Early Child Development from Measurement to Action: A Priority for Growth and EquityMary E. Young, Linda M. Richardson Prosperity in the world today depends on societies' nurturing of young children. Quality care (stimulation, health, and nutrition) during ages 0 - 5 has a decisive and long-lasting impact on a person's development, ability to learn, and capacity to regulate emotions. Cognitive and noncognitive (social and emotional) skills, set early in life, determine later success. New research in neurobiology and the behavioral and social sciences is converging to enhance this understanding of early child development. Recently, researchers noted epigenetic effects in brain development - that is, the interaction of environment (early experiences) with genetics to shape brain structure and function - that with proper nurturing would enable people to have competence to create prosperous, sustainable, tolerant, nonviolent, and democratic communities. The World Bank recently hosted a symposium on the priority of early child development for economic growth and equity. The participants urged application of population - based tools and measures to assess the outcomes of children's early years and children's readiness for school. This approach, which shifts the focus from measures of disease, dysfunction, and mortality, is already yielding essential data for designing intervention programs, identifying children at risk, and leveraging policy and investment - to improve the possibilities for all children globally. |
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Abecedarian Abecedarian Project activities adult assessment behavior block grants Bogotá brain development Brasília Canada centers chil children ages cognitive Colombia community mothers control group cortisol curriculum developing countries developmental dren early child development early childhood education Early Development Instrument ECD interventions ECD policies ECD programs ECD services ECED economic effects environment epigenetic evaluation experience Fraser Mustard gene grade gradient grams High/Scope Perry Preschool homes human development ICBF implement improve Indonesia Institute invest in ECD Jamaica kindergarten language literacy Longitudinal measure ment Millennium Fund MONE monitoring MSRP Mustard neurons nutrition Ontario Open Society Institute outcomes parents participation Perry Preschool Study population population-based poverty preschool program Ramey readiness for school risk school readiness Schweinhart scores sector skills social society socioeconomic Step by Step Suryadi teachers tion Toronto UNESCO UNICEF velopment vulnerable children World Bank young children
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Page 258 - East Asia and the Pacific, Europe and Central Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, the Middle East and North Africa, South Asia, and Sub-Saharan Africa.
Page 84 - Nores (2005), Lifetime Effects: The High/Scope Perry Pre-school Study through Age 40, High/Scope Educational Research Foundation, Ypsilanti, MI.
Page xiii - World Health Organization (WHO); United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF); United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
Page 125 - Campbell, FA, & Ramey, CT (1995). Cognitive and school outcomes for high risk African-American students at middle adolescence: Positive effects of early intervention.
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Page 11 - It assumes that we are working to close the gap between what we know and what we do, that we are engaged in confronting diversity inside the classroom as well as outside of it.
Page 216 - UN agencies such as the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO): the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO); and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF).
Page 8 - Nations specialized agencies, programmes and funds such as the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the United Nations...
Page 133 - Economic and Social Policy (Consejo Nacional de Politica Economica y Social— CONPES).