To support effective policymaking, the Herr Research Center publishes research briefs and reports synthesizing relevant knowledge in the early childhood field as well as papers reporting the findings of our own original research projects.
Browse publications by year: 2011 | 2009 | 2008 | 2007 | 2006
2011
A New Beginning: The Illinois Kindergarten Individual Development Survey
Samuel J. Meisels and Jana Fleming
This report of the Kindergarten Readiness Stakeholder Committee, a work group whose leadership included
Erikson president Samuel J. Meisels and
Herr Research Center director Jana Fleming, designed a process that could provide schools and educational leaders with age-appropriate information about children’s developing knowledge and skills. The Illinois Kindergarten Individual Development Survey (KIDS) will help identify gaps in school readiness and guide classroom instruction, providing information to schools, districts and the state to support decision-making about resource allocations.
Download paper » [PDF, 22 pg]
Family-Sensitive Caregiving: A Key Component of Quality in Early Care and Education
Juliet Bromer, Diane Paulsell, Toni Porter, Julia R. Henly, Dawn Ramsburg, and Roberta B. Weber
This chapter of
Next Steps in the Measurement of Quality in Early Childhood Settings presents a new conceptual framework for measuring quality in family-provider relationships in early care and education settings. The model was developed partially in response to research findings that show small but positive impacts of early care and education quality on child outcomes, suggesting that current measurements of quality may be missing some important elements. The model also arose out of the recognition that the work support aspect of early care and education arrangements has been a missing component in most definitions and conceptualizations of quality in this field.
Improving Support Services for Family Child Care Through Relationship-Based Training
Juliet Bromer and Tonya Bibbs
This paper describes the dimensions and components of a relationship-based training program for professionals who support caregivers working out of their own homes.
Download paper » [PDF, 8pg]
Quality Rating and Improvement Systems (QRIS) and Family-Sensitive Caregiving in Early Care and Education Arrangements: Promising Directions and Challenges
Toni Porter, Juliet Bromer, and Shannon Moodie
This brief, published by the Office for Planning, Research, and Evaluation, seeks to inform discussions about relevant and meaningful indicators by examining QRIS family partnership standards through the lens of family-sensitive caregiving.
Download paper » [PDF, 18 pg]
2009
Staffed Support Networks and Quality in Family Child Care: Findings from The Family Childcare Network Impact Study
Juliet Bromer
This report reviews findings from the Family Child Care Network Impact Study and offers recommendations for policy makers and family child care networks seeking to ensure the highest quality care in family child care homes.
Download paper » [PDF, 228 pg]
Policy brief: The Family Child Care Network Impact Study: Promising Strategies for Improving Family Child Care Quality
Juliet Bromer
This brief reviews findings from the Family Child Care Network Impact Study and offers recommendations for policy makers and family child care networks seeking to ensure the highest quality care in family child care homes.
Download paper » [PDF, 4 pg]
The Work-Family Support Roles of Child Care Providers Across Settings
Juliet Bromer and Julia R. Henly
This paper, published in
Early Childhood Research Quarterly, presents a qualitative investigation of the work-family support roles of a sample of 29 child care providers serving low-income families in the Chicago area (16 family, friend, and neighbor providers (FFN), 7 licensed family child care providers (FCC), and 6 center-based teachers). Providers report offering low-income parents substantial logistical (flexible hours, help with routines) and economic help (flexible fees, help with subsidies) managing work and family, in addition to their care of children. For FFN providers, support was often provided in the context of significant stress and burden. FCC providers and center-based teachers were often constrained in their help-giving by ambivalence regarding professional guidelines and institutional constraints. Findings from this study may inform future research on the effects of child care on children and parents, and models of child care quality.
2008
Executive summary: Staffed Support Networks and Quality in Family Child Care: Findings from The Family Child Care Network Impact Study
Juliet Bromer
The Family Child Care Network Impact Study examines the relationship between affiliation with a staffed support network and quality of child care among affiliated family child care providers in the city of Chicago. The study identifies several network characteristics associated with higher quality care including the role of network coordinators and direct services to providers. The report includes policy and program recommendations regarding network development.
Download paper » [PDF, 24 pg]
Issue brief: How Can Work-Based Policies Help Children?
Herr Research Center
In this brief, we discuss both the scientific and pragmatic rationale for combining poverty reduction and work-support policies with early care and education policies.
Download paper » [PDF, 9 pg]
Children and Social Policy Vol. 2 No. 1, October 2008
Herr Research Center
Highlights and key messages from the second annual Midwest Policy Conference held in October 2007.
Download paper » [PDF, 24 pg]
The Competent Early Childhood Mental Health Specialist
Jon Korfmacher and Aimee Hilado
This research brief summarizes findings from a comparison of early childhood mental health competency systems across six states, highlighting convergences in the systems’ structure, content, and use. It offers recommendations for policy and practice, discusses how competency systems could be used, and asks whether a national set of competency standards should be implemented.
Download paper » [PDF, 8 pg]
Creating a Workforce in Early Childhood Mental Health
Jon Korfmacher and Aimee Hilado
What are early childhood mental health services? Who should provide them, and who has the right to say who can provide these services? This report summarizes a comparison of six states' efforts to define standards and professional competencies in the field.
Download paper » [PDF, 32 pg]
2007
Evaluating Early Care and Education Programs: A Review of Research Methods and Findings
Carol Horton
This report presents a detailed review of the most notable recent or ongoing research studies that examine the relationship between early care and education (ECE) program participation and child development. It summarizes the approach and findings of studies of Head Start, child care, state Pre-K, and other widely available ECE program types.
Download paper » [PDF, 66 pg]
Early Care and Education Programs: What Does Research Tell Us about Their Effects on Child Development?
Carol Horton
This brief reviews the findings of eleven important studies that examine the relationship between ECE programs and child development in real-world settings.
Download paper » [PDF, 14 pg]
Children and Social Policy newsletter
The first issue of the Herr Research Center's newsletter explores early learning standards and approaches to assessment.
Download paper » [PDF, 20 pg]
2006
The Challenges of System-Building in the After-School Field: Lessons from Experience
Robert Halpern
Download paper » [PDF, 37 pg]
Critical Issues in After-School Programming
Robert Halpern
Four papers explore the role of after-school programs in supporting literacy development; their effectiveness at fostering children’s physical well-being; the challenge of system building; and the question of appropriate expectations for such programs.
Download paper » [PDF, 149 pg]
The Role of After-School Programs in Supporting Low-Income Children's Literacy Development
Robert Halpern
Download paper » [PDF, 53 pg]
Accountability in Early Childhood: No Easy Answers
Occasional Paper by Samuel J. Meisels, Ed.D.
Politicians, policymakers, journalists, and scholars want to know that taxpayer-supported programs for young children work. Increasingly, the measure of program accountability has been reduced to how well a young child performs on a mandated test. In this paper, Meisels examines the genesis of accountability testing in preschool and refutes the quality-assurance, production-model assumptions that underlie its use with young children.
Download paper » [PDF, 32 pg]
Physical (In)Activity Among Low-Income Children and Youth
Robert Halpern
Download paper » [PDF, 38 pg]
Confronting "The Big Lie": The Need to Reframe Expectations of After-School Programs
Robert Halpern
Download paper » [PDF, 30 pg]