Beginning Education: Early Childcare at Home

In its application for funding under the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act, the Texas Early Learning Council stated that one of its goals is to "enhance existing high-quality early childhood education and care programs." Specifically, the Council requested funds to establish community-based pilots "that promote the development of a training and mentoring model with non-center based providers using evidence-based approaches that have worked in Texas."

Read the Council's working paper on BEECH to learn more about this exciting study.  Additionally, the Council voted in January 2012 to fund an additional research study for Spanish-speaking home-based child care providers using reinvestment funds from the TOTS project.  BEECH en Español will include 180 Spanish-speaking providers in two cohorts in one year.  BEECH and BEECH en Espanol will conclude at the same time.  For more information, please see below.

The Council is utilizing existing expertise and resources to achieve success in this area.  Children's Learning Institute and the Texas Public Broadcasting Association are heading up the project for the Council, bringing a wealth of research, mentoring, and child development expertise to the project.  It is the hope and vision of the Council that this project, Beginning Education: Early Education at Home (BEECH), will lay the foundation for an on-going state focus on improving school readiness outcomes for the important home-based child care population in Texas.

Key elements of BEECH include:

• A two-year randomized control trial study involving English-speaking home-based child care providers
• An online, 20-session professional development course created to meet the unique needs of home-based providers
• Trained mentors for 1/3rd of the study participants
• Reaching 180 home-based providers over a two-year period in the Houston area

In addition to the two-year study of English-speaking home-based child care providers, the Council is also funding an additional research study of Spanish-speaking providers.  BEECH en Español will study the effectiveness of the BEECH interventions for Spanish-speaking providers.  Children's Learning Institute is working to develop the BEECH online professional development courses in Spanish and recruit Spanish-speaking providers in the Houston area.  Both BEECH studies will conclude in 2013.

Key elements of BEECH en Español include:

• A one-year randomized control trial study involving Spanish-speaking home-based child care providers
• An online, 20-session professional development course created to meet the unique needs of home-based providers
• Trained mentors for 1/3rd of the study participants
• Reaching 180 home-based providers over a one-year period in the Houston area

The findings of this research will help our state better meet the professional development needs of this critical population of child care providers.  To learn more about this exciting project download our working paper on the BEECH project.