In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic caused a mandatory shift from in-person instruction to online learning for many young children. Teachers needed to adjust to virtual teaching, children were isolated from their peers, and parents played a bigger role in learning during the pandemic. In 2021, the shift back to in-person learning occurred. Research has…

In 2015 an urban school district reported that 84.6% of third graders did not demonstrate proficiency on the Math Standardized Test, which challenges students to solve problems and justify solutions. Since 2006 there has been a negative trend of proficiency levels on the New York State (NYS) Math Exam in third grade. I propose that students may be…

Young children of immigrants are increasingly part of early childhood programs in the United States but teachers have mixed approaches and attitudes about the immigrant families that they work with. This article details an analysis of 50 preschool teachers in five US cities using data from the Children Crossing Borders video-cued ethnographic…

A team of teachers from the same New York City public school met to discuss and compare the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics (CCSSM) to their current math curriculum. The group consisted of four kindergarten teachers, a representative from the first-grade teaching team, and the school's math coach. During the first meeting, the…

Young children's dreams can be a way for teachers and caregivers to share with children and an opportunity for children to describe and even draw dreams. In two different preschool settings, in two different geographical locales, 94 children, aged 3-5 years, shared 266 dreams with a trusted, familiar teacher. Dreams were coded anonymously. The…

The advent of Common Core Standards in New York State has forced a revisitation of past practices. With a goal of ensuring that all students are college and career-ready by the end of high school these standards call for increased rigor and higher expectations at all grade levels. The purpose of this study was to analyze through collaborative…

The National Center for Research on Early Childhood Education's (NCRECE) program of research is a series of experimental studies of specific approaches to training early childhood (EC) educators to be effective in implementation of curriculum and instructional interactions focused on promoting language and literacy skills, two domains that operate…

This study examined whether or not preschool teachers attended to instances requiring inference-making in story books. Thirty-one preschool teachers were asked to read three fictional story books and to identify parts of the story that would be difficult for young children to interpret. Additionally, they were asked to construct questions that…

The teaching beliefs and classroom practices of 54 kindergarten teachers were assessed using a Q-sort measure. Cluster analysis of the Q-sort responses revealed four instructional approaches that differed in their focus on literacy skills, social development and self-esteem. In addition, measures of emergent literacy skills, classroom behaviour…

This study evaluates school personnel perceptions, knowledge, and behaviors before and after a 36-hr training program designed to prepare early childhood school personnel for implementation of an after-school family preventive intervention for conduct problems. Participants were 40 female school personnel (22 professionals and 18…

The authors of this paper document how federal policy on child care and early education led to a decline in wages and education among staff in early childhood programs. The paper analyzes labor trends for the early care and education workforce over the past 25 years--notably, an overall decrease in educational qualifications, and persistent wage…

Three professional development approaches have shown promise in raising the competency level of early childhood professionals in rural areas. Provider registry systems gather information that provides a foundation for further professional development initiatives and systemic development. Statewide professional development systems designed to serve…