Gone are the days when "infant-toddler education" was something that was only needed for children with disabilities or family risk factors.  Most children in the U.S. are in the regular care of a non-parent prior to the age of three.  So, although we don't support any efforts to "push down" traditional education on all infants and toddlers, we strongly believe that those who are in the care of non-parents should have the highest quality experiences possible. Unfortunately, the quality of educaring at the infant-toddler level is even lower, on average, than it is for preschoolers.   A "perfect storm" exists considering  the cost of infant-toddler care, the need for additional support, better training, and better working conditions, and the particularly rapid and vulnerable state of brain development in the first three years of life.  MIELL is working toward innovative solutions to this complex problem on multiple fronts. Click here for Dr. Moreno's testimony to the Federal Departments of Education and Health and Human Services on this issue.  Click here for a summary View the summary page on " Learning through Relating" (LTR), a comprehensive curriculum, assessment, and professional development system co-developed by Dr. Moreno and colleagues at Clayton Early Learning.  Evidence suggests that the authentic LTR assessment can be validly employed by infant-toddler caregivers with or without college degrees.  Finally, we are conducting a study of the effects of community-delivered coaching on the quality of teacher-child interactions in infant-toddler settings, both center- and home-based.

It is now well-understood that the cognitive and emotional functions of the brain are not separate, and indeed, cannot do well without one another.  This is most clear in early childhood, when development progresses in a global, "non-compartmentalized" manner.  Thus, setting a foundation for lifelong learning occurs not by teaching young children specific content, but by providing them with supportive experiences and practice in the development of executive functions, including self-regulation (EF/SR).  In short, EF/SR allows children to find and use relevant information (both cognitive and emotional), make decisions, and carry out actions based on those decisions.  These skills are best developed through good old-fashioned play, with periodic support from an adult when necessary or to facilitate expansion.

Human beings cannot "decide to learn", or make a conscious decision to absorb content until certain brain reorganizations have taken place.  Since this transition can occur in normal children anywhere between preschool and third grade (not to mention the gradual and episodic development that will occur all throughout this period), it is appropriate to treat learning as primarily experiential during the early grades.  At the Marsico Institute, we strongly believe that all teachers need more training and support in the application of these principles of child development.  Moreover, teachers and families need relief from the pressures of the "accountability movement", which has had the unintended consequence of creating classroom practices in direct contrast to what we know about brain development, such as increasing compartmentalized content and "drill and kill" strategies, and decreasing play and experiential learning.  (See above our policy page for our white paper on the relationship between standardized testing and this issue.)  Currently, we are observing preschool teachers' support (or lack thereof) of children's developing EF/SR and devising an intervention program that will enhance these skills in a developmentally appropriate manner. We are also working with master kindergarten teachers to determine the best skills to target to ready children for successful functioning in an academic setting.

While it is true that most young children find themselves in increasing amounts of professional care, parents are still the largest influence on all children's lives. Research has shown that even for children in full-time child care, parental influence is still two to three times greater than that which can be attributed to child care experiences. Staring in the early elementary years, the amount of influence that can be attributed to teachers decreases even more. Thus, we also concern ourselves with the quality of parent-child interactions, and want to ensure that parents have the skills and support they need to engage with their children in ways that will nurture them and maximize their potential. Furthermore, we also want to make sure that the institutions and communities with which families intersect value parental engagement and know how to foster it. Currently, we are one of the investigators on the "Buffering Toxic Stress" project, in which we seek to determine whether enhancing parent-child interactions will serve as a buffer for children, even in the most stressful of circumstances, such as chronic poverty. Expected outcomes are children's learning and development, and also their well-being at a physiological level, i.e., their patterns of the stress hormone cortisol. In another project in which we are supporting community organizations providing early literacy interventions (birth through third grade), we are examining ways in which parental engagement can be maximized to complement and increase the programs' benefits.