Quality of Care
From ECEI Director Diane Horm -

In the Summer and Fall Newsletters, I provided an overview of our updated Strategic Plan and highlighted our broadened focus on equity in our revised vision and mission statements. I also presented our definition of equity and introduced our new research agenda noting the four areas that we will investigate through 2024. In this and the next three Newsletters, I will provide more details about our four research themes. I’ll start with one of our research themes that builds on our work since our inception as a research group in 2006: early childhood services and quality of care. 

Through 2024, the ECEI will continue our long-standing commitment to high-quality assessment of the nature, intensity, and quality of early care and education experiences available to Oklahoma’s children. ECEI researchers have and will continue to strive to uncover features of early care and education settings that are the most important to children’s development. We will also continue to investigate predictors of best practices — those classroom practices that best support young children’s positive development. Building on the dissertation research conducted in the summer of 2019 by Sherri Castle, our Assistant Director of Research, the ECEI will explore how children’s own characteristics shape their experiences in early care and education settings and how those individual experiences predict a range of developmental outcomes. In line with our focus on equity, we will intentionally document patterns of individual child experiences, developmental growth and change, and responses to a range of early childhood interventions that may reveal inequities across subgroups of children. We will discuss potential group differences and inequities as part of our dissemination of results to multiple audiences. 

In the next Newsletter, I will describe our work and future plans related to another theme of our research agenda: workforce characteristics and well-being. We have several studies on this topic currently underway with our local agency partners and with colleagues here at OU-Tulsa and look forward to extending our work on this important topic in the future.

As always, we welcome your input and suggestions. We also welcome collaborators and partners. If you are doing work related to early childhood services and quality of care we would love to co-present with you at an upcoming conference, participate on a panel together, or share our mutual interests and findings in other ways.   

In ending, this is the season when we intentionally pause from our busy schedules to express thanks to our partners and supporters. Thank you! We appreciate your help and support and look forward to continued work to advance and support equity in early childhood.
Recent Events
Presidential Research Series
Drs. Diane Horm and Sherri Castle kicked off a new lecture series last semester designed to spotlight research happening on the OU-Tulsa campus.

The Presidential Research Series is an elevated Lunch & Learn, similar to a TED Talk, geared toward other researchers on campus and is open to everyone at OU-Tulsa. Horm and Castle used the platform to discuss the Institute and its current work and partners. They also presented the Institute's future research agenda and invited collaborators. Horm noted the unique opportunities on the OU-Tulsa campus for research examining the links between young children's education and health.

“The invitation to present is evidence of the contribution of the ECEI to OU and the Tulsa community. We took this opportunity to share information about early childhood development and how our applied research is contributing to conversations in the field as we work to better understand factors that support children’s optimal development,” Castle said.

The audience at the event included faculty and staff across several disciplines. Castle added: “We hope that some of them will take us up on our invitation to collaborate and further strengthen our work with additional interdisciplinary partnerships.”

Grand Rounds
The human and economic benefits of early education are well documented with decades of research.

Recent evidence is indicating that participating in high-quality early education programs has even farther-reaching impacts.

“Children who participate in high-quality early education programs may reap health benefits well into adulthood, indicating that our current valuation of impacts may be grossly underestimated,” said Sherri Castle, Assistant Director of Research.

Castle and ECEI Director Diane Horm shared how their research is examining the impact of early childhood education on the physical and social determinants of health outcomes during an OU-Tulsa Department of Pediatrics Grand Rounds last semester. Grand Rounds are an education opportunity for faculty, residents, staff, and community pediatricians held twice a month.

High-quality early childhood education is thought to produce positive health outcomes by connecting families with healthcare providers as well as ensuring timely immunizations and identification and treatment of health and developmental issues.

“With research documenting early education impacts on childhood obesity rates and cardiovascular health in adulthood, the ECEI is partnering with our colleagues at Georgetown University to identify and test potential mechanisms through which early childhood programs could be impacting short- and long-term health outcomes,” Castle said.

Horm and Castle welcomed the opportunity to share their current and planned work on these questions with their colleagues in the OU/TU School of Community Medicine (SCM) Pediatrics Department.

“We hope to identify some members of the SCM who are interested in partnering with us to explore how children’s early experiences, including adversity as well as resilience-building experiences like high-quality early childhood programs, shape the development of children we see in our clinics and schools,” Castle said.
What's New at the ECEI
Service Day 2019
On December 16, 19 members of the ECEI staff spent the afternoon giving back during our annual service day at the Community Food Bank of Eastern Oklahoma. It was our second year volunteering with this organization. Staffers helped with packing cabbages into 13-pound bags to be distributed to children and families in the community. Together we contributed to processing 6,253 lbs. of food which is equivalent to 5,210 meals.

