In Summer 2021, researchers from Rockman et al Cooperative conducted a nationwide needs assessment to inform children’s programming being developed by Twin Cities Public Television as part of a five-year US Department of Education Ready-to-Learn grant. The programs being developed include television, digital, and analog activities, and are centered on three curricular pillars: Executive function skills, self-regulation strategies, and career exposure.
We surveyed 686 racially and socioeconomically diverse parents and caregivers with a 5-to-8-year-old child, and interviewed 30 of these caregivers to gather more in-depth feedback to find out whether these three areas were important to them, and if so, how they approached them with their children.
The first two blog posts below describe the findings from this study in detail. The third blog post contains reflections from Dr. Jennifer Curry, an expert in career readiness with K-12 children:
- What Caregivers Think About Children’s Executive Functioning Skills and Self-Regulation Strategies
- Helping Young Children Learn and Think About Different Careers
- How to Talk to Young Children about Careers and Support their Curiosity about the Future
We hope you enjoy reading more about how caregivers are thinking and talking about children’s skills, strategies, and careers!
*Word cloud shows strategies that parents and caregivers mentioned.*
The contents of this program were developed under the Ready to Learn grant grant from the U.S. Department of Education (PR S295A200002) awarded to Twin Cities PBS. However, those contents do not necessarily represent the policy of the Department of Education, and you should not assume endorsement by the Federal Government.