Child Development

Reports:

Student Mobility: Exploring the Impact of Frequent Moves on Achievement: Summary of a Workshop
2010

Many low-income families struggle with stable housing and frequently have to move due to foreclosures, rent increases, or other financial setbacks. Children in these families can experience lasting negative effects, especially those who are young and still developing basic learning and social skills. A joint NRC-IOM committee held a workshop in June 2009 to examine these issues, highlight patterns in current research, and discuss how to develop a support system for at-risk children.

Strengthening Benefit-Cost Analysis for Early Childhood Interventions: Workshop Summary
2009

The deficiencies that many children experience from birth to school age--in health care, nutrition, emotional support, and intellectual stimulation, for example--play a major role in academic achievement gaps that persist for years, as well as in behavior and other problems. There are many intervention programs designed to strengthen families, provide disadvantaged children with the critical elements of healthy development, and prevent adverse experiences that can have lasting negative effects.

In a climate of economic uncertainty and tight budgets, hard evidence not only that such interventions provide lasting benefits for children, their families, and society, but also that the benefits translate into savings that outweigh the costs is an extremely important asset in policy discussions. Convincing analysis of benefits and costs would provide a guide to the best ways to spend scarce resources for early childhood programs.

Benefit-Cost Analysis for Early Childhood Interventions summarizes a workshop that was held to explore ways to strengthen benefit-cost analysis so it can be used to support effective policy decisions. This book describes the information and analysis that were presented at the workshop and the discussions that ensued.

Who Are These People? A Guide for Child Care Professionals
reprint, 2008

As children spend an increasing portion of their day outside the home, it has become even more important that they are consistently exposed to positive and productive experiences, especially during their formative years. High-quality care is no longer a plus it s a must.

With the goal of making daily caregiving easier and more enjoyable, the National Academies and the McCormick Tribune Foundation have partnered to produce this useful and informative booklet. Based on key findings described in two recent reports on early childhood development and education from the National Academies From Neurons to Neighborhoods: The Science of Early Childhood Development and Eager to Learn: Educating Our Preschoolers it offers helpful suggestions and practical guidance to child care providers, educators, and even interested parents.

Concentrating specifically on infants, toddlers, and preschoolers, Who Are These People?: A Guide for Child Care Professionals provides information and inspiration to everyone who interacts with young children on a regular basis.

Early Childhood Assessment: Why, What, and How
2008

The assessment of young children's development and learning has recently taken on new importance. Private and government organizations are developing programs to enhance the school readiness of all young children, especially children from economically disadvantaged homes and communities and children with special needs.

Well-planned and effective assessment can inform teaching and program improvement, and contribute to better outcomes for children. This book affirms that assessments can make crucial contributions to the improvement of children's well-being, but only if they are well designed, implemented effectively, developed in the context of systematic planning, and are interpreted and used appropriately. Otherwise, assessment of children and programs can have negative consequences for both. The value of assessments therefore requires fundamental attention to their purpose and the design of the larger systems in which they are used.

Early Childhood Assessment addresses these issues by identifying the important outcomes for children from birth to age 5 and the quality and purposes of different techniques and instruments for developmental assessments.