Judith Carta, Kansas IDDRC, Sworn In as Member of HHS national Advisory Committee on Head Start Research and Evaluation

May 5, 2011

Judith Carta, professor of special education and senior scientist at the Life Span Institute and KIDDRC affiliate, was sworn in as a member of the national Advisory Committee on Head Start Research and Evaluation on January 25. She was nominated by and will serve U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius.

The Committee will provide feedback on the published final report for the Head Start Impact Study and will advise the Secretary how to improve Head Start and other early childhood programs: essentially helping to set the agenda and funding for these programs.

Carta's major research interests are evidence-based practices to improve the language and social competence of young children, risk factors affecting children's development, approaches for monitoring progress in young children, and parenting interventions to prevent child maltreatment.

Carta is the director of early childhood research at the Juniper Gardens Children's Project at the Children's Campus of Kansas City in downtown Kansas City, Ks. She has directed numerous federally-funded research projects including the Kansas City, Ks. follow-up of the national evaluation of Early Head Start.