Early Childhood Research Findings Mentioned in Prominent Publications
Research findings from the Early Childhood Education Institute (ECEI), a program of the Jeannine Rainbolt College of Education on the OU-Tulsa campus, have received some exciting recognition lately in the education press.
The Hechinger Report and Early Learning Nation, two prominent national education publications, have covered the findings of a study ECEI conducted over the last several years in conjunction with Educare, a high-quality early learning program in Tulsa.
“For decades, researchers have debated the long-term impact of early childhood education, sharing evidence that while some children experience positive long-term outcomes, others see initial benefits fade out — or even experience detrimental outcomes,” opens the article by Jackie Mader from The Hechinger Report. “Now, a new study is adding to a growing body of research indicating that high-quality early care and learning programs can positively impact children for years into the future. But there is one caveat: Children need to be enrolled early, in infancy or early toddlerhood, to reap these benefits.”
This important study was carried out, beginning in 2010, by the ECEI. The researchers followed a cohort of 37 children who were enrolled in Tulsa Educare and a control group of 38 who did not get spots in Educare and were cared for by a variety of different methods.
“This intensive, long-term research is important as we seek to better understand how children learn and develop,” said Diane Horm, Ph.D., the founding director of ECEI and a George Kaiser Family Foundation Endowed Chair of Early Childhood Education at OU-Tulsa. “It is also important that we effectively communicate the findings to a wide variety of audiences – because the research findings have implications for families, educators, researchers and policy makers.”
Click below if you’d like to read the full articles.
By Bonnie Rucker
