title: Enhancing early child care quality and learning for toddlers at risk: the responsive early childhood program.
abstract: Despite reports of positive effects of high-quality child care, few experimental studies have examined the process of improving low-quality center-based care for toddler-age children. In this article, we report intervention effects on child care teachers' behaviors and children's social, emotional, behavioral, early literacy, language, and math outcomes as well as the teacher-child relationship. The intervention targeted the use of a set of responsive teacher practices, derived from attachment and sociocultural theories, and a comprehensive curriculum. Sixty-five childcare classrooms serving low-income 2- and 3-year-old children were randomized into 3 conditions: business-as-usual control, Responsive Early Childhood Curriculum (RECC), and RECC plus explicit social-emotional classroom activities (RECC+). Classroom observations showed greater gains for RECC and RECC+ teachers' responsive practices including helping children manage their behavior, establishing a predictable schedule, and use of cognitively stimulating activities (e.g., shared book reading) compared with controls; however, teacher behaviors did not differ for focal areas such as sensitivity and positive discipline supports. Child assessments demonstrated that children in the interventions outperformed controls in areas of social and emotional development, although children's performance in control and intervention groups was similar for cognitive skills (language, literacy, and math). Results support the positive impact of responsive teachers and environments providing appropriate support for toddlers' social and emotional development. Possible explanations for the absence of systematic differences in children's cognitive skills are considered, including implications for practice and future research targeting low-income toddlers.
authors.affiliation: Children's Learning Institute, Department of Pediatrics, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston.
authors.forename: Susan H
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Landry
authors.affiliation: Children's Learning Institute, Department of Pediatrics, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston.
authors.forename: Tricia A
authors.initials: TA
authors.lastname: Zucker
authors.affiliation: Children's Learning Institute, Department of Pediatrics, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston.
authors.forename: Heather B
authors.initials: HB
authors.lastname: Taylor
authors.affiliation: Children's Learning Institute, Department of Pediatrics, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston.
authors.forename: Paul R
authors.initials: PR
authors.lastname: Swank
authors.affiliation: Children's Learning Institute, Department of Pediatrics, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston.
authors.forename: Jeffrey M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Williams
authors.affiliation: Children's Learning Institute, Department of Pediatrics, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Assel
authors.affiliation: Children's Learning Institute, Department of Pediatrics, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston.
authors.forename: April
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Crawford
authors.affiliation: Children's Learning Institute, Department of Pediatrics, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston.
authors.forename: Weihua
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: Florida Center for Reading Research, Florida State University.
authors.forename: Jeanine
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Clancy-Menchetti
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Florida State University.
authors.forename: Christopher J
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Lonigan
authors.affiliation: Department of Educational Psychology and Learning Systems, Florida State University.
authors.forename: Beth M
authors.initials: BM
authors.lastname: Phillips
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Arizona State University.
authors.forename: Nancy
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Eisenberg
authors.affiliation: Denny Sanford School of Social and Family Dynamics, Arizona State University.
authors.forename: Tracy L
authors.initials: TL
authors.lastname: Spinrad
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Smith College.
authors.forename: Jill
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: de Villiers
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Smith College.
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: de Villiers
authors.affiliation: Children's Learning Institute, Department of Pediatrics, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston.
authors.forename: Marcia
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Barnes
authors.affiliation: Center of Early Learning, Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Program, WestEd.
authors.forename: Prentice
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Starkey
authors.affiliation: Center of Early Learning, Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Program, WestEd.
authors.forename: Alice
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Klein
mesh_terms: D002654:Child Care / Q000592:standards; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003479:Curriculum / Q000592:standards*; D018479:Early Intervention, Educational; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007858:Learning / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D011203:Poverty; D015397:Program Evaluation; D011932:Reading; D013663:Teaching / Q000592:standards