The Nebraska Center for Research on Children, Youth, Families and Schools reached a major milestone in 2024: two decades of research, collaboration and impact.
As the center enters its third decade, CYFS faculty, staff, students and research affiliates remain focused on making a positive difference for Nebraskans at every stage of life, through social, behavioral and educational research.
For more than two decades, the Getting Ready research program has promoted healthy development for children age 5 and younger by bringing evidence-based parent engagement strategies to early childhood programs throughout Nebraska.
As one of the first projects launched by CYFS in 2004, Getting Ready has focused on cultivating and fortifying relationships in children’s lives, including relationships among parents, children and the early childhood educators connected to the family.
With artificial intelligence — AI — becoming increasingly integrated into daily life, researchers have the opportunity to incorporate the fast-evolving, cutting-edge technology into their work.
Early childhood researchers discussed strategies, tools and best practices for incorporating AI into their work during the fall NAECR Knowledge event Oct. 7.
For 10 years, the Nebraska Academy for Early Childhood Research (NAECR) has advanced high-quality early childhood research and collaboration at the University of Nebraska.
Moving forward into the next 10 years and beyond, NAECR is focused on continuing to provide the tools, support and programs researchers need to ensure their work has the greatest impact on improving children’s lives.
The Nebraska Academy for Early Childhood Research has selected six faculty members to serve as Policy Fellows for the 2025-26 academic year.
The NAECR Policy Fellows Program is designed to educate early childhood researchers on policy processes, impacts and relationships to research; to provide policymakers with insight into the latest early childhood research at the University of Nebraska; and to generate collaboration among researchers and policymakers to develop effective research agendas that enrich early childhood experiences.
New funding is available to help Nebraska researchers strengthen their data and analyses.
The Nebraska Academy for Methodology, Analytics and Psychometrics (MAP Academy) is seeking proposals for a competitive funding opportunity created to enhance the rigor of field-based human subjects research at the University of Nebraska.
For many Nebraska families, finding affordable child care can seem like piecing together an impossible puzzle.
Parents juggle waitlists, long commutes and tough choices between work and staying home — all while early childhood teachers themselves face low pay, long hours and stress.
Autism is the fastest-growing disability category in Nebraska. About 30% of autistic children do not develop vocal speech by age 4 and require augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) — non-verbal methods such as gestures, facial expressions, picture cards and tablets to communicate.
