Samuel J. Meisels, one of the nation’s leading authorities on the assessment of young children and early childhood development, has been named the founding executive director of the University of Nebraska’s Buffett Early Childhood Institute, NU President James B. Milliken announced Oct. 19.
CYFS releases 2011-2012 Annual Report
CYFS has released its annual report for the 2011 fiscal year, which ran from July 2011 through June 2012.
Titled “Viable Research, Visible Results,” the report encapsulates a year’s worth of ongoing research and recent findings dedicated to improving the prospects of children, youth, families and schools.
CYFS statisticians Bovaird, Koziol write handbook chapter
Two members of the CYFS Statistics and Research Methodology Unit have contributed a chapter to the recently published “Handbook of Structural Equation Modeling.”
James Bovaird, director of the SRM Unit, and Natalie Koziol, doctoral student affiliate in educational psychology and statistics, addressed advanced applications of the increasingly prevalent structural equation modeling technique. Their chapter outlines the modeling of ordinal data associated with latent variables, which are not directly observable but can be estimated from the values of other related variables.
Molfese to lead $1.4 million study of toddler sleep habits
ZZZs don’t always come easy for children still learning their ABCs.
Accordingly, three CYFS faculty affiliates are studying the developmental implications of toddlers’ sleep habits – and the factors that might determine whether they sleep like a baby.
Faculty affiliate Doll earns APA award
CYFS Faculty Affiliate Beth Doll recently received the American Psychological Association’s Jack Bardon Distinguished Service Award during the 120th APA Annual Convention in Orlando, Fla.
The APA grants the award to mature school psychologists who have demonstrated exceptional programs of service and a history of sustained achievement throughout their careers.
CYFS earns $3.2 million grant to assess Getting Ready intervention
A CYFS research team has earned a $3.2 million U.S. Department of Education grant to explore whether an intervention approach that bridges living rooms and classrooms can also span the persistent achievement gap facing disadvantaged children.
Dubbed Getting Ready, the CYFS-designed intervention aims to strengthen parent-child relationships and foster family-school partnerships that improve the educational prospects of children at risk for developmental delays. Two of Getting Ready’s creators, CYFS Director Susan Sheridan and CYFS Research Associate Professor Lisa Knoche, are now leading a study of its ability to help these struggling children close gaps in cognition, language skills and social-emotional maturity as they enter preschool.
Economics experts named newest faculty affiliates
Early education and child care influence more than just individual futures – they also impact the economic trajectories of communities throughout Nebraska and the United States.
The Nebraska Center for Research on Children, Youth, Families and Schools recently added two faculty affiliates, Eric Thompson and David Rosenbaum, who are currently researching links between early childhood and the economy.
Doctoral affiliate Hubel studying risk factors of child maltreatment
The Early Head Start program aims to give young children exactly that. However, the program has fought a recurring battle against the maltreatment of those children by the same low-income families it seeks to assist.
In 2009, CYFS Doctoral Student Affiliate Grace Hubel began working as a mental health consultant with a local Early Head Start center in Lincoln, Neb. Through her interactions with families and conversations with staff, Hubel realized that the program’s children seemed especially susceptible to the neglect and abuse that research has linked with psychiatric disorders, poor communication skills and antisocial behavior.