Faculty and Staff
| Rena Hallam | DIEEC Director |
| Jason Hustedt | Research Director |
| Martha Buell | Professor |
| Jessica Francis | Research & Evaluation Program Manager |
| Christina Joe | Research Associate |
Graduate Students
| Deborah Drain | |
| Annette Pic | |
| Imani Lawson | |
| Ekaterina Novikova |
Policy Briefs from Staff
Presentations
| Families’ Perceived Quality of The Family-Teacher Relationship as a Predictor of Child Outcomes. Hooper, A., Gaviria-Loaiza, J., & Slicker, G. [Individual Flash Talk]. Society for Research in Child Development Biennial Meeting. Virtual Conference. (2021, April) |
| Child Care Affordability Among Families Who Have Children With disabilities. [Poster Session]. Riser, D., Pic, A., Slicker, G., & Zaman, S. Society for Research in Child Development Biennial Meeting. Virtual Conference. (2021, April). |
| Predictors of Provider participation in The Childcare Subsidy System: Insights From a Nationally Representative Sample [Paper session]. Slicker, G. & Hustedt, J.T. American Educational Research Association Annual Conference. Virtual Conference. (2021, April). |
| Comparing Predictors of quality in Infant and Toddler Early Education Programs Operating in Lower-Income Areas [Roundtable session]. Slicker, G., Tang, J., & Kelly, C.L. American Educational Research Association Annual Conference. Virtual Conference. (2021, April). |
| Workforce and Program Features of Quality: How does Early Head Start Compare to Other Programs? In G. Slicker (chair), Meeting the mandate for delivering comprehensive services for families: Early Head Start supports and outcomes [Paper Symposium]. Slicker, G., Tang, J., & Kelly, C.L. Society for Research in Child Development Biennial Meeting. Virtual Conference. (2021, April). |
| Profiles of Parent Involvement During the Kindergarten Transition and Children’s School Readiness [Individual Flash Talk]. Slicker, G., Barbieri, C.A., Collier, Z.K., & Hustedt, J.T. Society for Research in Child Development Biennial Meeting. Virtual Conference. (2021, April). |
| Understanding Preschool Parents’ Child Care Search and Decision-Making. Tang, J., Hallam, R., & Francis, J. Presented in the roundtable session: Examining Perspectives of Families, Children and Teachers at the American Education Research Association 2021 Annual Meeting, Orlando, FL. (2021, April). |
| Are There Differences in Parents’ Child Care Search and Decision-Making Processes? Tang, J., Hallam, R., & Francis, J. Presented as an Individual Flash Talk Paper at the Society for Research in Child Development (SRCD) Virtual Biennial Meeting. (2021, April). |
| Examining associations between family characteristics, parenting behaviors, and infants' and toddlers' social-emotional skills. Kelly, C., Slicker, G., & Hustedt, J. T. (2021, November). Poster session to be presented at the 83rd National Council on Family Relations Annual Conference, Baltimore, MD. |
| Profiles of family functioning and stress as a predictor of Early Head Start children’s social-emotional outcomes. In G. Slicker (Chair), Meeting the mandate for delivering comprehensive services for families: Early Head Start supports and outcomes. Hooper, A., Hustedt, J. T., & Slicker, G. (2021, April). Symposium presented at the biennial conference of the Society for Research in Child Development, Minneapolis, MN. |
| Contributions of mothers’ parenting behaviors to infants’ and toddlers’ social-emotional development. Kelly, C., Slicker, G., & Hustedt, J. T. (2021, April). Poster session presented at the biennial conference of the Society for Research in Child Development, Minneapolis, MN. |
Changes in the quality and staff credentials of Delaware Stars QRIS programs over time. [Poster session]. Francis, J., and Richards, M. National Research Conference on Early Childhood, Arlington, VA (conference held virtually). (2020, November).
Neighborhood socioeconomic disadvantage as a predictor of family stress in Early Head Start families [Poster session]. Hooper, A., Hustedt, J.T., Slicker, G., Hallam, R., Gaviria-Loaiza, J., Han, M., & Vu, J. National Research Conference on Early Childhood, Arlington, VA (conference held virtually). (2020, November).
Perceptions of neighborhood safety and social status as predictors of Early Head Start Families’ parenting stress [Paper Session]. Hooper, A., Hustedt, J.T., Gavirira-Loaiza, J., Hallam, R., & Slicker, G. National Council on Family Relations Annual Meeting. (conference held virtually). (2020, November).
Child temperament as a moderator of parent functioning among families participating in the Promoting First Relationships Intervention. Hustedt, J. T., Hooper, A., Hallam, R. A., Vu, J. A., Han, M., & Ziegler, M. (2020, July). Poster session presented at the International Congress on Infant Studies, Glasgow, Scotland, UK.
Neighborhood socioeconomic disadvantage as a predictor of family stress in families of at-risk infants and toddlers. Hooper, A., Hustedt, J. T., Gaviria-Loaiza, J., Slicker, G., & Hallam, R. A. (2020, July). Poster session presented at the International Congress on Infant Studies, Glasgow, Scotland, UK.
