With more children attending pre-kindergarten and expectations that children be “kindergarten ready,” concerns have emerged that preschools may be too academic in nature. This white paper attempts to shed light on these questions and offers valuable information in the conversation regarding play and academics in pre-K.

As many as 10% of children, and disproportionately children from low-income households, are affected by early language impairment. SMALL Talk, an ongoing Crane Center project, is looking to identify the early risk factors as the first step in preventing language impairment in these vulnerable populations.

Our Broken Child Care System and How to Fix It, Part 2: our executive director Dr. Laura Justice examines how child care programs are a key part of the economic infrastructure but are also developing the nation’s brain trust of the future.

This study examined the individual differences in social interactions between children in the same classroom showing trends especially important to inclusive classroom environments. Read our highlights of the research, key takeaways and practitioner application as well as view the peer-reviewed publication.

In this three-part series, Dr. Laura Justice — executive director of the Crane Center for Early Childhood Research and Policy and Schoenbaum Family Center at The Ohio State University — surveys the fragmented landscape of child care in the United States, highlighting its vulnerabilities even in the best of times.

Alphabet knowledge is a basic building block for early reading and writing. Children who learn the forms, names and sounds of letters during early childhood are less likely to experience reading difficulties later in school. See highlights of Crane Center research and find resources for assessing and teaching the alphabet.

This year, we started Tuned In – our Friday morning round-up of policy-related news and analysis. It’s been a labor of love that my colleague Caitlin and I really enjoy providing to you all. In lieu of our regular edition today, here’s a reflection on nine of the best (policy-related) things that happened in 2019, in no particular order.

Last month we rounded up what we thought were the best 9 policy-related trends from 2019. Now, here are five predictions for the coming year from where we sit at our cross-section of early childhood research and policy.

By July 2020, Ohio’s childcare providers who accept publicly funded child care (PFCC) dollars must be star-rated through the state’s quality rating and improvement system, Step Up to Quality. To learn more about these providers’ plans for the future, and to shed light on possible challenges they might be facing, Crane researchers sent out a statewide survey.

Crane’s September 2019 research forum hosted Dr. Arya Ansari, Assistant Professor, Human Sciences. Dr. Ansari spoke to attendees about the long term effects of early childhood education.

The transition from preschool to kindergarten presents several unique challenges including heightened anxiety. To make the transition easier, teachers and parents can work collaboratively to support children with these tips.

Self-esteem develops from a young age through experiences that help children feel capable, confident, accepted, and willing to try new things. In order to foster high self-esteem, caregivers can model certain behaviors, praise efforts rather than outcomes, and offer appropriate and achievable challenges.