Stanford
Center on Early Childhood

Our Vision

A child’s earliest years, from the prenatal period to early primary school, are critical for building a foundation for a healthy, happy life. Our vision is to see every child thrive from the start, and that begins with the contexts in which the child is living - the families, educators, and communities that surround them.

Led by Dr. Philip Fisher, the Stanford Center on Early Childhood is uniquely positioned to support, accelerate, and implement strategies that address structural disparities and foster alliances across communities, academic institutions, funders, advocates, and policymakers. We aim to promote child development and assure equity as well as increase the omnidirectional flow of information in the early childhood sector.

Caregiver holding a baby

What We Do

Accelerate the Pace and Accessibility of Research

The Center innovates in ways that accelerate the pace of research and make it more accessible. We develop and disseminate empirically rigorous rapid-cycle research tools that support and elevate the voices of community based organizations, early care and education providers, and families with young children and caregivers. We embrace the notion that research should be employed for continuous improvement and learning rather than for proof of impact. 

Develop and Support the Next Generation of Early Childhood Professionals

The Center is designing ways to bring training and mentorship with a focus on equity to early childhood educators, researchers, and leaders. From professional development programs for early childhood educators to fellowships for EC professionals, the SCEC seeks to support the next generation of early childhood experts.

Catalyze Interdisciplinary Science and Innovative Measurement

Researchers at the Center are using and developing ways to make child development assessments less labor-intensive and less burdensome to teachers and parents, while broadening the areas of traditional focus, such as numeracy and literacy, to also include important traits such as persistence and curiosity.

Advance Early Childhood Community Solutions

Innovations in early childhood development are happening in communities right now. The Center aims to increase the flow of information across all areas of the early childhood ecosystem by identifying transformative strategies and programs and helping share them more broadly between communities, researchers, policymakers and others.

 

 

 

 

Accelerate, Develop, Catalyze and Advance

 

Our Work

The RAPID Survey Project

Created in response to the pandemic, the RAPID survey provides actionable data on early childhood and family well-being to inform immediate and long-term program and policy decisions. 

Principal Investigator: Philip Fisher

Learn more about RAPID

See RAPID's third anniversary report: Listening to parents voices

See RAPID's fourth anniversary report: What parents of young children and child care providers want elected officials to know

Classroom of toddlers playing with toys

Early Childhood Educational Experiences

The Early Childhood Educational Experiences project examines how different aspects of the pre-K classroom experience uniquely relate to children’s school readiness and academic achievement. Research partner: San Francisco Unified School District Early Education Department

Principal Investigator: Jelena Obradović

Learn more 

Promoting Math in Young Children: Leveraging pediatric clinics to reach underrepresented children in rural communities

Through partnerships with educational researchers, early math educators, pediatric health experts, and pediatric clinics, this project will develop and study a new opportunity for informal math learning in critical early years in rural locations where the early childhood education system is under-resourced. The project will work with pediatric clinics that serve rural immigrant families who are racially, culturally, and linguistically diverse, working closely with early education math experts, key advisors, and caregivers to ensure the text messaging program is tailored to meet the cultural, linguistic, and contextual needs of rural caregivers and children. 

Principal Investigator: Lisa Chamberlain, MD, MPH

Learn more

Woman teaching a young child how to say a letter

Evaluation of a Preschool Social-Emotional Curriculum

Using a two-year randomized control trial with a waitlist control group and a mixed-methods approach, this study investigates whether and how a preschool social-emotional curriculum affects student outcomes, observed classroom quality, and teacher mindsets in a large, diverse school district. Research partner: San Francisco Unified School District

Principal Investigator: Jelena Obradović

The SEAL study

The SEAL study is a federally-funded, randomized control trial that recruits families eligible for Head Start services and aims to (1) quantify effects of Filming Interactions to Nurture Development (FIND) training on intervention targets; (2) use fMRI to identify process-level neural mechanisms underlying FIND intervention effects; and (3) determine moderations of intervention impact. 

Principal Investigator: Philip Fisher

Co-Investigators: Shannon Peake, Elliot Berkman, Nicole Giuliani, University of Oregon 

Learn more about FIND

School Transition and Readiness (STAR) project

The School Transition and Readiness project in rural Pakistan studies how an early parenting intervention, family processes, and antecedent development relate to emergent executive functions and related school readiness in disadvantaged preschoolers. The goal of the project is to further the understanding of early childhood development in low- and middle-income countries, where children face high levels of adversity, including infections, malnutrition, and inadequate stimulation.

Principal Investigators: Jelena Obradović, Aisha Yousafzai (Harvard University) 

Bring Me a Book and the Stanford Center on Early Childhood

Judy Koch (1943-2023) knew the critical importance of sharing books with children from the moment of birth. Formerly a nonprofit, Bring Me a Book and Judy's legacy and impact will live on through the SCEC. SCEC faculty in the School of Medicine's Department of Pediatrics will apply learnings from BMAB to enrich SCEC's community-based programs and create a model system of support for families with young children, from infancy through the transition to primary school in San Mateo County. Through this program, children and their families will receive books throughout early childhood, along with guidance on how to encourage young children’s engagement with books and skills in reading. Read more here.

Principal Investigators: Lisa Chamberlain, MD, MPH and Ryan Padrez, MD

 

Our Tools

The FIND program

The Filming Interactions to Nurture Development (FIND) program is a highly effective video coaching program for parents and caregivers of children birth to age 5 that facilitates responsive, supportive caregiving. Developed by Philip Fisher. 

FIND Professional Development (FIND-PD) is for early childhood educators who want to enhance their positive interactions with children.

Learn more about FIND

Sign up for FIND Professional Development (FIND-PD)

CIRCLE

The Continuous Improvement and Rapid Cycle Learning and Evaluation (CIRCLE) team provides technical assistance and consultation to external partners including, but not limited to, community-based organizations, governmental agencies, and philanthropic funders. The purpose of these engagements is to help early childhood-focused initiatives understand their implementation and impact. The work to support partners exists on a continuum from creating an initial Theory of Impact (TOI), to being a full program evaluator. This approach was developed by Philip Fisher. 

Learn more about CIRCLE