Back to Projects & Research

Center on the Social Emotional Foundation for Early Learning (CSEFEL)

The Center on the Social and Emotional Foundations for Early Learning is a national center focused on strengthening the capacity of Child Care and Head Start to improve the social and emotional outcomes of young children.

The Center will develop and disseminate evidence-based, user-friendly information to help early childhood educators meet the needs of the growing number of children with challenging behaviors and mental health needs in Child Care and Head Start programs.

The Center on the Social and Emotional Foundations for Early Learning will:

• Focus on promoting the social and emotional development of children as a means of preventing challenging behaviors.
• Analyze and synthesize the research on the social emotional development of low-income children and translate the findings into materials that are practical and accessible to the Child Care and Head Start communities.
• Engage in intensive T/TA to selected states, territories and/or tribal partners to foster professional development that sustains the use of effective practices at the local level communities.
• Disseminate evidence-based practices via an interactive website.

The Center on the Social and Emotional Foundations for Early Learning brings together the expertise of nationally prominent faculty from the following institutions:

• Vanderbilt University
• University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
• University of Colorado at Denver and Health Sciences Center
• University of South Florida
• ZERO TO THREE
• Georgetown University Center for Child and Human Development