Call for Presentations

presented by Office of Head Start Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation Administration for Children and Families U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

with planning by ICF International Columbia University, Mailman School of Public Health Society for Research in Child Development Educational Services, Inc.

Deadline for Online Submissions: July 1, 2009

The Program Committee invites proposals for presentations at Head Start’s 10th National Research Conference. Both symposia and poster presentations are invited. These presentations may either discuss recent research (published or unpublished) or synthesize findings already in the literature.

The goals of the conference are to identify and disseminate research relevant to young children (birth to 8 years) and their families and to foster partnerships among researchers, practitioners, and policymakers. The conference focuses especially on research relevant to the low-income families who are Head Start’s service population.

As the third decade of Head Start research conferences begins, 45 years of Head Start contributions to the Nation and the world will be recognized. The theme of the 10th conference is sharing and using evidence of effective policies and practices for children and families. In considering appropriate evidence for young children’s learning and success across contexts, attention must be paid to nurturing environments that support children’s growth in language, literacy, mathematics, science, social and emotional functioning, creative arts, physical skills, and approaches to learning. The conference will consider the applicability of evidence for diverse domains, settings, roles, parent involvement, and communities within the larger cultural system.

Research is welcome from all relevant fields, including education, child development, psychology, sociology, pediatrics, family medicine, public health, psychiatry, nursing, social work, dentistry, anthropology, law, epidemiology, economics, and allied health. (See the key phrases on page 4 for additional suggestions.) The focus will be on economically disadvantaged children and their families, and culturally relevant approaches tailored to the individual needs of children.

The 3-day conference will feature plenary sessions, symposia, poster symposia, conversation hours, posters, and informal events. To ensure program continuity, presenters are encouraged to participate in the entire conference.

Submissions must be completed online by July 1, 2009. Direct all inquiries about program content to Dr. Faith Lamb-Parker, Scientific Director, at 212-304-7310 or e-mail hsrcprogram@icfi.com. We strongly encourage online submission. For general submission questions or information on submitting a paper application, contact Jennifer Pinder at ESI at 800-503-8442 or e-mail hsrc@esi-dc.com.

CALL FOR PRESENTATIONS Head Start’s Tenth National Research Conference • June 21-23, 2010 Washington Marriott Wardman Park • Washington, DC

PROGRAM COMMITTEE

Clancy Blair, Ph.D. New York University Pia Rebello Britto, Ph.D. Yale University Margaret Burchinal, Ph.D. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Gayle Cunningham American Education Research Association Wendy DeCourcey, Ph.D. Administration for Children and Families Barbara Dowling Office of Head Start, ACF John Hagen, Ph.D. Society for Research in Child Development Brenda Jones Harden, Ph.D. University of Maryland Faith Lamb-Parker, Ph.D. Columbia University

Ruth Hubbell McKey, Ph.D. ICF International Mariela Páez, Ed.D. Boston College John Pascoe, M.D. Wright State University Gerald E. Sroufe, Ph.D. JCCEO Head Start-Early Head Start Program Mary Bruce Webb, Ph.D. Administration for Children and Families Harry H. Wright, M.D. University of South Carolina Sharon Yandian Office of Head Start, ACF Martha Zaslow, Ph.D. Child Trends Edward Zigler, Ph.D. Yale University

RULES OF PARTICIPATION

1. Persons whose presentations are accepted must participate at the time scheduled by the Program Committee. Any special scheduling requests must be made at the time of acceptance.

2. Symposia presenters agree to submit electronic copies of their presentation materials to be included on the conference Web site.

3. Symposia presenters will be supplied with one LCD projector/screen and a laptop computer during their session. Poster presenters will be supplied with a poster board, table, chair, and sign indicating the poster number and title. All other audiovisual needs will be at the presenter’s expense and must be indicated at the time of acceptance.

4. Administration for Children and Families, ICF International, Columbia University, and the Society for Research in Child Development do not pay the expenses of presenters accepted from the call. All presenters accepted from the call who will be attending the conference (including chairpersons, discussants, and coauthors) are required to register. Symposium organizers and poster first authors accepted through the call are responsible for ensuring that all participants in their event are registered. There is no registration fee.

5. Those accepted from the Call are not precluded from publishing their material elsewhere.

CONFERENCE STRUCTURE

Posters: Posters are single papers (with coauthors, where applicable) involving research or program evaluation on a specific topic. The poster format is especially conducive to interaction and discussion among conference participants. Posters will be grouped by content area to foster networking among the presenters and audience. Authors involved in posters in multiple content areas must be prepared to present their work in multiple locations of the exhibit area. Posters will be scheduled during one of two time slots of 2 hours each.

Symposia: A symposium consists of an organizer (who submits the application), a chairperson (who facilitates the symposium), two or three presenters, and discussants. The organizer, discussant, or a presenter may also serve as chair of the session. The discussant offers integrative commentary. Symposia address major research questions of a theoretical, empirical, programmatic, and/or policy nature relevant to the conference. Discussants are asked to provide a critical analysis of the studies being presented. Symposia must involve presenters from two universities, institutions, or organizations who represent different perspectives or different aspects of an issue. Proposals that do not conform to this might not be sent for peer review. The Program Committee and Administration for Children and Families are strongly committed to partnerships between university researchers and practitioners. Therefore, when submitting proposals that involve community partners, representatives from these partners are desirable as presenters or discussants. Symposium organizers must include diverse cultural perspectives, where applicable. Symposia will be scheduled for 1 hour and 45 minutes each Prospective presenters should prepare a session that employs a lively and varied format as well as audiovisuals and other materials to enhance learning.

