CYFS | Nebraska Center for Research on Children, Youth, Families and Schools

Plata-Potter focusing on Latinos’ early literacy

Sandra Plata-Potter wants to help first-generation Latino parents give their preschoolers a head start on literacy – and the resources to keep pace with their peers.

The CYFS doctoral student affiliate is collaborating with Faculty Affiliates Lisa Knoche and Helen Raikes to determine whether Latino parents’ engagement in a Head Start project encourages them to become more involved in literacy-related activities with their children. The researchers are also examining whether these home-based activities bolster children’s “emergent literacy” – the knowledge and skills that serve as foundations for reading and writing. Full Article

Knoche studying coaches of early childhood teachers, parents

For many Nebraskans, the word “coaching” is synonymous with revered football figures such as Tom Osborne and Bob Devaney. For CYFS Faculty Affiliate Lisa Knoche, it’s vital to the future of Nebraska’s early childhood education. Full Article

CYFS holds fourth annual art supply drive

UNL faculty and staff have again demonstrated that to give is to receive – especially during the holidays.

CYFS recently completed its fourth annual Gift of Creativity donation drive in an effort to provide art supplies to disadvantaged children, families and schools throughout Nebraska this holiday season. Full Article

Student affiliate Koziol receives thesis award

Natalie Koziol, a CYFS graduate student affiliate in educational psychology, recently received the 2010-2011 Folsom Distinguished Master’s Thesis Award. The award recognizes distinguished scholarship and research at the master’s level.

Koziol’s thesis is titled “Evaluating Measurement Invariance with Censored Ordinal Data: A Monte Carlo Comparison of Alternative Model Estimators and Scales of Measurement.” In it, Koziol addresses the statistical testing of measurement invariance, which assumes that a scale measures the same construct when used across time or groups. She specifically evaluates how several factors, including sample size and the non-normality of data, influence the validity of statistical conclusions. She also examines how the effects of these factors vary according to measurement models and estimators. Full Article

CYFS hosts meeting of prominent family-school minds

The great irony of research on family-school partnerships is that its scholars have yet to fully tap the potential of collaboration.

With this in mind, CYFS recently spearheaded a movement to forge ties and unify research among leaders in the field.

The Center catalyzed these efforts by hosting more than 20 family-school partnership researchers at a national meeting held September 19-21 in Omaha, Neb. Full Article