Special thanks to Mike Averill for his hard work in getting this organized.
  ABCD Award Winner
The ECEI gives out a quarterly employee recognition award to employees who go "Above and Beyond the Call of Duty" (ABCD). We are happy to announce the recipient for the 2019 third quarter (July-September) was Anne Perrine. Here is what those who nominated Anne had to say:
  • Anne put in a lot of work developing a survey in Qualtrics for the training team - from developing and presenting the idea, to learning a new skill in building surveys."
  • Anne was awesome in helping with fall reliabilities and going above and beyond her training team duties. She covered others when they were out and was always willing to do what was needed to ensure all projects were ready for data collection.

Anne demonstrated the core values of Integrity, Responsibility, Excellence, Respect, Learning, and Flexibility. Congratulations, Anne!
Fall Conferences and Workshops
NAEYC

ECEI Director Diane Horm attended both the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) and the National Association of Early Childhood Teacher Educators (NAECTE) in Nashville in November. OU-Tulsa colleagues Drs. Vickie Lake and Libby Ethridge attended and presented, along with doctoral students Amber Beisley and Adrien Malek. Also in attendance were several graduates of the OU-Tulsa PhD program, who are now faculty teaching the next generation of early childhood teachers. 
ELN Data Camp

This fall, Diane Horm, Liz Frechette, and Holly Neveu attended the annual Educare Data Camp in North Carolina. Organized by the Educare Learning Network, the camp is hosted by UNC's Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute at Chapel Hill. Data Camp is an opportunity for Local Educare Evaluation Partners, affiliated with the 24 Educare schools across the country, to work on research papers, posters, and briefs for dissemination in journals and at professional conferences.
NIEER

ECEI Director Diane Horm served as an invited speaker at a planning meeting for a proposed infant and toddler care policy center in New Jersey, organized by The National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER). The two-day meeting generated vital ideas for the future center’s direction and goals. Additional speakers included Dr. Rena Hallam, University of Delaware and Karen Schulman, National Women’s Law Center. ECEI's Advisory Board Chair Kim Boller was in attendance representing The Nicholson Foundation, the funder of this initiative.
Recent Publications
Language Intervention Research in Early Childhood Care and Education:
A Systematic Survey of the Literature
Dale Walker, Samantha J. Sepulveda, Erika Hoff, Meredith L. Rowe, Ilene S. Schwartz,
Philip S. Dale, Carla A. Peterson, Karen Diamond, Susan Goldin-Meadow, Susan C. Levine,
Barbara H. Wasik, Diane M. Horm , and Kathryn B. Bigelow
Early Childhood Research Quarterly

Children vary extensively in their language skills at school entry, and a substantial part of this variation is due to disparities in language exposure prior to school. Because these differences have continuing impact on academic, cognitive, and social development, prevention and intervention programs have been developed to address deficits in early experience with language and to prevent continuing difficulties. In this study, the authors report the findings from a systematic survey of research on non-parental interventions, with the goal of identifying strengths and weaknesses in current literature that can inform current practice and also guide the design of future research. The studies reviewed include some well-documented and validated intervention strategies that have potential to be useful for addressing the word gap.
To read more, click here
Parental Influences on Children's Effortful Control:
Examining Parenting, Temperament, and Externalizing Behavior Across Time
Tricia Neppl, Shinyoung Jeon, Olivia Diggs, and Brent Donnellan
Developmental Psychology

The current study evaluated bidirectional associations between mother and father positive parenting and child effortful control. Data were drawn from 220 families when children were 3, 4, 5, and 6 years old. Parenting and effortful control were assessed when the children were 3, 4, and 5 years old. These variables were used to statistically predict child externalizing and school performance, that was assessed when the children were 6 years old. The study used random intercept cross-lagged panel models to evaluate within-person and between-person associations between parenting and effortful control. Results suggest that prior positive parenting was associated with later effortful control, whereas effortful control was not associated with subsequent parenting from ages 3 to 5. Stable between-child differences in effortful control from ages 3 to 5 were associated with school performance at age 6. These stable between-child differences in effortful control were correlated with externalizing at age 3.
Associations between Early Care and Education Teacher Characteristics
and Observed Classroom Processes
Anna Johnson, Anne Partika, Owen Schochet, and Sherri Castle
Urban Institute and Child Trends
Strengthening the Diversity and Quality of the Early Care and Education Workforce Paper Series

