Affiliated Center in Early Childhood Program Area
Projects in Early Childhood Program Area
For More Information

The Early Childhood Services Program Area addresses the social, emotional, educational, and other developmental needs of young children who have (or are at substantial risk for) developmental disabilities, and their family members.

Activities in this area include personnel preparation, best practices development, collaborative program development and evaluation with a broad range of community-based programs, policy formulation, technical assistance, and research.

Note: To find out more about a project, please explore its Web site if it has one (the title will be highlighted) or copy and paste the project title into the keyword field of the Project Search page. If your questions are not answered, you may call or e-mail the project contact person(s). If you leave this site to visit a project Web site and wish to return, please use your Back button or find the link to the Institute on the project's home page.

Affiliated Center in Early Childhood Program Area

Early Childhood Research Institute on Measuring Growth and Development (ECRI-MGD) (an ICI Affiliated Center) produced a comprehensive, individualized measurement system for monitoring the growth and development of children with disabilities from birth to age eight, and linked this assessment information to a decision-making model for improving children’s outcomes. ECRI was funded by the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS). Contact: Scott McConnell, (612) 624-6365, smcconne@tc.umn.edu.

Projects in Early Childhood Program Area

Early Childhood Behavior Project provides assistance to parents, regular and special education classrooms, Head Start programs, child care centers, and other community-based programs. Information about challenging behavior and proactive ways to assess both form and function provides guidance in developing proactive behavior plans. Funded by the Minnesota Department of Education. Contacts: Joe Reichle, 612-625-6542, reich001@tc.umn.edu; LeAnne Johnson, 612-626-9528, chaf0032@umn.edu.

Minnesota Paraprofessional Training Project coordinates statewide training and technical assistance for the Minnesota Paraprofessional Consortium of state agency representatives, educators, paraprofessionals, parents, and others. The purpose of this project is to build a system to prepare the paraprofessional workforce to better contribute as team members in education. Funded by the Minnesota Department of Education. Contact: Teri Wallace, 612-626-7220, walla001@tc.umn.edu.

The following projects are conducted in collaboration with the Center for Early Education and Development (CEED) at the University of Minnesota. See listing of all CEED projects (this page will open in a new window).

Get It, Got It, Go!: Tools For Improving Children's Developmental Outcomes (a CEED project) is a Web-based tool for early childhood practitioners and families to continuously measure the skills and needs of individual children from birth to age eight. Get It, Got It, Go! uses growth and development indicators for monitoring the progress of individual young children (IGDIs), solutions-oriented assessments allowing families and early childhood and early elementary educators to identify features of classroom and home settings they can change to improve children's developmental outcomes, and dynamic data management tools to use online. Funded by the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS). Contact: Scott McConnell, 612-624-6365, smcconne@tc.umn.edu.

Improving Preschoolers’ Reading Outcomes Through Measurement and Intervention in Classroom Environments (I’PROMICE) (a CEED project) examined relationships between preschoolers’ growth of their expressive language/pre-literacy skills and their later performance in becoming proficient readers. These preschoolers include children with disabilities, children whose primary language is Spanish, and children attending Head Start programs. The project developed and evaluated an intervention program for preschoolers whose future reading proficiency appears at-risk. Funded by the U.S. Department of Education. Contact: Scott McConnell, 612-624-6365, smcconne@tc.umn.edu.

Minnesota Infant Mental Health (a CEED project) responds to a 1995 Feasibility Study Report which sought to determine which services were needed and available to support infant mental health in Minnesota communities, as well as what state agencies could do to further develop needed services. Subsequently, work has been contracted with two Minnesota communities to determine what can be done in those specific community contexts to support infant mental health. Funded by the Minnesota Department of Education and the Minnesota Department of Human Services. Contact: Christopher Watson, 612-625-2898, watso012@tc.umn.edu.

PAVE: Partnership to Address Violence Through Education (a CEED project) provides violence prevention and intervention information to professionals working with young children. Funded by the University of Minnesota. Funded by the University of Minnesota. Contact: Christopher Watson, 612-625-2898, watso012@tc.umn.edu.

For More Information

To find out more about a project, please explore its Web site if it has one (the title will be highlighted) or copy and paste the project title into the keyword field of the Project Search page. If your questions are not answered, you may call or e-mail the project contact person(s). If you leave this site to visit a project Web site and wish to return, please use your Back button or find the link to the Institute on the project's home page.