Research in preschools

Those who care about infants and early childhood education may be interested in some research projects funded by the Carnegie Corporation. The corporation says of its funding program of its early childhood projects that the grants have been made "for the purpose of learning whether certain kinds of preschool experiences enhance a child's development."

While the corporation does not provide general operating support for day-care centers or preschools, it is supporting studies of the effects of language on young children, of social policies as they impinge on child-care services, and of social services lacking in certain communities.

A Minnesota project has developed training programs for young mothers with a self-help basis, and a videotape producer is working in viewer programs to teach parents how to do their job more effectively.

How poverty affects the lives of young children is being studied at Columbia University, and a team of researchers at Cornell are following the lives of 256 Syracuse, New York, families, each with a young child, in order to monitor the relationship among social service staffs, families, and community influences.

Reports are available from the Carnegie Corporation, 437 Madison Avenue, NY 10017.