School discipline policies are broadly intended to foster a high-quality learning environment by maintaining safety in the classroom; however, far too often, schools adopt measures that harm a student's social, emotional, academic, and in some cases, physical health and well-being. To create physically safe and emotionally supportive environments…

The aim of the current study was to address the potential moderating roles of emotional display rule knowledge and race in the relation between false-belief understanding and preschoolers' positive interactions and behaviors with peers and teachers. Participants included 87 African American and Latinx preschoolers (52 boys and 35 girls, mean age…

In this manuscript, we recognize that young children learn stories that propagate white supremacist narratives through selective traditions of early childhood curriculum. The role of early childhood teachers, therefore, is to critically examine curriculum for biases, omissions, and distortions, as well as to rewrite curriculum to tell accurate…

The road to achieving racial justice in the nation is marked by times of unspeakable tragedy followed by resilience and recovery and unexpected setbacks overcome by reinvention. As the nation emerges from a devastating and deadly pandemic, it stands again on the precipice of recovery and reinvention. Many school districts have returned to normal,…

This systematic literature review examines research on U.S. professional development (PD) in which practicing teachers are asked to engage explicitly with race and racism. Using Kennedy's PD theories of action, this review examines 64 studies published from 1981 to 2019 and analyzes race-related PD goals, pedagogical approaches, and documented…

Much attention has been paid to storybook reading as a context for supporting preschoolers' emergent language and literacy. Inferential thinking is essential to listening comprehension and to reading comprehension. Understanding the story deeply and reasoning about events and characters are central to children's enjoyment and to comprehension…

Pre-kindergarten (pre-k) is thought to have both direct and indirect effects on children's outcomes in early elementary school. Direct pre-k effects consistently include moderate to large gains in academic skills and sometimes include increases in problem behaviors that affect acquisition of skills in school. Indirect pre-k effects assume that…

Sociodramatic play is considered a critical context within which child leaders and followers may naturally emerge, while their cognitive abilities (e.g., theory of mind) and social competence are developed and applied. This study investigated child leadership and followership during sociodramatic play among 20 racial/ethnic minority 3- and…

An exploration of equity and power in infant and early childhood mental health (IECMH) consultation and early childhood education (ECE) relationships requires the examination of diversity, anti-racist values, cross-disciplinary perspectives, and parallel process. Attaining the mission of the early childhood field to support the growth,…

The early childhood education care (ECEC) practitioner landscape is complex and encompasses many roles including center-based and school-based administrative, teaching, and support staff as well as home-based unregulated child care family child care (FCC) providers and home-based regulated (e.g., registered or licensed) FCC providers who…

The recently revised NAEYC position papers and the fourth edition of NAEYC's Developmentally Appropriate Guidelines (NAEYC. 2022. "Developmentally Appropriate Practice in Early Childhood Programs: Serving Children from Birth through Age 8," edited by S. Friedman, 4th ed. Washington: National Association for the Education of Young…

Introduction: This article investigates an early STEM family engagement program offered during the pre-kindergarten (pre-k) year. Pre-k is an important juncture for community organizations to support children's STEM engagement and parental involvement in informal STEM learning. We evaluated a program called Teaching Together STEM, which offers a…

In this essay, I reflect on my lived experiences as a girl child growing up in my home country of Botswana, and also as a mother in a foreign country, Canada. I am experimenting with my personal essay and making connections with academic articles that will help me understand my behaviors, attitudes, and responses to challenging situations that…

This study examined whether children's observed individual engagement with teachers, peers, and tasks related to their school readiness after controlling for observed preschool classroom quality and children's baseline skills. The sample included 211 predominately low-income, racially/ethnically diverse 4-year-old children in 49 preschool…

Quality in early childhood education (ECE) is central to equitable child development and preparation for formal schooling and has been widely studied by researchers and of interest to policy makers. As the federal pre-k program, Head Start is a key ECE context to understand quality and its implications for equity. One central measure of classroom…