Preschool represents many firsts in a child’s education. For parents, it is often their first interaction with a classroom teacher.
CYFS graduate assistant Amanda Moen is studying preschool teachers’ influence on these early partnerships. With dissertation grant awards from the University of Nebraska’s Buffett Early Childhood Institute and the Society for the Study of School Psychology, Moen will test a measure used to assess teachers’ confidence in promoting family-school partnerships.
CYFS director Susan Sheridan and Amanda Witte, project manager, led a December 2015 webinar to share results from their study of conjoint behavioral consultation (CBC) in rural communities. Developed by Sheridan, CBC (also known as Teachers and Parents as Partners) is a structured parent-teacher partnership model that promotes positive academic and social outcomes for students.
The Nebraska Center for Research on Children, Youth, Families and Schools has earned $6.5 million to shape Nebraska early childhood practices and policies, while leading a national network committed to improving children’s outcomes.
The project is part of the multi-institutional Early Learning Network, a $26 million research initiative funded by the U.S. Department of Education’s Institute of Education Sciences.
With $2.5 million in federal funding, a CYFS research team is exploring the power of partnerships to benefit Nebraska’s youngest children.
Led by Lisa Knoche, CYFS research associate professor, the team aims to improve developmental outcomes—specifically language and social-emotional skills—for infants and toddlers. Their project is one of four national studies funded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Administration for Children and Families. Together, research findings will inform local and national Early Head Start programs, which provide early childhood services for low-income families.
While childcare shapes the trajectory of future generations, evaluating its impact is far from child’s play.
Led by Greg Welch, CYFS research associate professor, a multi-campus University of Nebraska team has received funding to evaluate and inform childcare quality. The CYFS-housed project, funded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Administration for Children and Families, will pinpoint the minimum thresholds of childcare quality needed to promote positive development and prevent negative outcomes for children birth to age five.
Elizabeth Niehaus, assistant professor in educational administration, has been awarded two grants to study Caribbean student engagement in higher education. The American College Personnel Association Foundation awarded a $2,500 grant and the NASPA (Student Affairs Administrators In Higher Education) Foundation awarded $4,650—both projects are housed in CYFS.
CYFS faculty affiliate Georgia Jones, associate professor of nutrition and health sciences, is using mobile technology to connect students with supplemental course content—and she’s doing it all from a UNL food laboratory.
Jones is partnering with the Nebraska Center for Research on Children, Youth, Families and Schools to create a food science video series using a GoPro camera and an iPad.
Researchers from the Nebraska Center for Research on Children, Youth, Families and Schools (CYFS) are embarking on a collaborative project to enhance program evaluations for 4-H, the nation’s largest youth development organization.
CYFS’ Nebraska Academy for Methodology, Analytics and Psychometrics recently received a $225,000 grant from the National 4-H Council to review and revise the 4-H Common Measures, a set of surveys used to identify and measure youth outcomes.