research on Children, Youth, Families, and Schools, Statistics and Measurement Consultant; (6) Christine Marvin, Associate Professor of Special Education and Communication Disorders. Research Assistants who receive training through the grant: Heidi Dostal, Child, Youth, and Family Studies; Laura Bruegger, Psychology; Tia Claps, Psychology, Megan Schroeder, Psychology. Graduate Assistants: Erick Azabache, Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education; and Keely Cline, Developmental Psychology. Community Partner Organizations: (1) Head Start Child and Family Development, Inc., with 16 Early Head Start home visitors in two rural communities where 1/3 of families are Hispanic/ Latino; 6 bilingual family consultants; (2)Blue Valley Community Action Partnership (BVCA), with 4 Early Head Start home visitors in two rural communities where 1/3 of families are Hispanic/ Latino; (3) Lincoln Public Schools (LPS) ExCITE, a school district that serves 31,000 students in 51 schools for a midsized regional city of 225,000. Participants were drawn from the Lincoln Public Schools Student-Parent Program, with 4 high school child care centers, and from the Head Start/ Preschool Program, with 23 classrooms that were racially/ ethnically diverse (approx. 52% non-White). TARGET AUDIENCES: Children in low-income home environments are often ill prepared upon school entry due to the lack of programs that succeed in addressing both parenting skills and developmental tasks. Through this research, we have planned and implemented a comprehensive, integrative intervention for enhancing parent skills and child readiness for school among low-income families participating in community-based services. It was the first to demonstrate the effects of an innovative service delivery model with two simultaneous foci: improving child cognitive, behavioral, and socioemotional skills, and empowering parents to engage actively in their child's development and learning. We demonstrated that the two goals can be joined together by working in a triadic way (parent-child-professional) around child-centered tasks. Current models of early education and community programs struggle to integrate these intervention elements, often because of a lack of understanding of the procedures required to translate the broad base of scientific knowledge into practical strategies and formats. The project provided community partner administrators and policy makers with the information and data they neededo make organizational and programmatic decisions to capture the potential of both parent-focused and child-focused intervention. The research focuses on children and families in Early Head Start, Head Start, and Student Parent programs. Teachers and family advocates in these programs have been part of this study. Current demographics in these programs indicate the following racial makeup of families: American Indian/Alaska Native less than 1 percent, Asian 5 percent, Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander zero percent, Black or African American 27 percent, and White 68 percent. There are equal numbers of males and females enrolled. Approximately 10 percent of the children have been identified with disabilities. There are no exclusionary criteria. The teachers and family advocates associated with these families who conduct home visits will be enrolled in the study. We recruited a total of 511 children and their primary caregivers. There were 60 family advocates and teachers enrolled. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Nothing significant to report during this reporting period.

Impacts
We have completed data collection and analyses. Results were positive, and contributed to beneficial impacts on children, parents, and the community agencies that participated in the project. The sample from which these data are drawn included 292 infants (age 2 to 36 months) and 219 preschool-aged children (36 to 60 months of age). Performance sites were Head Start, Early Head Start, and high school student parent programs in mid-sized towns and rural areas, in which enrolled children receive structured, developmentally sequenced learning experiences. Finding 1: The Getting Ready intervention is demonstrating significant effects on children's social-emotional functioning, for both preschoolers and infants/ toddlers. Finding 2: The Getting Ready intervention is demonstrating significant effects on children's early language and literacy skills, specifically for preschoolers. Finding 3: Collaborative (conjoint) problem solving used in Getting Ready around specific concerns for teachers/ parents is effective at addressing child needs. Finding 4: The Getting Ready intervention is demonstrating significant effects on parenting behaviors in Early Head Start families. Getting Ready strategies were effective for promoting the quality and appropriateness of some parental engagement behaviors. The effect of the intervention is slightly different for English- and Spanish-speaking families. Finding 5: Getting Ready professional development experiences are effective at changing behavior, and transforming for early childhood educators in experimental group. Finding 6: Relative to the control group, educators in the treatment group are observed engaging in significantly more statements affirming parents' competence, more efforts to establish parent-child dyad, more exchanges wherein parents and professionals brainstorm, and less time on paperwork. Finding 7: Authentic evidence in the form of home visit reports, and newsletters from Head Start teachers indicated a difference in the way teachers communicated and collaborated with families.

