Summary
Education and social services systems in the United States frequently fail to provide adequate support for low-income children in early childhood. As a result, children from low-income households often enter kindergarten a full developmental year behind their peers and more than 80 percent of children from low-income families struggle with reading throughout elementary, middle and high school. This has long-term consequences. Children who grow up in low-income households are more likely than their higher-income peers to experience poverty and other adverse outcomes well into adulthood.
This project was a partnership between Columbia University researchers at the School of Social Work and Teacher’s College, and the non-profit organization Room to Grow, which offers coaching to parents, free baby and toddler items, and community connections during the first three years of a child’s life. This model provides a unique combination of education, community connections and resource support. To measure the impact of this model, the project conducted a rigorous randomized control trial study that followed 317 mothers and children from birth, when they first entered the Room to Grow program, through age three-and-a-half.
The study tracked key measures of vocabulary development, executive function, child behavior, parent-child interaction, parental efficacy, parental mental health and well-being, and the safety of the home environment, material hardship, among other areas. Previous research in the field of early childhood has demonstrated that these domains are highly influential on long-term outcomes for young children. Research findings will help Room to Grow and similar organizations provide the most effective support to families, and provide critical insights to shape social policies and programs that close the education and opportunity gap for children from low-income families and ensure equal opportunities regardless of economic status.
In Partnership With:
Statistics
- 41%of children in the United States are living at or near the poverty line
- 80%or more of children from low-income families struggle with reading throughout elementary, middle and high school
Team
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Jeanne Brooks-Gunn
Columbia UniversityProject LeadRead Full Bio arrow_right_altJeanne Brooks-Gunn is the Virginia and Leonard Marx Professor of Child Development and Education at Columbia University’s Teachers College. She is a Professor of Pediatrics at...
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Akilah King
Room to GrowProject LeadRead Full Bio arrow_right_altAkilah King joined the Room to Grow team in 2015 and has held several roles in the areas of program operations, external relations, and evaluation, before being appointed Executive...
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Jane Waldfogel
Columbia UniversityProject LeadRead Full Bio arrow_right_altJane Waldfogel is the Compton Foundation Centennial Professor for the Prevention of Children’s and Youth Problems, co-director of the Columbia Population Research Center, and a...
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Christopher Wimer
Columbia UniversityProject LeadRead Full Bio arrow_right_altChristopher Wimer is co-Director of the Center on Poverty and Social Policy at the Columbia School of Social Work. He conducts research on the measurement of poverty and...
Go Deeper
Publications
Christopher Wimer, Maria Marti, Jeanne Brooks-Gunn, Jane Waldfogel. (2021). Early Impacts of Room to Grow: A multifaceted intervention supporting parents and children age zero to three. Children and Youth Services Review, 126, 106041.
Maria Marti-Castaner, Tonya Pavlenko, Ruby Engel, Karen Sanchez, Allyson E. Crawford, Jeanne Brooks-Gunn, Christopher Wimer. (2022). Poverty after Birth: How Mothers Experience and Navigate U.S. Safety New Programs to Address Family Needs. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 31, 2248-2265.
Reports
Research Summary of Findings to Date from the Randomized Control Trial in Partnership with Columbia University. Room to Grow. 2023.