Early care and education (ECE) teachers are paid strikingly low wages yet are increasingly expected to advance children’s learning by offering high-quality classroom environments. Teachers’ capacities to provide high-quality instruction should be affected by the stressors they encounter and the supports they receive. This study describes ECE teacher supports, experiences, and well-being in a sample of teachers serving 4-year-olds from families with low incomes in a mixed-delivery ECE system in Tulsa, Oklahoma. We find that teachers who reported high levels of teamwork among colleagues and those who reported more wellness supports in the workplace had classrooms that scored higher on observed quality; teachers who reported more depressive symptoms scored lower on observed classroom quality. If these findings are replicated in other samples—using additional measures of ECE teacher supports, experiences, and well-being—they point to areas ripe for investment in ECE teacher professional development and workplace supports.
To read the full report, click here
Featured Observation
Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS)
The CLASS is an observation tool designed to assess classroom quality in Infant/Toddler and Pre-K settings through third grade. It was developed in 2008 by education researchers at the University of Virginia’s Center for Advanced Studies in Teaching and Learning (CASTL).  

The CLASS model is a framework for assessing teacher-child interactions, measuring their quality, and turning those metrics into meaningful feedback. These interactions are broadly grouped into two domains for CLASS Toddler: Emotional and Behavioral Support, and Engaged Support for Learning; and three domains for CLASS Pre-K and K-3: Emotional Support, Classroom Organization, and Instructional Support. The CLASS tool is used extensively in research, and helps educators observe, describe, categorize, and understand teacher-student interactions.

Our ECEI assessors maintain a yearly re-reliability certification process for each level of the CLASS they observe. Among our staff, we have two certified CLASS Affiliate Trainers, 26 reliable CLASS K-3 observers, 23 reliable CLASS Pre-K observers, and 15 reliable CLASS Toddler observers. During the 2018-2019 school year, the Institute completed 159 CLASS K-3 observations and 165 Pre-K and Toddler observations.   
Get to Know Our Advisory Board

Rebecca Fine
Education Policy Analyst, Oklahoma Policy Institute

ECEI Advisory Board member since 2018

Rebecca brings deep expertise in education to the leading policy analysis group in our state. As the newest member on the Advisory Board, her energy and fresh perspective are welcome as we undertake our new ambitious strategic plan.

Here are some of Rebecca's thoughts on the ECEI and its future:
What is unique about the ECEI and its research?
The ECEI conducts high-quality program evaluation and research in early childhood education and their reputation in these areas is well deserved. However, their ability to maintain these high standards while continuously increasing their capacity makes them rather exceptional. The ECEI continues to expand their reach preparing future researchers and practitioners in the field. The state is fortunate to have their expertise to help move the needle on early childhood education outcomes in Oklahoma. 

What expertise are you hoping to offer to the ECEI as a new member on the Board?
I am the Education Policy Analyst and KIDS COUNT Coordinator at the Oklahoma Policy Institute. I hope I can bring a state policy lens to the ECEI's work and help ensure that early childhood education policies in Oklahoma are research-based and benefit all Oklahoma children. It is important that the ECEI's findings make their way into policy decisions at the legislature and I'm eager to think about how we can do this most effectively. 

What do you hope to see in the ECEI’s future?
I hope we can find ways to elevate the ECEI's expertise at the state level. It's vital that this research makes its way to lawmakers so that Oklahoma can continue to be a leader in early childhood education. The ECEI is advancing a research agenda that is critical to improve student outcomes for all children in Oklahoma. I would like to think more deeply about how we can communicate this research to our state leaders. 

Any other thoughts or advice?
I'm grateful to be on the ECEI's Advisory Board and partner with some of the leading researchers in early childhood education. It's encouraging to witness quality research informing policy and practice, and I commend the entire team at the ECEI for their work. Oklahoma is lucky to have you! 

Thanks, Rebecca! We look forward to our continued partnership .

Next Issue: W orkforce Characteristics and Well-Being
Integrity   |   Excellence | Respect | Learning | Responsibility   |   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.
OU-Tulsa | Early Childhood Education Institute | 918-660-3907 | education.ou.edu/ecei
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. 
 Issue: Winter 2020                                    updated: 1/8/2020