Publications

• Raikes, H., & Edwards, C. P. (2009). Extending the dance in infant and toddler caregiving: Enhancing attachment and relationship. Baltimore: Paul H. Brookes. (Selected as a Comprehensive Membership Benefit by the National Association for the Education of Young Children.)
• Raikes, H., & Edwards, C. P. (2009). Staying in step: Supporting relationships with families of infants and toddlers. Young Children, 64(5), 50-55.
• Sheridan, S. M., Edwards, C. P., Marvin, C., & Knoche, L. L. (2009).Professional development in early childhood programs: Process issues and research needs. Early Education and Development, Special Issue on Professional Development in Early Childhood: Empirical Findings from the Interagency School Readiness Consortium, 20, 377-401.
• Brown, J. R., Knoche, L. L., Edwards, C. P., & Sheridan, S. M. (2009). Professional development to support parent engagement: A case study of early childhood practitioners. Early Education and Development, Special Issue on Professional Development in Early Childhood: Empirical Findings from the Interagency School Readiness Consortium, 20, 482-506.
• Edwards, C. P., Hart, T., Rasmussen, K., Haw, Y. M., & Sheridan, S. (2009). Promoting parent partnership in Head Start: A qualitative case study of teacher documents from a school readiness intervention project. Early Childhood Services, Special Issue on Managing Young Children's Behavior, 3(4), 301-322.

