From Data to Dissemination
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ECEI Research Associates visit programs and schools throughout the year to assess young children and observe classrooms. Have you ever wondered what happens to the data they gather?
Collecting data is just the first step in the data to dissemination process here at the ECEI. During the fall and spring, ECEI’s expert assessors visit partnership schools and programs to individually administer assessments to measure children’s early literacy and math, language, social-emotional, executive function, and self-regulation skills. During the winter, ECEI staff conduct standardized observations of classrooms to capture typical classroom activities. Additionally, they also collect surveys from teachers, parents, and principals throughout the year.
What happens with all this data once collected? The answer is
data processing
,
data cleaning
, and
data analysis
. Each of these three processes includes many steps.
Data Processing
- Scoring the assessment or observation — assessors provide evidence of answers to the specific items, confirm that item criteria have been met, and calculate scores
- Score checking — an ECEI colleague looks over the assessor’s notes, calculations, and documentation to make sure all steps in scoring were correctly completed
- Data entry — an Excel spreadsheet or online database is used to guide an ECEI staff member to enter scores
- Enter check or double entry — a different ECEI staff member enters the data again and compares the two to ensure accuracy
Data Cleaning
F
ollowing the procedures and processes used with large, nationally representative datasets such as the Head Start Family and Child Experiences Survey, ECEI researchers:
- Export data — SPSS or STATA files are created
- Ready data for analysis — convert all data to numeric values and label to indicate the type of assessment and data collection time points
- Restructure data — reorganize data to match the needs of different types of analyses such as longitudinal, multilevel approaches
- Create a codebook — this serves as an index and dictionary for the entire dataset
Data Analysis
- Determine datasets — confirm which datasets are needed to answer research questions for a given project
- Merge datasets — if needed, combine local and national data to address a specific research question
- Finalize the sample — handle missing data and outliers
- Analyze the data — run basic and advanced analyses using statistical software
Together, these steps yield research results that ECEI staff are enthusiastic about sharing with program partners and professional colleagues. We disseminate our results through oral and written reports, conference presentations and research posters, as well as journal articles tailored for program, policy, or research audiences.
Now you know
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much happens behind the scenes at the ECEI to ensure our results are accurate. We hope this demystifies the process of data to dissemination.
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Top photo: Senior Research and Policy Associate Shinyoung Jeon works on data cleaning
Left photo: Project Director April Dericks looks through one of the many files of data kept year-round
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President's Associates Dinner
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ECEI Director Diane Horm served as the keynote speaker for the University of Oklahoma President's Associates Dinner, hosted by OU President James Gallogly on March 6 at OU-Tulsa. Dr. Horm conveyed the importance of early childhood education and how Tulsa is leading the field nationally. She also provided updates on several cutting-edge research projects happening at the ECEI.
Thanks to our partners from CAP Tulsa, Tulsa Educare, George Kaiser Family Foundation, and many others for attending and supporting our work.
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ECEI leadership celebrates early childhood. Front row from left: Shannon Guss, Cristy Roberts, Diane Horm, Sherri Castle, and April Dericks. Back row from left: Shinyoung Jeon, Melissa Acton, Lisa Eshenour, and Beth Sullins
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Pictured from left: George Kaiser, Diane Horm, and President Gallogly
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Diane Horm speaks about the importance of early childhood.
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TULSA REPRESENTED IN BALTIMORE
This March, ECEI researchers had the distinction of presenting at the Biennial Society for Research in Child Development (SRCD) Meeting in Baltimore, MD.
Diane Horm, Sherri Castle, and April Dericks, together with Georgetown colleagues Anna Johnson and Deborah Phillips, presented multiple papers with preliminary findings from data obtained through the NIH grant-funded SEED research project:
- To Whom Little is Given, Much is Expected: ECE Workforce Supports and Wellbeing and the Classroom Processes They Drive
- Patterns of Enrollment, Migration, and Classroom Experiences Across 3- and 4-year old Publicly-Funded Preschool
- Effects of Preschool Classroom Supports on the Language Skills of Dual Language Learners
Along with Kelly Maxwell and Diane Early of ChildTrends, and Amy Madigan of OPRE, Diane Horm did a panel conversation
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Charting a Course for the Future in Measuring Quality in Early Care and Education Settings
. Shinyoung Jeon, Shannon Guss, and Diane Horm also presented work with the Baby Faces dataset concerning family engagement profiles and their association with child outcomes
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Profiles of Family Engagement in Early Head Start: Associations with Child Outcomes and Parenting Skills.