Other formal events include: plenary sessions, a student/mentor networking roundtable for student registrants and Program Committee-selected mentors in various fields, poster symposia, conversation hours, workshops, debates, and forums.

Informal events include: cooperating organizations’ displays and other special programming to foster dialogue and build partnerships.

SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS

For all submission types: The online submission system will guide you through each step of the process and prompt you for all required information.

To ensure a blind review, no presenter or author names, agencies, organizations, or other identifying information should appear anywhere in the submission. Submission on a particular program may not name the program, location, staff members, or affiliate organizations involved with the program. Submissions that do not conform to these standards will not be reviewed.

Once you have accessed the system, you will be prompted to set up a unique login and password for future access to the system (e.g., additional submissions). To access the online system, follow the instructions in the box below. The online system will send an e-mail to the first author confirming that your submission has been processed. You can also go back into the system at any time to review your submission.

If you cannot complete the entire process at one time, the online system allows you to save a draft of your submission, exit the system, and return to update it at a later time. In addition, the online system includes checks for missing information and shows you a complete draft of your submission before you finalize it.

Prior to beginning your online submission, you will need to prepare:

• Type of submission (poster or symposium)

• Title (limited to 250 characters)

• Key phrases (up to three may be included and should be listed in order of relevance)

• Contact information for organizer and first author (full name, academic degree, organization, address, telephone, and e-mail address)

• Contact information for chairperson and discussants (e-mail address and phone)

• Contact information for paper authors (full name, academic degree, organization)

• A 75-word abstract of the paper (this may be copied/pasted into the system)

• A summary of the submission (800– 1000 words created in Word or PDF). Key references must be included but do not count toward the word limit. Up to two tables or figures may be included as appropriate, but must be embedded in the summary document.

By preparing these items prior to beginning your submission, an average poster submission takes approximately 15 minutes to input online; symposia take approximately 20–25 minutes.

For symposium submissions: The information listed above must be prepared for each paper as well as the symposium as a whole.

Selection Process

Submissions in acceptable formats and completed by July 1, 2009, will be evaluated initially by members of the Program Committee and then by a review panel. They will be judged on both scientific merit and relevance to the conference. The Program Committee reserves the right to recommend final selections in order to ensure a balanced program.

Selection Criteria

Prior to submission to peer review, the Program Committee will determine the symposium’s appropriateness for peer review.

• Papers must represent different perspectives or different aspects of an issue.
• Authors must be affiliated with at least two different universities, institutions, or organizations.

Evaluation Criteria for Peer Review:

• Appropriateness of subject matter; i.e., relevance to the topics delineated in the Call for Presentations.
• Demonstration of how this presentation furthers knowledge in the field, as supported by review of current and relevant literature with references. If original research, the extent to which it represents a new or significant contribution to the field.
• Inclusion of research samples from diverse cultures and low-income populations.
• Professional quality of the research work; soundness of research design, methodology, and data analysis, where appropriate.
• Degree to which the authors are able to communicate research implications for practical and policy applications for early childhood and family programs, including Head Start and other relevant programs.
• Professional quality of the writing, including clearly stated project objectives and an organized presentation of the research plan and results. If results are not ready at the time of submission, please give a clear statement of the hypotheses/ research questions, variables under study, and proposed methodology and data analytic strategy. Results and Discussion sections must be included in the presentation at the conference.

SUBMIT ONLINE AT: www.headstartresearchconf.net Under Call for Presentations, click link for Online Submissions. All individuals will be considered first-time users initially, regardless of submissions in previous years, and will be prompted to set up a unique login and password for future access to the system.

 

DECISION NOTIFICATION Each submission will receive the decision notification by January 29, 2010.

KEY PHRASES FOR ONLINE SUBMISSION

Please provide up to three key phrases for your submission. You are encouraged to use the following list.

Applying child development research to early childhood education and care Approaches to learning Challenging behaviors Child welfare policy Children with special needs Comprehensive mental health initiatives Diverse cultural experiences Early childhood development and education becoming a national priority Early math development and math skills Educational and other social policy analyses

Emotion regulation English language learners Ethnicity, poverty, and education Family and community support Infant/toddler development and care (all domains) Intentional teaching/learning Intervention research: methods and measures Issues of immigrant, refugee, and migrant families Learning problems (including learning disability) Neurobiology and the environment Parent-child interactions Parent-child relationships

Parent education and support Physical health, oral health, and nutrition in low-income families Play Pre-reading and reading skills Professional development and training Program evaluation Scaffolded learning Screening, assessment, and evaluation Teacher-child interactions Other

 

 

Head Start's 10th National Research Conference c/o ESI Inc. 4350 East West Highway Suite 1100 Bethesda, MD 20814