Early Education & Development | CYFS | Nebraska Center for Research on Children, Youth, Families and Schools

CYFS to host April 10 summit on early childhood

The Nebraska Center for Research on Children, Youth, Families and Schools will provide a forum for sharing and discussing the latest research on early childhood when it hosts an April 10 summit in Lincoln, Neb.

Co-sponsored by the Buffett Early Childhood Institute and First Five Nebraska, the 2014 CYFS Summit on Research in Early Childhood will feature three rounds of presentations that outline recent findings from CYFS faculty and affiliates. Subsequent small-group roundtables will facilitate discussion of how these findings can inform early childhood practice and policy. Full Article

Durden receives USDA award for extension efforts

CYFS faculty affiliate Tonia Durden, assistant professor of child, youth and family studies at UNL, has received the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s 2013 Early Achievement Award for helping communities support the healthy development of young children. Full Article

Doctoral affiliate Davis examining implementation of literacy curriculum

Getting children to follow directions has long proven a challenge for early childhood educators. Fittingly, a CYFS research team is examining how well those very teachers do the same.

Dawn Davis, a CYFS doctoral student affiliate, is leading a study to explore how closely the implementation of literacy curriculum in a Head Start program adheres to the curriculum’s design. Davis is assessing this match between plan and practice – commonly called “fidelity” – to determine its influence on children’s oral language, alphabet knowledge, print awareness and other literacy skills. Full Article

Knoche, affiliates studying economic impacts of early childhood investments

As the federal government wrestles with the age-old issue of spending versus saving, three CYFS researchers have embarked on a study to pinpoint the economic value of Nebraska’s investments in early childhood.

CYFS Research Associate Professor Lisa Knoche has teamed with new Faculty Affiliates David Rosenbaum and Eric Thompson to evaluate the fiscal benefits of funding the state’s early childhood education and programs. Full Article

Meisels named founding director of Buffett Early Childhood Institute

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. Full Article

CYFS director co-edits early childhood handbook

After years of advancing research on early childhood education, CYFS Director Susan Sheridan recently helped chronicle the state of the science in the latest edition of a handbook recognized as a standard-bearer for the field.

Sheridan served as co-associate editor for the newly published fifth edition of the “Handbook of Early Childhood Education,” a 634-page publication that reviews current research on early education and identifies its implications for practice and policy. Full Article