Our ECEI researchers and OU-Tulsa College of Education colleagues presented six posters over the four-day conference. Additionally, Diane was selected to serve as a facilitator for the Network of Infant/Toddler Researchers (NitR) and a featured presentation was delivered by our faculty colleague Kyong-Ah Kwon. We are proud to be so well-represented by our hard-working research team at such an exciting conference!
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The ECEI began the year with a service project to give back to our local community. For Valentine's Day, staff handmade and delivered cards to families of the Ronald McDonald House Charities of Tulsa and residents of the Parks Edge Nursing & Rehabilitation Center. A big thanks to both centers for their significant contributions to the community and allowing us to spread the love.
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ABOVE & BEYOND THE CALL OF DUTY
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The ECEI gives out a quarterly employee recognition award called the ABCD award. We are happy to announce the recipient for the 2018 fourth quarter (October-December) was Leah Smith.
Here is what those who nominated Leah had to say: "Leah has consistently gone above and beyond to help the new employees. She has spent many hours helping us practice various assessments, answering our questions, showing us where things are located, teaching us how to score and write reports for observations, and many more tasks. Leah is always happy to assist and has always treated us with kindness and compassion. She is extremely flexible as we interrupt her work to ask questions. I am so grateful for her constant willingness to help us out!"
"Leah is positive, welcoming, and always helpful."
Leah demonstrated the core values of Integrity, Responsibility, Respect, Learning, Excellence, and Flexibility. Congratulations, Leah!
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EQUITY IN EARLY CHILDHOOD
Several ECEI staff, along with director Diane Horm, attended the Oklahoma Partnership for School Readiness Research Symposium in January. The Symposium focused on promoting equity in early childhood with keynote speaker Dr. Brenda Jones Harden. The ECEI was also well represented at the reception the evening before the symposium where they got a chance to present several research posters. Posters were presented on the topics of enrollment and migration patterns in preschool, dimensions of family and child care instability for infants and toddlers, and the roles of classroom quality and family engagement in promoting executive function in children.
Diane is pictured above with the Executive Director of OPSR, Debra Anderson, an ECEI Advisory Board member.
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Learning to Listen: Supporting Language Acquisition and the Learning Identities of Dual Language Learners in an Early Childhood Classroom
Laura Latta
Young Children
This action research study authored by a first grade teacher-researcher examines the process of language acquisition of first grade dual language learners (DLL) and the research-based instructional supports that helped their language develop over the course of one school year. The supports highlighted in this paper include the intentional use of visual references and anchor charts, peer teaching, and the provision of a language rich environment. While such strategies and supports are commonplace in many early childhood classrooms, the importance of their presence was that they were created by and selected for the children with their learning preferences in mind. Instructional decisions were influenced by the sociocultural conceptual framework including Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) and Bruner, Wood, and Ross’ scaffolding as well as Rinaldi’s Pedagogy of Listening.
Executive Function and Learning Behaviors: Associations with Academic Skills Among Preschoolers
Amber Beisly, Kyong-Ah Kwon, and Shinyoung Jeon
Journal of Early Child Development and Care
This study examined the associations of preschool children’s executive function (EF) and learning behaviour (CLB) with their concurrent academic skills and the role of CLB as a mediator for the EF-academic skills link. One hundred seventy-nine children were assessed on EF and math and literacy skills. Parents and teachers completed a questionnaire that assessed CLB. We found that both EF and CLB were significantly associated with math and literacy skills. However, EF and CLB were not associated, and there was no support for the mediational model of EF on CLB. This finding suggests that EF and CLB may tap unique aspects of children’s learning related skills and are directly and independently associated with children’s concurrent math and literacy skills.
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Accreditation: Supporting Quality and Professionalism in Early Childhood Education
Handbook of Early Childhood Care and Education
The purpose of this chapter is to discuss accreditation in the context of contemporary early childhood care and education (ECCE) in the U.S. The major types of accreditation are summarized with more detailed explanations of three systems, two focused on preparation of early childhood professionals and one on early childhood programs serving young children. The common goals across these systems — improving and promoting quality — are highlighted along with discussion of their unique and shared contributions to practice and policy. Discussion focuses on the role of accreditation in professionalizing the ECCE field.