Progress 10/01/07 to 09/30/08

Outputs
OUTPUTS: Conference Presentations: (1) Getting Ready: Intervention Effects on the Social Competence of Low-Income Infants and Toddlers. Part of a symposium, The Interagency School Readiness Consortium (ISRC): Preliminary Findings. Society for Research in Child Development, Denver, CO, April 2-4, 2009. Sue Sheridan, Lisa Knoche, Carolyn Edwards, James Bouvaird, Kevin Kupzyk. (2) Adult Support in the Home: Protective Factor for Low-Income Parents of Young Children. Society for Research in Child Development, Denver, CO, April 2-4, 2009. Brandy Clarke, Susan Sheridan, Carolyn Edwards, James Bouvaird, Kevin Kupzyk. (3) Getting Ready: One-Year Effects of a Parent Engagement Intervention on Parenting Behaviors in Low Income Families. Society for Research in Child Development, Denver, CO, April 2-4, 2008. Keely Cline, Lisa Knoche, Carolyn Edwards, Susan M. Sheridan, M. Marilu Martinez. (4) Parent Engagement and Infant-Toddler Development: Interim Effects of a Parent Engagement Intervention. Head Start National Research Conference, Washington, D.C., June 24, 2008. Keely D. Cline, Lisa L. Knoche, Carolyn P. Edwards. (5) Getting Ready: Preliminary Effects of a Parent Engagement Intervention to Promote School Readiness. Head Start National Research Conference, Washington, D.C., June 24, 2008. Susan M. Sheridan, Lisa L. Knoche, Carolyn P. Edwards, James A. Bovaird, Brandy L. Clarke, Kevin A. Kupzyk. (6) Good Childhoods For All Our Children. Distinguished faculty university lecture. 2008 President's Club Recognition Event, University of Nebraska, May 8 , 2008. (7) Showing that Early Childhood Education Works. Lecture presented as part of the 2008 Osher Life Long Learning Institute (OLLI), February 27, 2008. University of Nebraska Lincoln; (8) Showing that Early Childhood Education Works. Lecture presented as part of the 2008 UNL Speakers Bureau, Capital City Kiwanis, January 29, 2008 (9) Showing that Early Childhood Education Works. Lecture presented as part of the 2008 UNL Speakers Bureau,Southeast Kiwanis, July 8, 2008. (10) Showing that Early Childhood Education Works. Lecture presented as part of the 2008 UNL Speakers Bureau, Trinity Infant and Child Care, October 8, and November 19, 2008. PARTICIPANTS: PARTICIPANTS University of Nebraska faculty and research staff: (1) Susan Sheridan, Professor of Educational Psychology, University of Nebraska--Lincoln, PI; (2) Carolyn Pope Edwards, Professor of Psychology and Child, Youth, and Family Studies, University of Nebraska--Lincoln, Co-PI; (3) Lisa Knoche, Research Assistant Professor, University of Nebraska--Lincoln, Project Manager; (4) James Bouvaird, Assistant Professor of Educational Psychology, Quantitative, Qualitative, & Psychometric Methods Program, University of Nebraska--Lincoln, statistics director; (5) Kevin Kupzyk, MA, UNL Center on Research on Children, Youth, Families, and Schools, Statistics and Measurement Consultant; (6) Christine Marvin, Associate Professor of Special Education and Communication Disorders. Graduate Research Assistants 2007: (1)Keely Cline, PhD student, developmental psychology; (2) Marilu Martinez, PhD student, developmental psychology; (3) Jill Brown, PhD student, Developmental psychology, now Assistant Professor of Psychology, Creighton University; (4) Danielle Bauer MS student- marriage and family therapy; (5) Amy Chatelain, PhD -- counseling psychology; (6) Tara Hart, PhD - counseling psychology; (7) Doug Oxley, PhD - Political Science (database manager); (8) Sandie Potter, MA student, cognition and learning; (9) Allison Osborn, PhD - school psychology; (10) Kelly Rasmussen - EdS - school psychology; (10) Ashley Taylor, EdS - school psychology; (11) Anabel Tapia Marin, MS student- marriage and family therapy; (12) Jaime Gonzalez, PhD - counseling psychology; (13) Mariel Sparr, MA student, cognition and learning. Undergraduate Research Assistants: (1) Jessica Nokovic - Psychology; (2) Candace Behrens - Psychology; (3) Heidi Dostal - Child, Youth, and Family Studies; (4) Yang Mei Wang - Psychology. Student Consultants in the Schools: (1) Tara Hart, PhD Student - counseling psychology, (2) Katie Woods, PhD student - School Psychology Coaching Team: (1) Alice Eberhart-Wright, (2) Linda Maslowski, (3) Sue Bainter. Postdoctoral Project Coordinator - (1) Brandy Clarke. Partner Organizations: (1) Head Start Child and Family Development, Inc.; (2) Blue Valley Community Action Partnership (BVCA); (3) Lincoln Public Schools (LPS) ExCITE Student-Parent Program and Head Start/ Preschool Program. Collaborators: (1) Tweety Yates - consultant, University of Illinois; (2) Jane Whitmer - consultant - Denver, Colorado; (3) Barbara Jackson - key investigator; University of Nebraska Medical Center. TARGET AUDIENCES: TARGET AUDIENCES: Children in low-income home environments are often ill prepared upon school entry due to the lack of programs that succeed in addressing both parenting skills and developmental tasks. Through this research, we expect to identify a comprehensive, integrative intervention for enhancing parent skills and child readiness for school among low-income families participating in community-based services. It will be the first to demonstrate the effects of an innovative service delivery model with two simultaneous foci: improving child cognitive, behavioral, and socioemotional skills, and empowering parents to engage actively in their child's development and learning. We intend to demonstrate that the two goals can be joined together by working in a triadic way (parent-child-professional) around child-centered tasks. Current models of early education and community programs struggle to integrate these intervention elements, often because of a lack of understanding of the procedures required to translate the broad base of scientific knowledge into practical strategies and formats. Our specific aims to provide administrators and policy makers with the information and data they need to make organizational and programmatic decisions to capture the potential of both parent-focused and child-focused intervention. The proposed research focuses on children and families in Early Head Start, Head Start, and Student Parent programs. Teachers and family advocates in these programs will also be part of this study. Current demographics in these programs indicate the following racial makeup of families: American Indian/Alaska Native less than 1 percent, Asian 5 percent, Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander zero percent, Black or African American 27 percent, and White 68 percent. There are equal numbers of males and females enrolled. Approximately 10 percent of the children have been identified with disabilities. There are no exclusionary criteria. The teachers and family advocates associated with these families who conduct home visits will be enrolled in the study. We will recruit a total of 600 children and their primary caregivers. There will be 60 family advocates and teachers enrolled. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Nothing significant to report during this reporting period.

