Past Project Experience & Resources

Growing Gratitude and Generosity

The Growing Gratitude and Generosity project was designed to help parents encourage and support their children to understand, feel and express the positive values of gratitude and generosity in their daily lives. This CES program was funded by the Greater Good Science Center of Berkeley, CA. It is one of only 16 such international programs.

Research shows that a long list of benefits can be attributed to the regular practice of gratitude and generosity and, conversely, that people who have the most materialistic goals tend to be less happy and satisfied with their lives. When we’ve asked parents what they most want for their children’s future, the most common responses are for them to become adults who are happy and kind. Incorporating gratefulness and generosity into family life is a science-based roadmap to these desired outcomes.

Building Equitable Supports

Children with disabilities and their families face significant barriers to accessing equitable and inclusive high-quality early childhood programs.

The Building Equitable Supports for Children with Disabilities (BESCD) initiative, administered by CES, is designed to help school districts by creating a professional community that centers equitable support as a key to successful inclusion in their early childhood programs.

You can view the research by clicking on each category to the right

Building Inclusive Communities

Beginning in 2017, CES collaborated with the MA EEC and MA DESE to develop the Building Inclusive Communities (BIC) Series. The focus of this series was to bring early childhood communities together to improve inclusion practices for children ages 2 to 5. 

You can view these resources by clicking on each category to the right

Developmental Screening and Formative Assessment

CES offered training and support to Massachusetts early childhood educators in screening and educational assessment of children from infancy through kindergarten through a statewide grant that we administered from 2014 to 2018.

You can view these resources by clicking on each category to the right.

Systems Change for Successful Children

Working with the MA Department of Children and Families to minimize trauma for young children, CES provided professional development in a train-the-trainer model to child welfare professionals and early educators on supporting children and families. Professionals learnt to minimize trauma and support children of families receiving DCF services, and impart these practices to colleagues in child welfare and early childhood programs. Mental health consultants also worked with DCF staff on a weekly basis, and provided on-site consultations at early childhood programs and to parents, to deepen understanding about child development and how to address the individual needs of young children. 

The SCSC project was funded by a federal grant from the Children’s Bureau of the Administration for Children and Families.

You can view these resources by clicking on each category to the right.

Social-Emotional Learning/Approaches to Play and Learning

This successful year-long statewide professional development project introduced the MA social emotional learning and approaches to play and learning (SEL/APL) Standards for Pre-K and K to over 700 early educators and administrators.

You can view these resources by clicking on each category to the right.