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THE SYNTHESIS

This synthesis was prepared as background for the project. Given the project’s emphasis on outcomes for children and Head Start’s commitment to helping young children become ready to attend school, it focuses on educational and health services and topical areas related to those services. Relevant studies, articles, reports, theses and dissertations, unpublished documents, and other materials were obtained, and then information from these publications was combined. The task involved more than a standard literature review because documents needed for the project were found as both published and unpublished literature.

To identify documents for this project, a wide net was cast that went beyond standard methods. In addition to securing materials through reviews of federally sponsored research, professional journals, and academic reports, the methods included the following:

  • contacting authors of important works to determine if they are conducting similar studies or know of others who are;

  • querying representatives of professional associations that are affiliated with AI-AN populations or Head Start programs;

  • getting in touch with the network of professionals interested in the subject;

  • while attending conferences and other meetings, asking participants for recommendations; and

  • consulting with researchers conducting Head Start-sponsored studies.

This synthesis presents a summary of the information contained in the materials identified. It is organized around major topics that reflect the emphases of both this project and extant knowledge. Below, information is presented about culturally appropriate curricula and practices, language acquisition, teacher training, parent involvement, assessment tools and practices, health and physical well-being, and mental health. We emphasize that information on these topics is presented only as authors’ reports of their findings; we do not draw any conclusions or make any inferences of our own. The synthesis concludes with a discussion of research methods.

The synthesis centers on the research literature while providing lessons from the non-research publications as well. Information on each topic discussed below is organized into two segments: the first segment summarizes issues and observations from position papers, opinions, experiences, and syntheses; the second segment presents, in the style of an annotated bibliography, information from research studies.

To determine what constitutes research for inclusion in this synthesis, decision rules were established:

  1. The material had to be based on data, either quantitative or qualitative data.

  2. Some information had to be provided about the population studied, sample size, and research methods used.

  3. In most cases, studies had to be completed within the past 25 years. This time frame was established to accommodate both environmental changes (e.g., the spread of electronic media) and advances in research methods and educational practices (e.g., the adoption of developmentally appropriate approaches for early childhood education). Exceptions were made for seminal pieces that are still relevant.

  4. Materials that qualified under the three rules above were included if they had some bearing on the education or health of young American Indian and Alaska Native children.



 

 

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