Early Care and Education (ECE) Working Group
About the Early Care and Education Working Group
The Early Care and Education (ECE) working group is a team of ECE researchers and leaders committed
to improving the health of young children through improved research and practice in out-of-home care
settings. The working group is a collaborative effort of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Healthy
Eating Research (HER) and Active Living Research (ALR) programs and the Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention’s (CDC) Nutrition and Obesity Policy Research and Evaluation Network (NOPREN) and
Physical Activity Policy Research Network (PAPRN). The HER national program office, based at the
University of Minnesota School of Public Health, serves as the coordinating body. Membership in the
working group is open to all with an interest in obesity prevention research and evaluation in the child
care/early childhood setting, including on topics related to nutrition, physical activity, and sedentary
behaviors. The primary population of interest is children ages 0 to 5 years in a variety of out-of-home
settings, including child care (both centers and homes), preschool, pre-Kindergarten, and Head Start.
Working Group Mission
The mission of the ECE working group is to build a network of researchers and leaders from academia,
non-profit organizations, government, and other funding agencies to increase the amount and quality of
research and evaluation in the area of childhood obesity prevention in the early care and education
setting, and to support and facilitate the development and implementation of evidence-informed
policies. Special emphasis is placed on equity and addressing the needs of the lower-income and
racial/ethnic minority populations at highest risk for obesity.
Working Group Goals
Overall Goal: To bring an increased focus on nutrition, physical activity, and childhood obesity
prevention research and evaluation in ECE.
Shorter-Term Goals (for 2013):
1. Build a network of researchers and leaders with an interest in ECE
a. Recruit and support new investigators through collaboration in working groups,
mentored leadership, building connections, and other opportunities
b. Create opportunities for learning and collaboration (e.g., commissioned research
projects, grants, publications, presentations)
c. Share information and resources among members of the workgroup (e.g., tools,
methods, intervention materials)
2. Develop 2-4 working group subgroups and recruit subgroup leaders
a. Commit to a collaborative project for each subgroup
b. Identify funding source (if appropriate) for conducting the collaborative project
c. Engage members of the subgroups in the collaborative project
d. Subgroup progress to be reported at a national conference in February 2014
3. Promote funding for ECE obesity prevention research and evaluation
Longer-Term Goals:
1. Identify gaps in the ECE knowledge base
2. Clarify a research agenda in the ECE setting to facilitate desirable changes in nutrition, physical
activity, and overall child development
3. Generate interest in research in nutrition and physical activity in ECE, by documenting and
making the case for its relevance to other aspects of ECE
4. Build evidence to support changes to ECE policies, environments, and practices
5. Increase funding for ECE research and evaluation
6. Increase the number of ECE researchers
7. Increase the amount and quality of ECE research
8. Effect change in national and state policies to improve nutrition and physical activity standards
in ECE
9. Have ECE be a setting included in NCCOR’s Catalogue of Surveillance Systems
(http://tools.nccor.org/css/)
ECE Working Group Co-Chairs
Dianne S. Ward, EdD, Professor, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Kathryn Henderson, PhD, Independent Consultant
ECE Subgroups (as of 2-2013)
1. How diet and physical activity affect child development
Co-leaders: Beth Dixon, PhD, MPH, and Temitope Erinosho, PhD
2. Monitoring and informing the regulatory and policy environment
Co-leaders: Natasha Frost, JD, and Geri Henchy, MPH, RD
3. How to better use research to change practice
Co-leaders: Angela Odoms-Young, PhD, MS, and Lorrene Ritchie, PhD, RD
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Contacts
For more information, please contact:
Karen M. Kaphingst, MPH
Deputy Director, RWJF Healthy Eating Research
University of Minnesota School of Public Health
[email protected]
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ALR: www.activelivingresearch.org
HER: www.healthyeatingresearch.org
NOPREN: www.nopren.org
PAPRN: http://paprn.wustl.edu
Revised: 1-2014