The Center on the Social and Emotional Foundations for Early Learning (CSEFEL) is intended to promote the social emotional outcomes and enhance the school readiness of low-income children birth to age 5, and to serve as a national resource center for disseminating research and evidence-based practices to Head Start and Child Care programs across the country. CSEFEL is jointly funded by the Office of Head Start and Child Care Bureau, under the auspices of the Administration on Children, Youth and Families at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
The Center develops and disseminates evidence-based, user-friendly information to help early childhood educators meet the needs of the growing number of children with challenging behaviors and mental health needs in Child Care and Head Start programs.
The Center on the Social and Emotional Foundations for Early Learning:
- Focuses on promoting the social and emotional development of children 0 - 5 as a means of preventing challenging behaviors.
- Analyzes and synthesizes the research on the social emotional development of low-income children and translates the findings into materials that are practical and accessible to the Child Care and Head Start communities.
- Engages in intensive T/TA to selected states, territories and/or tribal partners to foster professional development that sustains the use of effective practices at the local level communities.
- Disseminates evidence-based practices via an interactive website.
Collaborators
The Center brings together the research, training, and technical assistance expertise of faculty and family leaders from Vanderbilt University, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, University of South Florida, Georgetown University, University of Colorado Denver, and Zero to Three.
Training and Dissemination Partners
The Center is pleased to work in partnership with: the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC), National Association of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies (NACCRRA), Division for Early Childhood of the Council for Exceptional Children (DEC), National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors (NASMHPD), National Association for Bilingual Education (NABE), and National Head Start Association (NHSA).
Professional Personnel
Phillip Strain, Ph. D., Principal Investigator
Barbara J. Smith, Ph.D., Principal Investigator
Jill Giacomini, M.S., Professional Research Assistant
Funding Source
Jointly funded by the Office of Head Start and Child Care Bureau, under the auspices of the Administration on Children, Youth and Families at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
http://www.challengingbehavior.org/
On January 1, 2008, the Center for Evidence-Based Practice: Young Children with Challenging Behavior (CEBP) became the Technical Assistance Center on Social Emotional Intervention for Young Children, or TACSEI. TACSEI continues and expands on the work of CEBP by moving the extensive research CEBP conducted and synthesized on effective practices into actual, everyday practice. The result is that decision makers, caregivers and service providers have an enhanced awareness of, understanding of, and ability to use evidence-based practices to improve the social-emotional outcomes for young children with, or at risk for, delays or disabilities. The conceptual model TACSEI uses to deliver this important information is the widely endorsed Pyramid Model framework for promoting social-emotional competence and addressing challenging behavior.
Collaborators
The Center brings together the research, training, and technical assistance expertise of faculty and family leaders from the University of South Florida, University of Colorado Denver, University of Kansas, Vanderbilt University and Georgetown University.
Professional Personnel
Barbara J. Smith, Ph.D., Principal Investigator
Phillip Strain, Ph.D., Principal Investigator
Jill Giacomini, M.S., Professional Research Assistant
Ron Roybal, Professional Research Assistant
Training and Dissemination Partners
The Center is pleased to work in partnership with the Division for Early Childhood (DEC) of the Council for Exceptional Children, National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC), National Association of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies (NACCRRA), the National Head Start Association (NHSA), IDEA Infant and Toddler Coordinators Association (ITCA), National Association of State Directors of Special Education (NASDSE), National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors (NASMHPD), and the Parent Advocacy Coalition for Educational Rights (PACER) in training and dissemination activities.
Funding Source
TACSEI (Technical Assistance Center on Social Emotional Intervention for Young Children) is funded by the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs.
The Colorado Center for Social Emotional Competence and Inclusion is operating at the University of Colorado Denver, School of Education & Human Development, under the leadership of Drs. Barbara J. Smith and Phil Strain. The goal of the Pyramid Plus Center is to increase the use of evidence-based, early childhood social emotional and inclusive practices in early care and education settings, including family child care and in-home providers, through the high fidelity implementation of two national models:
- Pyramid Model for Promoting Social and Emotional Development of Infants and Young Children
- Special Quest Birth-Five Approach to Early Childhood Inclusion
- as well as other related evidence-based practices.