Facts In Action. Associated Early Care & Education.Page One. Programs and Policies for Children are Slow to Use Latest Research

Over the past twenty years, there has been an explosion of scientific knowledge related to early childhood development, particularly surrounding how the brain develops in the first few years of life. At the same time as this information is shedding new light on our understanding of the biological mechanisms of development, it has also become clear that the quality of the environment in which children live is essential in supporting healthy development. Despite the rate at which this new knowledge has been advancing the field of early childhood research, however, we as a nation have been slow to use on this information and integrate it into policy and practice related to children and families.

In an effort consistent with the mission of the Early Education Clearinghouse - to bridge the gap between practitioners and advocates and field and policy research - a special committee of the National Academy of Science has just completed a two-and-a-half year project to review research from a wide range of disciplines, summarizing new scientific knowledge on early childhood development and discussing the implications for policy, practice, and professional development. The result of this project is the book, From Neurons to Neighborhoods: The Science of Early Childhood Development, published in November 2000. The book discusses what researchers have learned about the nature, tasks, and context of early childhood development and makes recommendations for turning knowledge into action, policy, and practice.

Research on early brain development indicates that a great amount of learning takes place in the first few years of life - that is, children are "ready to learn" from birth. Because this period is characterized by the rapid development of new skills, it is also a highly vulnerable period in terms of environmental and physical stresses that might interfere with healthy development. Neurons to Neighborhoods notes that even before the age of five, differences in children's development can be related to differences in social and economic circumstances, and may even be related to future performance in school.

Programs that are focused on promoting smooth transitions to school and improving later academic performance have traditionally focused on developing literacy and numeric skills. Efforts to promote healthy social and emotional development have largely been overlooked in this "school-readiness" model, despite evidence from early childhood research that social and emotional development are not only as important as cognitive and language skills in ensuring later school success, but also serve to build the foundation on which children develop literacy and numeric skills. In addition, Neurons to Neighborhoods contends that we as a nation have paid short shrift to the mental health needs of young children. Research indicates that depression, trauma, and loss have a lasting impact on children's development, yet there is not a good system in place to address children's early mental health needs.

The old debate of "nature vs. nurture" ― that it is either our genetic makeup or environmental influences that are responsible for the way we develop ― is now thought of as an overly simplistic approach to development. In actuality, nature and nurture each have an effect on the other, and both work together towards shaping development. Because almost every aspect of human development is affected by experiences and the environment, Neurons to Neighborhoods states that it is essential to provide supports to children and families by promoting healthy, stimulating, stable and safe caregiving environments, whether children are at home or in early care and education.

Neurons to Neighborhoods makes a number of recommendations for policy, practice, and professional development, defining how we can best support children and families in light of new scientific knowledge - in other words, putting facts into action. According to the authors, policy, practice, and professional development should:

provide resources for funding and training in early mental health in order to develop the capacity of programs and to increase the supply of trained personnel to address these needs;

include in "school-readiness" programs a focus on leveling the playing field, helping children from diverse backgrounds to overcome disparities in skills;

ensure that public and private policies provide parents with viable choices for caring for their children - whether at home or in early care and education settings;

promote quality child care settings characterized by sustained relationships with qualified caregivers, through initiatives that improve the qualifications and increase the compensation and benefits of the child care workforce; and

reassess income support policies (e.g. TANF) to ensure that no child suffers from deep and persistent poverty.

Finally, in order for programs and policies to be not only effective but also to remain relevant in the face of new information about early childhood development, we need to periodically assess whether these programs and policies are in fact working for children and families. In assessing our nation's current programs and policies, Neurons to Neighborhoods notes that there has been little systematic or rigorous evaluation of whether specific interventions create benefits or changes in the children and families they serve. While the book recommends that we need to do more evaluation of programs, it cautions that these evaluations cannot be limited strictly to "high-stakes" decisions linked to funding. In order to do a service both to programs and policies and to children and families, evaluation needs to be a constructive process of continuously gathering information and improving programs.

Source:
From Neurons to Neighborhoods: The Science of Early Childhood Development, J. Shonkoff and D. Phillips (eds.) Committee on Integrating the Science of Early Childhood Development, Board on Children, Youth, and Families, National Research Council and Institute of Medicine, National Academy of Sciences, 2000.

For more information:
contact National Academy Press, 2101 Constitution Ave. N.W., Lockbox 285, Washington, D.C., 20055, call (800) 624-6242, or look on-line at www.nap.edu.