Early childhood learning sets the stage for growth and development across the life course. Some of children's earliest learning experiences take place at home. The Parents Promoting Early Learning (PPEL) projects include longitudinal, multi-method studies that examine how the home learning environment supports early childhood learning. Our two studies initially enrolled toddlers and preschool-aged children and one of their parents or caregivers. Data collected during these studies included observations of parent-child interactions, parent phone interviews and direct assessment of parents' and children's language, math, and behavioral skills. We followed up with families when their child was 3 (for the toddlers) or 5 (for the preschoolers).

In the summer of 2024, we received a new grant from the National Science Foundation to continue our research by following toddlers and their families into first and second grades. We are grateful for this opportunity and thrilled to reconnect with the families from the toddler study! We began following up with our first group of 1st graders in fall of 2024. 

In the summer of 2026, we began a new follow-up study into third and fourth grades for both our toddler and preschool families. We are excited to have this chance to extend our research on learning in early elementary school and to continue to learn about how the home and school environments relate to children's development. 

Through these studies, we hope to better understand how characteristics of children's daily lives and family activities in the home relate to early learning from toddlerhood to elementary school.