Act Early Forum Webinar Series presents The State(s) of Early Intervention and Early Childhood Special Education: Looking at Equity

Thursday, August 10, 2023
1:00 PM ET
Location: Zoom

Webinar Description

This webinar will cover the findings of the report, "The State(s) of Early Intervention and Early Childhood Special Education: Looking at Equity." This insightful report is the first of its kind, providing a state-by-state analysis of federally funded programs for young children with disabilities, with a specific focus on equity. We will explore the four critical dimensions of variation in early intervention (EI) and early childhood special education (ECSE) services: impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic, race and ethnicity, gender, and the state in which a child lives.

Presenters

Steven Barnett
W. Steven Barnett is a Board of Governors Professor and Senior Co-Director of the National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER) at Rutgers University. His research includes studies of the economics of early care and education including costs and benefits, the long-term effects of preschool programs on children’s learning and development, and the distribution of educational opportunities. Dr. Barnett earned his Ph.D. in economics at the University of Michigan. He has authored or co-authored more than 200 publications. Research interests include the economics of human development and practical policies for translating research findings into effective public investments. His best known works include: reviews of the research on long-term effects; benefit-cost analyses of the Perry Preschool and Abecedarian programs; randomized trials comparing alternative approaches to educating children including length of day, monolingual versus dual-language immersion, the Tools of the Mind curriculum; and the series of State of Preschool yearbooks providing annual state-by-state analyses of progress in public pre-K.

Allison Friedman-Krauss
Allison Friedman-Krauss, is an assistant research professor at NIEER and the Director of NIEER's Infant and Toddler Policy Research Center. She conducts research related to early childhood education policy and has considerable expertise relating to early education policies and practices and their impacts on early learning and development focusing on birth through kindergarten. Dr. Friedman-Krauss currently leads work on NIEER’s State of Preschool report and recently completed two equity focused state landscape reports on (1) Early Intervention and Early Childhood Special Education and (2) Early Head Start and Head Start. She earned her Ph.D. in Developmental Psychology from NYU.