Impacts
We are currently in our final year of data collection and analysis. Preliminary results are very promising, and we are in an intensive period of manuscript preparation as well as submission of proposals for continued funding. Findings to date are from a subset of the sample and data, given the ongoing, longitudinal nature of the research. The sample from which these data are drawn included 292 infants (age 2 to 36 months) and 219 preschool-aged children (36 to 60 months of age). Performance sites were Head Start, Early Head Start, and high school student parent programs in mid-sized towns and rural areas, in which enrolled children receive structured, developmentally sequenced learning experiences. We are finding convincing evidence for positive effects of the intervention in aspects of social-emotional development that are critical for early learning, as well as evidence of changes in both parent and teacher behavior. For example, we report in one paper that for 220 children, statistically significant differences were observed between treatment and control participants in the rate of change over a 2-year period on teacher reports for certain interpersonal competencies (i.e., attachment, initiative, and anxiety-withdrawal). Furthermore, the implementation fidelity of 51 early childhood professionals were investigated using digital videotaped records of home visits with families across both treatment and control conditions. Early childhood professionals in the Getting Ready treatment group relative to the control group demonstrated greater frequency of adherence to some intervention strategies, as well as higher rates of total strategy use. Adherence in the treatment group was correlated with the rate of contact between parent and teacher during the home visit. In a third report, qualitative methods were used to assess the implementation and generalization of the intervention based on scrutinizing Head Start teacher documents (home visit reports and classroom newsletters) as a source of authentic evidence about their implementation and generalization of an early intervention model. Home visits were a focus of training and coaching, and the analysis provided strong evidence of treatment group teachers implementing strategies of collaborative planning and problem-solving with parents around academic learning and social-emotional goals. Newsletters provided evidence of spontaneous change (hence, generalization) made by teachers on their own as they sought to strengthen home-school collaboration, form strong and trusting relationships, and spotlight and acknowledge child and parent competence. Finally, in a substudy of the parents, it was found that the Getting Ready intervention significantly related to changes in parental quality of warmth and sensitivity, the appropriateness of guided support they offer children, and decreases the amount of directives and demands they give to children. There were marginal changes in quality of support for autonomy, and the appropriateness of the fit of teaching to children. Importantly, the amount of directives and demands placed on children decreased for those families involved in the treatment group.

Publications

• Sheridan, S.M., Marvin, C., Knoche, L., & Edwards, C.P. (2008, In press). Getting Ready: Promoting school readiness through a relationship based partnership model. In Innocenti, M., Guest Editor, Early Childhood Services, Special Issue on Young Children and Relationships, 2(3).
• Sheridan, S.S., Edwards, C.P., Marvin, C., and Knoche, L. (2008, In press). Professional development in early childhood programs: Process issues and research needs. In Sheridan, S. (2009). Guest Editor, Early Education & Development Special Issue on Professional Development in Early Childhood: Empirical Findings from the Interagency School Readiness Consortium.
• Edwards, C.P., Sheridan, S.M., & Knoche, L. (2008, In press). Parent-child relationships in early learning. In B. McGaw & P. Peterson (Eds.), International Encyclopedia of Education. Oxford, England: Elsevier.
• Raikes, H., Edwards, C., & Branch, J.J. (2008). Preschool and nursery school education (early childhood education). In M. Haith & J. Benson (Eds.), Encyclopedia of Infant and Early Childhood Development, Three Volume Set. New York: Academic Press.