Expectations and transition supports for entering kindergarteners: Profiles of kindergarten teachers. Slicker, G., Lewis, S., Hustedt, J. T., & Buell, M. J. (2020, April). Poster session at the American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting and Exposition, San Francisco, CA. (Conference canceled due to covid-19)
Interpreting and utilizing TS GOLD data. Ashe, I. & Farmer, L. Presented at the 2019 Making a Difference Conference, Dover, DE. (2019).
Providing meaningful experiences for school-age children in family child care. Portlock, L. & Smith, K. Presented at the 2019 Making a Difference Conference, Dover, DE. (2019).
Intentional Leaders: Stronger Teams. Potts, J. Presented at the 2019 Making a Difference Conference, Dover, DE. (2019).
Screening Tool vs. Formative Assessment: What is the Difference? Potts, J. Presented at the 2019 Making a Difference Conference, Dover, DE. (2019).
Trust is the most important leadership characteristic [Audio podcast episode] In WWFM: What Works For Me in Supervision. Prettyman, A. (Guest). LeadU at Children & Families First of Delaware. Anchor Podcast. (2019, July 11).
Hearing all voices: Ensuring active stakeholder engagement during QRIS revision. Symposium conducted at the 2019 QRIS National Meeting, New Orleans, LA. Fisher-Klein, J., Sheffler, K., Mercatoris, R., & Rooney, L. (2019, July).
Promoting family engagement in family child care. Smith, K. Presented at the 2019 Making a Difference Conference, Dover, DE. (2019).
Using assessment data to inform curriculum planning. Smith, K. & Waters, H. Presented at the 2019 Making a Difference Conference, Dover, DE. (2019).
Examining associations between QRIS and family child care quality: Findings from one state. Tang, J., Hallam, R., & Francis, J. Paper presented at the 34th College of Education & Human Development Annual Steele Symposium, Newark, DE. (2019, April).
Exploring the relationship between Delaware’s Quality Rating and Improvement System and family child care quality. Tang, J., Hallam, R., & Francis, J. Paper presented at the 2019 biennial meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, Baltimore, Maryland. (2019, March).
Maternal depression and child-directed speech: Influences on toddlers’ communication abilities and socioemotional competence. Gaviria-Loaiza, J., Han, M., & Hustedt, J. T. (2019, April). In K.-G. Martin-Kerr (Chair), Parenting influence on child development. Symposium presented at the American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting and Exposition, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
New Mexico PreK impacts: Regression-discontinuity results overall and by child race/ethnicity and cohort. Hustedt, J. T., Jung, K., Friedman-Krauss, A., Barnett, W. S., & Slicker, G. (2019, March). In C. Weiland (Chair), Evaluating publicly-funded preschool programs: Understanding impacts, impact variation, and lasting effects. Symposium presented at the biennial conference of the Society for Research in Child Development, Baltimore, MD.
Maternal influences on toddlers’ communication and socioemotional competence. Gaviria-Loaiza, J., Han, M., & Hustedt, J. T. (2019, March). Poster session presented at the biennial conference of the Society for Research in Child Development, Baltimore, MD.
Does auspice matter? Impacts of New Mexico PreK in public and nonpublic settings. Friedman-Krauss, A., Hustedt, J. T., Jung, K., Barnett, W. S., & Slicker, G. (2019, March). In M. McCormick (Chair), Where do pre-K programs operate best? Exploring variation in pre-K access and quality in mixed-delivery systems. Symposium presented at the annual conference of the Society for Research on Educational Effectiveness, Washington, DC.
Using Facebook to promote and leverage your child care business. Nordmeyer, L. & Smith, K. Presented at the 2018 Making a Difference Conference, Dover, DE. (2018).
Parent perspectives on the PFR intervention as part of Early Head Start [Poster session]. Slicker, G., Han, M., Hustedt, J.T., & Hooper, A. National Council on Family Relations Annual Meeting, San Diego, CA. (2018, November).
Financial incentives sharing session. Sheffler, K., Gleason, C., Sonnenberg, M., Hearon, M., & Johnson, J. Symposium conducted at the 2018 QRIS National Meeting, San Diego, CA. (2018, July).
Exploring the relationship between Delaware’s QRIS and family child care quality achievement. Tang, J., & Hallam, R. Poster presented at the 43rd Association for Education Finance and Policy Annual Conference, Portland, OR. (2018, March).
Examining effectiveness of the Promoting First Relationships intervention with parents and young children in home and center-based Early Head Start models. Hustedt, J. T., Hallam, R. A., Hooper, A., Han, M., Vu, J. A., & Ziegler, M. (2018, November). Poster session presented at the 80th National Council on Family Relations Annual Conference, San
Diego, CA.
Charting a new destiny: Optimizing what we measure. Blanton, L. & Sheffler, K. Symposium conducted at the 2017 National Smart Start Conference, Greensboro, NC. (2017, May)
