This article describes an initiative undertaken by a coalition of psychologists (Coalition for Psychology in Schools and Education) from the American Psychological Association (APA) to identify the top 20 principles from psychological science relevant to teaching and learning in the classroom. This article identifies these principles and their…

Head Start's performance standards require that the nutrition programs "serve a variety of foods which consider cultural and ethnic preferences and which broaden the child's food experience" (Head Start Program Performance Standards and Other Regulations, 2006). In this study, food service modifications were made via a participatory…

This article considers the story of 3-year-old Mia and her mother's request that teachers keep Mia away from messy projects. It offers an opportunity to apply the Code, with a special emphasis on its 2011 reaffirmation and update. This revision has sharpened the focus on the importance of nurturing two-way communication between teachers/caregivers…

Child development involves the process of mastering cultural tools, which modify relations with the world and provide the means to act on the self. A sign is a universal cultural tool, but these tools are not the same for all ages. The problem of specifying development becomes one of finding the tools that children use in their activity.…

This study investigated the effect of a large group narrative intervention on diverse preschoolers' narrative language skills with aims to explore questions of treatment efficacy and differential response to intervention. A quasi-experimental, pretest/posttest comparison group research design was employed with 71 preschool children. Classrooms…

It is generally accepted in the fields of both education and psychology that play can help young children cope with troubling circumstances in their lives. It would be logical to assume that play activities may be ideal for assisting children whose families have immigrated to the United States in adjusting to the puzzling, and even frightening,…

The present project studied the relationship between the use of developmentally appropriate practices and children's perception of self-competence in Head Start classrooms. Self-competence is defined as children's confidence in succeeding in certain tasks. Developmentally appropriate practices (DAP) as proposed by the National Association for the…

This paper examines pedagogy in early childhood music education and the resultant learning experiences in music for children in Kenyan preschools. Two important principles proposed for the synchronisation of teaching and learning in early childhood music education are cultural relevance and developmental appropriateness. These terms are…

For the forty-third time, the Association for Educational Communications and Technology (AECT) is sponsoring the publication of these Proceedings. Papers published in this volume were presented online during the annual AECT Convention. Volume 1 contains 37 papers dealing primarily with research and development topics. Papers dealing with the…

The authors discuss cultural influences on clinical interactions when treating late talkers, 2- to 3-year-old children with primary language delays. They use the literature to examine the cultural relevance of core components of early language treatment and propose alternative professional actions in the cases of cultural mismatches. Alternative…

For nearly four decades, Sesame Workshop has brought the joy of learning to the world's youngest citizens through the introduction of locally-produced coproductions of the preschool television series, "Sesame Street". Many of these television shows have been specifically designed to forward important prosocial messages directly linked to…

Measures of quality are now in widespread use across states as part of quality improvement initiatives. For example, many states are currently using global measures of quality that were first developed for research and practice purposes (such as the Environmental Rating Scales) in their Quality Rating Systems (QRSs). Although global quality…

A pre-postassessment, single-subject, pilot study was implemented, testing the hypothesis that positive behavior support (PBS) would improve family quality-of-life outcomes by reducing parental stress and challenging behaviors of preschool children who are culturally and linguistically diverse and reside in urban, disadvantaged communities. Six…