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Thursday, October 12, 2017 • 2:50pm
Recent studies have identified problematic rates of preschool attendance in urban school districts serving significant numbers of low-income preschoolers. Regularly attending preschool is critical to promoting children's school readiness. Preschool also provides a window of opportunity to promote "school-going" behaviors. Parents play a key role in ensuring children's consistent preschool attendance, but they experience barriers in supporting it. We will report the findings of a study including over 100 ethnically diverse, low-income parents whose children attend a large urban school district preschool program, investigating parental barriers and solutions and their relation with children's attendance patterns.
Presented by the Center for Early Education and Development • Research Track
Amy Susman-Stillman, Ph.D. is the director of Applied Research and Training at the Center for Early Education and Development (CEED), part of the College of Education and Human Development at the University of Minnesota. Throughout her career, Dr. Susman-Stillman has pursued her ongoing interest in the cycle of generating research and linking research with best practices and policies in the arena of early care and education and furthering her commitment to erasing disparities in early educational opportunities. Dr. Susman-Stillman is principal investigator on the Preschool Attendance Study, funded by the Spencer Foundation. The goal of the Preschool Attendance Study is to identify from parents barriers and solutions to preschool attendance in urban school-based preschool programs. Dr. Susman-Stillman has authored or co-authored numerous reports, publications and presentations and presents regularly in the community.
Karen J. Storm, Ph.D., has had a long career in education as a K-12 classroom educator and professor at the University of Utah, the University of Minnesota, and Lehigh University. Dr. Storm is a co-author of the Check & Connect manual, Implementing with Fidelity, and has presented nationally about Check & Connect. Most recently she was principal investigator on a subcontract with SRI for an Institute of Education Sciences efficacy study of Check & Connect in the San Jose School District. She has trained nationally about the model and was the project director of a Goal 2 Development Study that modified the Check & Connect model for use in community colleges. Dr. Storm is currently a consultant with the Center for Organizational Development in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