Use of Home Language in Preschool Classrooms and First- and Second-Language Development Among Dual-language Learners
Helen Raikes, Lisa White, Sheridan Green, Margaret Burchinal, Kirsten Kainz,
Diane Horm,
Gary Bingham, Alan Cobo-Lewis, Lisa St. Clair, Daryl Greenfield, and Jan Esteraich
Early Childhood Research Quarterly
The number of dual-language learners (DLLs) from low-income backgrounds who attend early education programs in the U.S. is rapidly increasing, leading to a need for research that examines the effects of classroom practices, including whether teachers speak English or the home language, on DLL children’s school readiness. This issue was examined in Educare, an expanded Early Head Start/Head Start program for low-income children that ensures children receive high-quality early education and care. Analyses of 1,961 DLL Educare children across 16 sites were conducted to compare the acquisition of language skills in English and Spanish among children in classrooms in which teachers used English and little or no Spanish, English with some Spanish, and both English and Spanish. Findings indicated that DLL children in all groups showed gains in language skills in both English and Spanish, but that DLL children from classrooms with both English and Spanish instruction had significantly higher Spanish auditory comprehension scores than other children. Findings from this study have implications for practice, highlighting the value of all 3 types of classrooms for English-language growth and the additional value of English/Spanish instruction for Spanish language growth.
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Woodcock-Johnson III Tests of Achievement
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Woodcock-Johnson Tests of Achievement (WJ III) were developed in the late 1970s by Richard Woodcock and Mary E. Bonner Johnson. Since then, the assessment has been widely used in educational, clinical, and research settings. This versatility, along with the flexibility of subtests that can be administered to a population ranging in age from pre-K to the geriatric level, contributes to its popularity. The measure has been revised three times, most recently in 2014.
The WJ III is a standardized test administered individually by a trained assessor. It requires strict adherence to “exact administration,” including a script and detailed pointing instructions. This instrument must be practiced many times before an assessor is reliable. It is made up of 22 subtests that measure several academic skills
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reading, mathematics, and oral and written language. Of those subtests, 12 can be used with preschoolers.
At the ECEI, select subtests have been or are being used across all our projects. Word and Letter Identification measures basic literacy. Applied Problems focuses on skills needed to solve math problems. Picture Vocabulary and Oral Comprehension assess aspects of oral language development. During Fall 2018 data collection, ECEI assessors administered over 1,500 WJ III Tests of Achievement.
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Get to Know Our Advisory Board
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Janice Im
Chief Program Officer,
ZERO TO THREE
ECEI Advisory Board member since 2018
Although a relatively new member of our board, Janice brings solid knowledge of building an organization and how organizations can support common messages and goals. Moving forward, Janice's advice will be invaluable as we increase our efforts to translate our research to shape policy and practice.
Here are some of Janice's thoughts on the ECEI and its future:
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What is unique about the ECEI and its research?
ECEI’s focus on infants and toddlers, and that their research is grounded in strong community partnerships that make ECEI uniquely positioned to influence practice and community systems.
What are the biggest changes you have observed during your time on the Advisory Board?
One of the biggest changes I have observed during my tenure as an Advisory Board member is ECEI’s strategic shift from focusing mainly on early care and education research, to research that can provide an intersect between early care and education, health, and other systems of care.
What do you hope to see in the ECEI’s future?
I would like to see ECEI build their capacity to translate their research in ways that can directly inform both practice and policy — further amplifying ECEI’s visibility and field leadership.
Thanks Janice! We look forward to your sage advice as we continue to grow.
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Next Issue: ECEI's Updated Strategic Plan
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Integrity
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Excellence | Respect | Learning | Responsibility
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Flexibility
We are a growing research institute focused on young children (birth to age 8) in early childhood programs. Read more about the history of the ECEI, view our most recent Annual Reports, download a copy of our Strategic Plan, or learn more about our staff.
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We are improving the way that we connect with our colleagues.
Please add ecei@ou.edu to your address book to ensure you receive our messages.
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Issue: Spring 2019
updated: 4/5/2019
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