The Center for Early Education and
Development at the University of Minnesota and the Federal Reserve
Bank of Minneapolis teamed up to enhance multidisciplinary
research on high-profile policy discussions on early childhood
development.
The Early Childhood Research
Collaborative (ECRC) is a unique partnership that brings together
prominent researchers and faculty members in a variety of disciplines
at the University with economists at the Federal Reserve to develop
and synthesize research on cost-effective investments in early
childhood.
Co-directed by Arthur Reynolds, Professor
of Child Development and Fellow of CEED, and Art Rolnick, Senior Vice
President and Director of Research at the Federal Reserve Bank of
Minneapolis, the ECRC is funded in part by University President Robert
Bruininks' Interdisciplinary Academic Initiative on Children, Youth,
and Families. CEED is an outreach and research center in the College
of Education and Human Development. The Federal Reserve Bank of
Minneapolis is one of 12 Federal Reserve Banks in the U.S.
The most visible sign of the collaboration is its
web site, where discussion papers
on a variety of topics are posted.
The Collaborative's Mission
The Collaborative's mission is to foster
multidisciplinary research on early development from birth to age 8 on
topics such as the impact and cost-effectiveness of preschool and
family support programs; family, school, and community influences on
child development; and psychological and biological foundations of
child health and well being.
To accomplish this, the Collaborative
conducts research and policy analyses, disseminates research
through discussion papers and other reports, convenes forums and
conferences, provides web resources, and helps coordinate early
childhood research activities around campus and in the community. The
National Advisory Committee includes, among others, James Heckman of
the University of Chicago, Jack Shonkoff of Harvard University, and
University of Minnesota Professors Megan Gunnar and V.V. Chari.
"We want to conduct and promote research
that is policy-relevant as well as based on a thorough understanding
of child development and of how early experiences influence later
development," says Reynolds.
The
papers
posted on the web site focus on effective programs and
practices from preschool to third grade (PK-3), the productivity
argument for investing in young children, developing high quality PK-3
classrooms, the long-term effects of Child-Parent Center early
childhood intervention, and the role of cooperative behavior in
preschoolers' social development.