Progress 10/01/06 to 09/30/07

Outputs
OUTPUTS: Conference Presentations: (1) Relationships: A new emphasis in early childhood education. Plenary lecture at the Fresno Infant and Toddler Regional Consortium annual conference, Relationships: Keystone to Early Learning. Fresno, California: April, 2006. Edwards, C.P. and Jones-Branch, J. (2) What community values support creative, quality programs for children? Panel Discussion at annual meeting of the North American Reggio Emilia Alliance, National Association for the Education of Young Children, November 2007, Chicago, IL. Edwards, C.P. (3) Getting Ready: The Effects of Parent Engagement on School Readiness of Low-Income Children. Poster presented at the Biennial Conference of the Society for Research in Child Development, April 2007, Boston, MA, as part of a poster symposium. Sheridan, S. M., Edwards, C.P., Knoche, L., Cline, K. D., & Bovaird, J. A. (4) Updates from the Interagency School Readiness Consortium: Lessons learned about providing professional development to early childhood professionals. Annual conference of the National Association for the Education of Young Children, Atlanta, GE, November, 2006. Sheridan, S. M., Edwards, C.P., & Knoche, L. (5) "Home-school partnerships: How does teacher education and experience relate to beliefs about parent involvement? Head Start 8th National Research Conference. Washington, D.C. June, 2006. Sheridan, S.M., Knoche, L., Edwards, C.P. & Chatelein, A. (6) Extended discourse and early childhood literacy: Intentional conversation that scaffolds children's thinking. Kansas City Collaborative: University of Missouri Berkeley Center, Penn Valley Community College Francis Center, Herndon Career Center ECE Program. February 10, 2007. Edwards, C.P. (7) Early childhood education benefits all: Lessons from Italy, China, and the United States. A seminar for members of the Reno Country, Kansas, child care community. Hutchinson Community College, November, 2006. Edwards, C.P. (8) School readiness: Parental predictors for children of poverty. Poster presented at the annual meeting of the National Association of School Psychologists, Anaheim, CA. March, 2006. Sheridan, S. M., Knoche, L., Fleissner, S. M., Clarke, B. L., & Siemers, E. (9) Adolescent parents' participation in learning: Factors contributing to children's development. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the National Association of School Psychologists, New York City, NY. March, 2007. Woods, K. E., Knoche, L., Rasmussen, K., Sheridan, S. M. PARTICIPANTS: University of Nebraska faculty and research staff: (1) Susan Sheridan, Professor of Educational Psychology, University of Nebraska--Lincoln, PI; (2) Carolyn Pope Edwards, Professor of Psychology and Child, Youth, and Family Studies, University of Nebraska--Lincoln, Co-PI; (3) Lisa Knoche, Research Assistant Professor, University of Nebraska--Lincoln, Project Manager; (4) James Bouvaird, Assistant Professor of Educational Psychology, Quantitative, Qualitative, & Psychometric Methods Program, University of Nebraska--Lincoln, statistics director; (5) Kevin Kupzyk, MA, UNL Center on Research on Children, Youth, Families, and Schools, Statistics and Measurement Consultant. Graduate Research Assistants 2007: (1)Keely Cline, PhD student, developmental psychology; (2) Marilu Martinez, PhD student, developmental psychology; (3) Jill Brown, PhD student, Developmental psychology; (4) Danielle Bauer MS student- marriage and family therapy; (5) Amy Chatelain, PhD -- counseling psychology; (6) Tara Hart, PhD - counseling psychology; (7) Doug Oxley, PhD - Political Science (database manager); (8) Sandie Potter, MA student, cognition and learning; (9) Allison Osborn, PhD - school psychology; (10) Kelly Rasmussen - EdS - school psychology; (10) Ashley Taylor, EdS - school psychology; (11) Anabel Tapia Marin, MS student- marriage and family therapy; (12) Jaime Gonzalez, PhD - counseling psychology; (13) Mariel Sparr, MA student, cognition and learning. Undergraduate Research Assistants: (1) Jessica Nokovic - Psychology; (2) Candace Behrens - Psychology; (3) Heidi Dostal - Child, Youth, and Family Studies; (4) Yang Mei Wang - Psychhology. Student Consultants in the Schools: (1) Tara Hart, PhD Student - counseling psychology, (2) Katie Woods, PhD student - School Psychology Coaching Team: (1) Alice Eberhart-Wright, (2) Linda Maslowski, (3) Sue Bainter. Postdoctoral Project Coordinator - (1) Brandy Clarke. Partner Organizations: (1) Head Start Child and Family Development, Inc.; (2) Blue Valley Community Action Partnership (BVCA); (3) Lincoln Public Schools (LPS) ExCITE Student-Parent Program and Head Start/ Preschool Program. Collaborators: (1) Tweety Yates - consultant, University of Illinois; (2) Jane Whitmer - consultant - Denver, Colorado; (3) Barbara Jackson - key investigator; University of Nebraska Medical Center TARGET AUDIENCES: Children in low-income home environments are often ill prepared upon school entry due to the lack of programs that succeed in addressing both parenting skills and developmental tasks. Through this research, we expect to identify a comprehensive, integrative intervention for enhancing parent skills and child readiness for school among low-income families participating in community-based services. It will be the first to demonstrate the effects of an innovative service delivery model with two simultaneous foci: improving child cognitive, behavioral, and socioemotional skills, and empowering parents to engage actively in their child's development and learning. We intend to demonstrate that the two goals can be joined together by working in a triadic way (parent-child-professional) around child-centered tasks. Current models of early education and community programs struggle to integrate these intervention elements, often because of a lack of understanding of the procedures required to translate the broad base of scientific knowledge into practical strategies and formats. Our specific aims to provide administrators and policy makers with the information and data they need to make organizational and programmatic decisions to capture the potential of both parent-focused and child-focused intervention. The proposed research focuses on children and families in Early Head Start, Head Start, and Student Parent programs. Teachers and family advocates in these programs will also be part of this study. Current demographics in these programs indicate the following racial makeup of families: American Indian/Alaska Native less than 1 percent, Asian 5 percent, Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander zero percent, Black or African American 27 percent, and White 68 percent. There are equal numbers of males and females enrolled. Approximately 10 percent of the children have been identified with disabilities. There are no exclusionary criteria. The teachers and family advocates associated with these families who conduct home visits will be enrolled in the study. We will recruit a total of 600 children and their primary caregivers. There will be 60 family advocates and teachers enrolled.

