HighScope Educational Research Foundation
High Scope has a 35-year history of conducting research while ensuring professionalism and the highest quality evaluation planning and implementation, data analysis, and reporting. That work has included both cross-sectional and longitudinal evaluations of local, state, and federal preschool program policies and practices, early childhood curriculum models, and professional development strategies. Projects employ both experimental and quasi-experimental designs, as well as both quantitative and qualitative data analysis techniques applied to multi-level nested data. Our projects involve the collection of data in urban, rural, and suburban communities and programs focused on at-risk populations. In addition to research and evaluation, High Scope staff develop instruments to measure child outcomes and program quality, create early childhood curriculum materials, and provide professional development support to the field. As a research and practice organization, High Scope staff members regularly interact with stakeholders in the early childhood community ranging from caregivers, to teachers, administrators, policy makers, and researchers. This dual focus on research and practice is brought to bear on all of our work.
Placement Mentor – Larry Schweinhart was appointed by the High/Scope Board of Directors in 2003 to lead the High/Scope Foundation. During three decades of service to High/Scope as senior research scientist and research chair, he was instrumental in leading a range of research initiatives at the Foundation—from initially conducting research in 1975 to becoming High/Scope's lead researcher in 1989 in charge of all educational research programs.
Schweinhart has authored numerous articles and essays on research topics that impact children's educational issues as well as numerous technical reports and program evaluations. He also has addressed a range of audiences of early childhood educators, researchers, advocates, and policymakers. He received his Ph.D. in education from Indiana University in 1975 and has taught a range of elementary school and college courses. He earned a B.A. in philosophy from St. Mary's Seminary and University, Baltimore, MD, in 1969.
Recent Projects:
- The High/Scope Perry Preschool Project—the landmark study establishing the great human and financial potential of high-quality early childhood programs
- The High/Scope Curriculum Comparison Study, providing evidence that child-initiated learning activities are central to high-quality early childhood programs
- The longitudinal state evaluation of the Michigan School Readiness Program for at-risk 4-year-olds
- High/Scope's Head Start Quality Research Center, a 10-year effort currently evaluating effects of intensive High/Scope curriculum training on Head Start teachers and children
- The development and evaluation of both editions of the Preschool Child Observation Record (COR), designed to assess young children's development from infancy through elementary school
- A recently launched Ready Schools initiative, made possible through a $1.4 million grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation and designed to develop and validate a Ready School Assessment and create an improvement plan for use in the nation's elementary schools
Placement Supervisor – Ann Epstein is the Senior Director of Curriculum Development at HighScope Educational Research Foundation in Ypsilanti, Michigan, where she has worked since 1975. Her areas of expertise include curriculum development, professional development, research and program evaluation, and instrument development. Dr. Epstein has published numerous books and articles for professional and practitioner audiences, including The Intentional Teacher, Essentials of Active Learning in Preschool, Me, You, Us: Social-Emotional Learning in Preschool, and Numbers Plus Preschool Mathematics Curriculum, and is coauthor of Educating Young Children, Tender Care and Early Learning, Supporting Young Artists, and Small-Group Times to Scaffold Early Learning. She has a Ph.D. in Developmental Psychology from the University of Michigan and a Masters of Fine Arts degree from Eastern Michigan University.
