Family–School–Systems Connections
Early Childhood Research for Educational Equity
Early Childhood, Higher Education

How can we close opportunity gaps for young children affected by poverty and systemic racism—and build hope and resilience for children and their families? Research points the way forward, and in this timely volume, 40+ leading researchers identify new approaches, insights, and technologies that can promote educational equity and improve outcomes for children and families living in poverty.

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STOCK NUMBER ISBN
57464 978-1-68125-746-4
COPYRIGHT PAGES
2024 328
AVAILABILITY
Available Stock

How can we close opportunity gaps for young children affected by poverty and systemic racism—and build hope and resilience for children and their families? Research points the way forward, and in this timely volume, 40+ leading researchers identify new approaches, insights, and technologies that can promote educational equity and improve outcomes for children and families living in poverty.

Building on the seminal work of researcher John Fantuzzo, this book focuses on identifying and expanding on child, family, and community strengths to address the urgent needs of the whole child and the whole family. The expert contributors examine the importance of 1) child-level strengths and social connections, 2) strengths-based intervention as an antidote to deficit framing, and 3) collaboration and data sharing across systems serving vulnerable children and families.

Chapters cover research and recommendations for:

  • implementing interventions that foster children’s social-emotional learning skills
  • developing culturally and linguistically valid tools for measuring social-emotional development
  • creating more culturally inclusive preschool classrooms and practices
  • enhancing young children’s communication and language competence in home visiting programs
  • using partnership-based approaches to strengthen understanding between home and school settings
  • integrating data across programs and agencies to inform early childhood policy and better address complex social issues

In addition to reporting on current research projects, the contributors outline future priorities and explore how research can inform policy and practice to achieve positive, sustainable change. A foundational volume for current and future early childhood researchers, administrators, and policy makers, this forward-thinking book will light the path toward greater educational equity, reduced disparities, and better outcomes for children and families.

About the Editors
About the Contributors
Introduction


Section I: Introduction
Chapter 1 Real, Ready, and Responsible Research for Change: Advancing Essential Relationships to Promote Child Well-Being and Equity
John W. Fantuzzo

Section II: Social Connections for Children’s Well-being
Chapter 2 Validation of Early Childhood Measures of Social-Emotional Competence for Linguistically and Ethnically Diverse Preschoolers
Lisa M. López, Rebecca J. Bulotsky‐Shearer, Julia Mendez Smith, and Paul A. McDermot
Chapter 3 Capturing Socialization Experiences for Culturally Diverse, Low-Income Preschool Children: Measurement of Parent Beliefs about Play Across Cultures
Julia Mendez Smith, Doré R. LaForett, Sunah Hyun, Jhonelle Bailey, and Shivani Raina
Chapter 4 Bridging Divides and Making Visible the Invisible: Connecting Children, Parents, and Teachers through Cultural Inclusion
Christine M. McWayne, Jacqueline S. Mattis, Wendy Ochoa, and Lok-Wah Li

Section III: Strengths-based Interventions Across Families and Settings
Chapter 5 Fostering Young Children’s Language Development Through Strategic Partnering: Forming Little Talks
Patricia H. Manz and Rachel A. Eisenberg
Chapter 6 Developing Interventions that Foster Children’s Social-emotional Development by Making Connections with Teachers, Families, and Schools
Rebecca J. Bulotsky‐Shearer, Chelsea Morris, Jenna Futterer, Kelsey Clayback, Ebony Leon, Jill Ehrenreich‐May, Jason Downer, and Ann L'hospital
Chapter 7 Conquering Kindergarten: Development and Initial Implementation of a Practical, Responsive, and Sustainable Teacher–Family Support System to Foster Children’s Social-Emotional Learning Skills
Katherine Barghaus and Cassandra Henderson

Section IV: People, Process, and Policy: Data Integration for Systems Change
Chapter 8 Using Integrated Data to Better Understand and Address Complex Social Problems Facing Young Children and Their Families
Katherine Barghaus and Della Jenkins
Chapter 9 Iowa’s Integrated Data System for Decision-Making: A State–University Partnership to Advance Early Childhood Systems
Heather L. Rouse, Cassandra Dorius, Amanda Winslow, Elizabeth Danforth Richey, Kelly Davydov, Todd Abraham, and Jessica Bruning
Chapter 10 Partnering for School Readiness: Integrating Data for Effectiveness Across Systems (IDEAS) Consortium for Children
Rebecca J. Bulotsky‐Shearer, Jhonelle Bailey, Imelda Moise, Ruby Natale, Ebony Leon, Mary Anne Ullery, and Mark Needle

Afterword
Jacqueline Jones
Index

Reviews

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Reviews

James Cox, Midwest Book Review - April 29, 2024
Of immense and timely relevance for readers with an interest in educational research and early child education, Early Childhood Research for Educational Equity is an ideal and unreservedly recommended pick for personal, professional, school district, college and university library Education Policy & Development collections, and supplemental Early Childhood curriculum studies lists."
Sharon Kagan, Ed.D., Professor, Teachers College, Columbia University and Child Study Center, Yale University - December 5, 2023
"Compiling a compendium of the nation's best scholars, McWayne and Gadsden have edited a path‐breaking volume that purposefully centers research on equity within the integrated family–school–community eco‐context. Anchored in a host of trenchant issues facing contemporary early childhood practice, the volume is both practical and intellectually audacious, honest, and bold. A brilliant conceptualization, superb scholarship, and enriching commentaries combine to render this collection a stunning tribute and a prescient prescription for the diverse ways scholarship can and must advance policy and social justice. Nothing could be more timely, more useful, or more important—for our time and for the ages."
Dennis Culhane, Ph.D., Dana and Andrew Stone Professor of Social Policy, University of Pennsylvania - December 5, 2023
"Tackles many of the critical sociocultural dimensions of implementing a range of evidence‐based practices in early childhood education. The expert chapters reflect how these sensitivities are expanding the reach of successful approaches to the children and communities who need them most."
Michael Cunningham, Ph.D., Professor of Psychology and Africana Studies, Tulane University - December 5, 2023
"Advances developmental science theory, interventions, and practices. The contributors go beyond typical descriptions of challenges—they also advance solutions. This edited volume is a welcomed addition to the extant literature and will be foundational for future scholars examining ecological linkages between challenges and solutions that are based on theoretical and applied processes."
Robert Pianta, Ph.D., Batten Bicentennial Professor of Early Childhood Education and Founding Director of the Center for Advanced Study of Teaching and Learning, University of Virginia - December 5, 2023
"I am one of hundreds of academics influenced by John Fantuzzo's ideas. I consider my contacts with John—his work and his person—to be among the most authentic and valuable points in my career. John's boundless and enthusiastic energy for how the best science can and should make positive contributions to the lives of children, families, and educators is evident across this volume's chapters and in the careers of the authors. John is a visionary: he knew to appreciate and study child development and education from an assets-based perspective long before we used that term; he demonstrated the promise of community‐level data systems and their value for decision‐making; and he has been unrelenting in articulating that an ecological‐developmental perspective is relevant for a wide range of stakeholder groups. Above all, John embodies what service to the public means as an academic. Like John, this volume is a valuable resource advancing human development."
Michael Guralnick, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus of Psychology and Pediatrics, University of Washington - December 5, 2023
"Relationship‐based developmental principles provide the core of a systems approach in this important volume…guide[s] communities to optimally and equitably support children's development and the aspirations of their families."