Consultation,
Collaboration, and Community are at the heart of the TRC’s work. Consultation
and collaboration with tribal communities infuses all TRC efforts and nurtures
a community of learning that seeks to advance our collective understanding of American
Indian and Alaska Native children’s development and the ways that programs such
as Head Start, Early Head Start, and Maternal, Infant, Early Childhood Home
Visitation can strengthen the foundation for early social-emotional, cognitive,
and physical growth. Consultation, Collaboration, and Community are achieved
through in-person meetings and conference calls with our TRC Head Start and
Home Visitation Steering Committees, tribal early childhood programs,
researchers, and federal partners.
Consultation, Collaboration, and Community are also achieved through the
work of the TRC’s
Communities of Learning.
Advancing research on American Indian and Alaska
Native children’s early development is central to the mission of the TRC.
Research and Measurement activities are focused on answering basic research
questions as well as measure development.
Research questions will be addressed through secondary analyses of
existing data from tribal community research partnerships with the University of Colorado Centersfor American Indian and Alaska Native Health, the Johns Hopkins University Centerfor American Indian Health, and the Michigan State University’s Office of University Outreachand Engagement. Basic research
activities will addresses questions about risk and protective factors in early
development for American Indian and Alaska Native children, and the role of
early childhood programs in supporting children and families. Measurement development activities will focus
on examining the reliability and validity of child, family, and program
measures developed for use with other population for use with tribal
communities. In addition to the TRC’s
own research and measurement activities, TRC pilot research funding for external projects with
a high potential for advancing these areas of inquiry is planned.
Early childhood programs are advanced when the quality
of services is consistently monitored and improved (evaluation), and when
innovative findings that emerge from research are integrated into regular
practice (research-to-practice). However, tensions around the role of research,
research findings, and evaluation in human services programs serving American
Indian and Alaska Native communities are a major barrier to this evaluation
research-to-practice process, as are other issues such as limited human and
fiscal resources and weak information technology infrastructures. To this end,
Evaluation and Research-to-Practice constitute another key focus of TRC
activities and include conference presentations, webinars, and consultation to
tribal early childhood programs by the TRC and affiliated faculty.
TRC pilot funding to support innovative evaluation approaches is
also planned.
Please see our
Resources
section for available TRC Evaluation and Research-to-Practice resources.
Please see our Resources
section for available TRC Evaluation and Research-to-Practice resources.
Sharing
knowledge about early development and early childhood practice in tribal
communities with communities, programs, parents, and researchers is key to
supporting communities in their policy-making, programs and parents in their
practices, and researchers in their efforts to move the field as a whole
forward. Information Dissemination is
thus another central aim of the TRC. The TRC maintains a clearinghouse
of information and resources related to early development and early childhood
practice, including website links, reports, research references, professional
organizations, meetings, and conferences. The TRC’s goal is to make existing
information accessible to all those who are committed to supporting the healthy
development of young American Indian and Alaska Native children.
In
order to advance our knowledge of early development and early childhood
practice in tribal communities, researchers
must be responsive to the needs of tribal communities, programs, and families, and
prepared to conduct studies that are culturally-grounded and scientifically
rigorous. To increase the number of
researchers prepared to do this kind of work, the TRC will provide Research Training that is
focused on facilitating researcher-program-community relations, offers mentorship
to early career scientists, and connects scientists with training opportunities
outside of the TRC. Please see our Training section for more information about research
training opportunities available through the TRC and elsewhere.
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