Policymakers' demands for improved academic achievement by all children and the standardization of instructional practices continue to alter the landscape of early childhood education. Many within the early childhood education community are examining how these changes impact stakeholders' conceptions of school readiness. Yet, little has been done…

A southeastern state engaged in a systematic landscape study to identify needs and priorities for young children and their families. Early childhood and research methods experts, representing five Institutions of Higher Education (IHE), along with equity and family engagement experts developed three strategies to collect data from various…

Successful transition to kindergarten for children with disabilities is a complex process that can have long term effects on school success. Although attempts are made for a seamless transition, far too often the process lacks the communication, training, and high intensity transition supports needed for all the involved stakeholders. This study…

This report explains how the Tennessee Investment in Student Achievement (TISA) Act came to be and offers promising practices and lessons other states may adapt to their political and economic contexts. Through in-depth interviews with advocates and state leaders, the authors uncovered five factors that contributed to TISA's passage that have…

Research Findings: This article investigates how a sample of families, educators, researchers, advocates, and policymakers (n = 93) made sense of how children are and should be taught in kindergarten. By examining their conceptions of instruction that define kindergarten in this current era of standards and accountability and what opportunities…

The preschool period must be the starting point for the same attitude among all education stakeholders to achieve sustainable improvement and permanent change. Undoubtedly, a supportive classroom environment with a bond and an emotion-oriented approach contributes to children's intellectual and personal development. Emotion coaching is a…

Kindergarten has changed. Many believe that it no longer reflects a nurturing environment but, instead, has become a race for children to learn skills so they are ready for the academic achievement tests that they will take continuously throughout their time in school. "Resisting the Kinder-Race" examines how the race came about, why it…

This article documents, describes and discusses the dynamics of an international school located in south Delhi, India. It discusses the means and ways via which the international school designs and delivers its curricular and pedagogic content that tend to shape and reinforce an element of 'internationalism' among its pupils. The international…

A well-developed transition process between the early childhood setting and primary school is important when considering transition to school. This paper reports on an inquiry that focused on the enablers and barriers to a successful transition to school. The inquiry which used case studies at two schools involved interviews with new entrant,…

Using critical interpretive procedures, this synthesis reviews qualitative and quantitative empirical studies (N = 181) published between 2000 and 2017 in the Canadian French as a Second Language (FSL) K-12 context. This study examines the thematic focus of findings relevant to key stakeholders (i.e., students, teachers, teacher candidates,…

The purpose of this collective case study was to examine elementary music teachers' mental health and well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic. The research questions were: 1) What factors influenced music teachers' mental health and well-being during COVID-19; 2) How did music teachers support their own mental health and well-being during…

Purpose: The paper aims to explore the role and the involvement of local community within the context of Malaysian early childhood centers (nursery and kindergarten). Design/methodology/approach: The research used a mixed method with a questionnaire survey in the first phase and qualitative interviews in the second phase. Quantitative data were…

This qualitative study explores the transition to kindergarten special education of four Somali autistic children in Minneapolis, Minnesota. This dissertation answers a single, two-part research question: What aspects of the transition to kindergarten process do stakeholders find facilitate the transition process? What parts of the transition do…

Over the last 2 decades, policymakers' standards-based accountability reforms in the United States, such as the No Child Left Behind Act, have fundamentally changed public schooling in general and kindergarten specifically. As this has occurred, little is known about how families make sense of these changes in schooling. By sharing findings from a…

A main purpose of the present study was to examine and compare attitudes toward inclusive education between parents of children with ASD, parents of typically developing children, and classroom teachers in China. The investigators also sought to explore factors influencing different stakeholders' perspectives. An attitude survey was distributed to…