Impacts
We are currently in our final year of data collection and analysis. Preliminary results are very promising. Findings to date are from a subset of the sample and data, given the ongoing, longitudinal nature of the research. The sample from which these data are drawn included 292 infants (age 2 to 36 months) and 219 preschool-aged children (36 to 60 months of age). Performance sites were Head Start, Early Head Start, and high school student parent programs in mid-sized towns and rural areas, in which enrolled children receive structured, developmentally sequenced learning experiences. We are finding convincing evidence for positive effects of the intervention in aspects of social-emotional development that are critical for early learning. The intervention was effective at decreasing negative emotionality and high activity levels in infants and toddlers. For preschoolers, the intervention was effective at increasing attachment and initiative and decreasing anxiety/withdrawal. For children with high needs, a more intensive parent-teacher consulation-based intervention was effective at addressing targeted needs across home and school. A substudy with those adolescent parents in our sample attending school-based student parent programs yielded similar important effects related to parental behaviors that encourage learning. The significant findings indicates that, when parents demonstrate low levels of learning behaviors, but have high levels of professional support, their children have higher scores on the PLS-4 than adolescent parents with low levels of perceived professional support. Studies were conducted on the fidelity with which the intervention was implemented and professional perceptions of the model and related supports for implementation. A random sample of 71 home visits conducted by teachers across participating programs (i.e., Early Head Start and Head Start) has been analyzed using a coding system adapted by the research team from the Home Visit Observation Form. This study addressed the feasibility of integrating the parent engagement intervention into the ongoing work of early childhood educators such as Head Start teachers, and the degree to which teachers generalized parent engagement strategies to their natural practice. Results indicate that relative to a control group of early childhood educators, teachers in the treatment group were rated as significantly higher in effectiveness at initiating parental interest and engagement during home visits. We undertook a study investigating the perspectives of the early childhood teachers delivering the intervention and receiving coaching and consultation support. We found that participation in the intervention yielded profound effects on the behaviors and perceptions of many teachers. A general belief was expressed that the intervention had a sizable effect on families and parent-child relationships, with these positive changes observed directly in home visits and other settings involving parents and children in interaction with one another.

