Early Childhood Education Institute

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The ECEI is now accepting workshop proposals for the 2011 Early Childhood Leadership Institute. Click here for more information.

Early Childhood Education Institute

OUR VISION

ADVANCING QUALITY IN EARLY CHILDHOOD THROUGH
RESEARCH, EVALUATION, AND OUTREACH

Our Mission

The Early Childhood Education Institute (ECEI) at OU-Tulsa strives to advance and support early childhood programming and policies through research, evaluation, and outreach. The ECEI focuses on young children, birth through age 8, and the programs and policies that impact these young children and their families.

Several features define the work of the ECEI. Although the ECEI is dedicated to enhancing the knowledge base concerning all children birth through age 8, ECEI places special focus on under-studied issues related to the youngest children—infants and toddlers. Another hallmark of the ECEI is our community collaborative approach—in designing and conducting research and evaluation, and in designing and delivering professional development and outreach activities. This partnership approach drives ECEI’s focus on applied research, dedication to usable program evaluations, and commitment to policy-relevant topics.

The two broad missions of the ECEI are

1. Research and Evaluation: A primary function of the ECEI is to conduct applied research relevant to improving outcomes, programs, and policies for young children. The ECEI designs and conducts both process or implementation evaluations and outcome research on a broad range of topics related to young children.Research foci of the ECEI include assessing programs designed for young children and their families, exploring program impacts on young children, and examining systems and policy initiatives related to young children and the people who care for them. In addition, the ECEI investigates the characteristics of the early care and education workforce—an under-researched topic in contemporary literature.

2. Outreach: For theory and research to impact the field, research findings and implications must be distilled and made accessible to parents, practitioners, and policy-makers. A major activity of the ECEI is the dissemination of research-based practices to programs, parents, professionals, and the general public. In collaboration with community partners, the ECEI provides research-based professional development opportunities.The ECEI is committed to preparing leaders who advance early childhood programming and policy initiatives at the classroom, program, and state and national levels.

History

The ECEI began operations with the hiring of Dr. Diane Horm, Director of the Institute, in August of 2006. In 2007, as evaluation projects were added, Dr. Deborah Norris joined the staff as the Senior Research and Policy Associate; she is currently the Associate Director of Research. The ECEI is currently staffed by 14 professional researchers who possess specialized skills such as implementing classroom observational measures; administering child assessments with infants, toddlers, preschool-, and primary-age children; conducting interviews with staff and parents; analyzing data using both qualitative and quantitative methods; and presenting and publishing research findings for varied audiences. The ECEI staff is establishing a track record of policy-relevant publications and presentations in collaboration with agency partners to lay the foundation to be competitive in seeking federal funding in the near future.

Since the Institute's inception, a number of initiatives have been developed across the three missions. The ECEI is currently conducting a range of externally funded research projects. These projects are evaluations of early childhood direct service, training programs and communities.

Current Projects include: