Caring Communities

Every child deserves access to high-quality early childhood education, as President Barack Obama articulated in his 2015 State of the Union address. A critical component of high-quality early education is an emphasis on social and emotional development. A growing body of research documents the importance of social and emotional skills for short- and long-term academic success. Many teachers, however, lack strategies to promote these skills effectively, which likely contributes to the high expulsion rate of children in preschool nationwide. Effectively promoting social and emotional skills requires the development of caring communities. Numerous intervention programs have emerged focusing on one or more of the aspects of establishing caring communities in early childhood classrooms. Caring communities are those in which educators (1) foster secure relationships with children, ...