A hopeful path to furthering social justice in America is to support all young children to develop the habits of mind necessary for guiding, and fully living, their own lives. Unfortunately, much of what is known from brain research, psychology, and the learning sciences regarding the contextual and relational ways young children learn is not…

The purpose of this qualitative study is to investigate the significance of how pre-K and kindergarten teachers' perception and implementation of instruction prepares children for literacy in both grade levels. Three research questions guided the study: Are pre-K and kindergarten curricula aligned with implementing emergent literacy skills in…

Young children attending high quality early education programs have demonstrated improved school readiness outcomes, with the most impact on low-income and high-risk children. The comprehensive approach to school readiness used in Head Start programs that includes ready children, ready schools, and ready families, facilitates transition and…

How can preschool programs situated in public schools "get better at getting better?" This dissertation suggests a framework based on the principles of Improvement Science as one-way school districts can include preschool in their continuous improvement efforts. Document Analysis, is the method used to examine a continuous improvement…

In order for students to be successful in school, strong foundations are needed at the earliest grades. In a district in central Mississippi, many students entering public school from Head Start were not able to identify alphabet letters or produce letter sounds, based on results of the 2011 Standardized Test for the Assessment of Reading (STAR).…

Although standards-based IEP goals have been mandated in many states for almost a decade, their effectiveness is unknown. Standards-based IEP goals were first created to meet the requirements of No Child Left Behind and Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act, which increased accountability for all students as well as those with…

The Ohio Department of Education created Early Learning Content Standards in 2004 for children aged three to five grounded in research in the content areas of math, science, social studies and English/Language Arts. This mixed method study was designed to examine the perceptions of preschool teachers as they aligned the early learning content…

Children grow and change more rapidly during the first eight years of life than any other time in their life span. Progression through the physical, cognitive, and social-emotional developmental stages varies for each individual child. Children with atypical development experience a wide spectrum of variability in their development. Over the past…

The deluge of early child development research over the past 20 years has sparked an unprecedented public interest in the first years of children's lives. Research indicates that quality early education promotes the overall development of a healthy child. The Desired Results System, a standards-based accountability initiative of the California…

The purpose of this study was to determine the extent to which a preschool program followed the recommendations outlined by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) and the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) in their joint position statement "Early Childhood Mathematics: Promoting Good…