Publications

• No publications reported this period

Progress 10/01/05 to 09/30/06

Outputs
The objective of the Parent Engagement study is to evaluate the benefits of a multi-component, multi-systemic intervention that is child and parent focused, addresses both home and school environments, and is designed to improve the skills of early childhood professionals to increase early and sustained parent engagement across multiple social and learning contexts. Year 3 of the study was devoted to (a) booster sessions for the first wave of Early Head Start, Head Start, and Teen Parent-Child Learning Center professionals around the parent engagement intervention, as well as make-up training for new professionals; (b) transitioning from one of the initial EHS program sites to a new performance site, including the initial training of home visitors and recruitment of families for participation in the project; (c) development and refinement of the reflective coaching model used with early childhood professionals to promote parent engagement; (d) ongoing recruitment of participants, including professionals and parents; (e) ongoing data collection with preschool and student parent early childhood teachers and families as well as Early Head Start and Head Start participants; (f) collection of fidelity data from all early childhood professionals, including video taped home visits and individual interviews with Treatment group professionals about what they have learned through the project and how they have experienced the intervention and reflective coaching; (g) data entry, coding, and cleaning of study measures; (h) the development of an observational coding scheme to capture parent warmth and sensitivity, promotion of learning and literacy, and support of autonomy, as well as training a coding team and establishing inter-rater reliability; (i) the development of a working group with other Interagency School Readiness Consortium projects around issues of professional development and (j) participation in local and national conferences to share preliminary data from the study, as well as the preparation of manuscripts for publication. The progress to date is consistent with our original program management plan. Total numbers of children on whom data has been collected through August, 2006 (including dropped and active cases) are: 176 children under age 3 from Early Head Start (72 Treatment, 104 Control); 148 children aged 3 to 5 years from Head Start (84 Treatment, 64 Control); and 64 children under age 3 from Student-Parent Learning Centers (43 Treatment, 21 Control). Measures administered include: (a) for Parents, CES-D, La Familia-R, Parent-Caregiver Survey (Elicker), Parenting Stress Index-Short Form, Demographic Form, Parenting Sense of Competence (PSOC), Parent-Teacher Relationship Scale (Vickers and Minke), Family Involvement Questionnaire; (b) for Professionals, ITSEA, DECA, Parent-Caregiver (Elicker), ITLA, TROLL, SCBE-30, Demographic Form; (c) for Children, Bayley Scales of Infant Development, Parent-Child Observations, Preschool Language Scale, Bracken Basic Concepts Scale, Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT).

Impacts
ThThe project will provide information that will help community partner agencies in Nebraska (and throughout the nation) improve their effectiveness in enhancing parent-child-professional relationships in the service of better preparing young children to succeed in school. The project is implementing and evaluating methods of training and inservice support (reflective supervision and coaching) to enhance the work of family educators and child care providers. The Parent Engagement Project is significant because it incorporates theoretical, empirical, and applied knowledge from multiple fields and disciplines to construct a framework for a comprehensive intervention to enhance child and parent readiness for school. Outcomes of this study will expand our understanding of relationship-based interventions from a within-systems framework (home or school) to include relationships across systems (home and school) in supporting young children's development. The focus of the intervention is on family strengths related to parental warmth and sensitivity, support of the child's emerging autonomy, and active participation in learning and literacy. It is designed to facilitate an active role for parents in increasing the consistency and coherence of educational supports and challenges across home and community contexts, along with support for a more connected and supportive relationship in the first five years of life.

