This study investigated the effects of a number sense intervention in 5-year-old Italian children (n = 96) from different socioeconomic status (SES) backgrounds. We investigated whether a short-term intervention could enable low SES children to reach the same level of their middle-upper SES peers in number sense; in addition, we compared the…

Identifying effective, community-based specialized interventions for young children with autism spectrum disorder is an international clinical and research priority. We evaluated the effectiveness of the Early Start Denver Model intervention in a group of young children with autism spectrum disorder living in an Italian community compared to a…

Research suggests that integrating human movement into a cognitive learning task can be effective for learning due to its cognitive and physiological effects. In this study, the learning effects of enacting words through whole-body movements (i.e., physical exercise) and part-body movements (i.e., gestures) were investigated in a foreign language…

Early childhood education and school readiness is essential to preparing children to succeed in an increasingly competitive global economy. Compared to other countries, however, the United States lags far behind on preschool, trailing a number of other countries in enrollment, investment, and quality. In February 2013, however, President Barack…

In an effort to better understand how Americans' mobility outcomes compare with those of their counterparts in other nations, the Pew Economic Mobility Project partnered with the Russell Sage Foundation and the Sutton Trust to commission a multi-country study on economic mobility, "Cross-National Research on Intergenerational Transmission of…

This article compares the messages contained in the physical environments of early childhood classrooms in Reggio Emilia, Italy, with typical early childhood settings in Canada and the United States. The article examines the classroom's "aesthetic code"; i.e., the social construction created, consciously or unconsciously, by the…

This document was prepared in response to a comparative study tour undertaken as part of the European Communities Commission's Community Education Programme. It describes the educational structures of Belgium, Denmark, the Federal Republic of German, France, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxemborg, Netherlands, and the United Kingdom. Each country's…

Eight German and eight Italian children were observed during their first year in preschool. Cultural differences and similarities in play and behavior and sex differences are reported. Findings suggest that strategies that children use to enter kindergarten or a new group exist universally. (Author/RH)

This document discusses research and thinking about several countries' experiences in providing early childhood education and services, and additionally, describes current early childhood education in the Australian states and territories. Following the first chapter's brief provision of background information about preschool education in…

This digest compares the efforts of the United States and of other member countries of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) to finance center- and facility-based preschool. In many OECD countries, public preschool is more widely available than in the United States. For example, in France, 100%, and in Italy,…

Reports on a comparative study of nursery school children in the United States and Italy. Identifies and discusses the importance of basic routines in the peer culture of young children for the development of communication skills and social knowledge. Explores the possibilities of universal features in young children's peer cultures and develops…

Articles contained in this first issue of the journal "Child Resource World Review" present information from a worldwide network of day care professionals. Specifically, Alice Honig compares child care in different countries. Sherrie K. Akinsanya reports on stressful aspects of early schooling for children in Nigeria. Sue Owen discusses…

This paper examines the preschool programs of the Reggio Emilia region of Northern Italy, describing the role of Loris Malaguzzi in the founding of the municipal preschools in the region after the Second World War and discussing the theoretical and philosophical basis of the child-centered, developmentally appropriate, art-centered Reggio Emilia…

This report presents a set of education indicators that describes how the United States education system compares with those of the other G-8 countries: Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Russian Federation, and the United Kingdom. The data were collected from three main sources: the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development's…