Publications

• Sheridan, S. M., Clarke, B. L., Knoche, L., and Edwards, C.P. (2006). The effects of conjoint behavioral consultation in early childhood settings. Early Education and Development, 17(4), 593-617.

Progress 10/01/04 to 09/30/05

Outputs
The objective of this study is to evaluate the benefits of a multicomponent, multisystemic intervention that is child and parent focused, addresses both home and school environments, and is designed to improve the skills of early childhood professionals to increase early and sustained parent engagement across multiple social and learning contexts. Baseline descriptive data as of May, 2005: Mean age of 199 children is 21 months; 18% Hispanic, 23% Spanish-speaking; 89% mothers reporting, mean age of parents is 24 years (student parents is 17 years), 31% single/never married; 50% income below $14000/year; 55% moved at least once during last year. Infant-toddler (birth to age 3) sites include two Nebraska Early Head Start agencies and four Lincoln Public Schools Student Parent Programs. Preschool sites include 23 Lincoln Public Schools ExCITE Head Start classrooms. Implementation of the Intervention: Triadic consultation (McCollum and Yates)is used to enhance the capacity of early childhood professionals to interact with families in ways that promote their confidence (self-efficacy) and competence by affirming parental interactions, sharing observations, providing developmental information, and coaching and modeling appropriate interactions. Collaborative conjoint consultation (Sheridan, Kratochwill, and Bergan) is used to help professionals to strengthen parental role constructs vis a vis child learning, as well as to engage in joint problem solving, shared goal setting, mutual decision making, and to provide additional educational support and assistance with families. Reflective supervision (Erickson, McDonough)involves ongoing support and video-mediated coaching to allow early childhood professionals to continually improve skills and services to families. Fidelity information: In terms of the particular strategies that professionals use in their work with parents, after at least 7 months of involvement, the treatment group more often affirmed parental competence, helped parents to prioritize concerns and needs, provided developmental information, brainstormed and problem-solved with parents and, made suggestions for parents. Findings so far: Parents and children participated in activities together more frequently in the treatment group receiving ongoing coaching, and child care staff and parents in student parent classrooms met more often in triadic sessions, thus providing opportunity for use of all the triadic and collaborative strategies. After 9 months of implementation, we have preliminary evidence that a majority of the strategies are being used by the child care staff in their work with families. Child care staff have benefited from coaching in brainstorming and providing development information and helping parents to prioritize child needs. Although professionals demonstrate the new strategies, there is room for improvement in the effectiveness of strategy use, and in taking advantage of opportunities within home visits to use strategies with families. This is the ongoing focus of group and individual coaching.

Impacts
The project will provide information that will help community partner agencies in Nebraska (and throughout the nation) improve their effectiveness in enhancing parent-child-professional relationships in the service of better preparing young children to succeed in school. The project is implementing and evaluating methods of training and inservice support (reflective supervision and coaching) to enhance the work of family educators and child care providers.

Publications

• No publications reported this period

Progress 10/01/03 to 09/30/04

Outputs
In this first year of the research project, the team has conducted the first wave of Training Inatitutes (and some Refresher Trainings)for all of the participating teams of preschool educators and child care specialists from Lincoln Public Schools Head Start, as well as with the teams of infant-toddler family educators and consultants from Blue Valley Community Action and Central Nebraska Community Services Early Head Start programs. The project Coaching Team is overseeing the group and individual reflective coaching sessions of these professionals that take place twice a month in their settings. The project Assessment team has administered first and in some cases second assessments with all children and parents agreeing to be part of the study to date. Project headquarters have been established in Teachers College Hall at the University of Nebraska in Lincoln, and graduate students have been trained and involved in all aspects of the research. Year one report has been submitted to the granting agency. A data management system has been established to record and organize data coming in from the assessments.

Impacts
The project will provide information that will help community partner agencies in Nebraska (and throughout the nation) improve their effectiveness in enhancing parent-child-professional relationships in the service of better preparing young children to succeed in school. The project is implementing and evaluating methods of training and inservice support (reflective supervision and coaching) to enhance the work of family educators and child care providers.

Publications

• No publications reported this period