Four dimensions of pedagogical quality focusing on children's opportunities for learning and development in preschool are suggested. This article explores how they are constituted and how they can be used for evaluation to discern pedagogical quality as a whole and part of a whole and to understand how quality is experienced and valued from…

This study tested a conceptual model of a psychosocial pathway to academic competence in preschool. Developmental theory and research with older children suggest that social and psychological factors could have a significant impact on young children's learning and school readiness. Children in 3 preschool classrooms (N = 31) participated. Mothers'…

The new call for a universal preschool system is prompting an important policy debate across California. How preschooling is expanded and improved with limited public resources depends on several key issues. The hopeful ideals of "preschool for all"--with children beginning school ready to learn--spark enthusiasm and broaden public will.…

This exploratory study examined the relations among characteristics of children's home environments and two school readiness skills: their oral language and social functioning. Low SES Latino mothers of 122 (65 girls; 57 boys) preschoolers (39-49 months (M=45.00; S.D.=5.40) completed questionnaires about their family demography, their home…

As teachers, researchers, caregivers, and people who take care of young children, we are often in conversation with children. These conversations are complex, filled with child and adult interactions. Further, both the child and the adult hold various levels of power, and work as a group within the interaction. As an artist and early childhood…

In recent years, providsion of early learning experiences to children has found a place on political agendas nationwide. Increasingly, early childhood education is viewed as a point of leverage for addressing low levels of, and gaps in, K-12 achievement. This article discusses what people know about the quality of existing early-childhood…

In this study, the authors examined the extent to which maternal and paternal parenting styles, cognitions, and behaviors were associated with young girls' and boys' more compassionate (prototypically feminine) and more agentic (prototypically masculine) prosocial behaviors with peers. Parents of 133 preschool-aged children reported on their…

This paper discusses the individual, family, household and area level characteristics associated with preschool attendance for Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians (aged three to five years who are not at school). Controlling for these factors explains all of the difference between Indigenous and non-Indigenous attendance rates for…

The observation manual provides a system for the naturalistic observation of interactions between the preschool child and the caregiver. It can be used in research with the preschool aged child and the parent or teacher in home, laboratory, or school settings. The behavior categories included are applicable for collecting frequency data or…

This Early Childhood Curriculum Manual, one of four manuals based on approaches developed in the research and demonstration program, "Celebration in Learning '76" (CIL), was designed for adults who work with young children and who wish to expand children's use of table toys in the classroom. The first chapter explores what is meant by…

The seven Barber Scales of Self-Regard for Preschool Children were developed to provide instruments for assessing levels of development for individual children. Because of the developmental nature of the scales, test-retest reliability and split-half reliability are without meaning. The only reliability estimate deemed appropriate is interjudge…

A picture inventory symbolically portraying two alternative value systems in a preschool setting was administered to 172 mothers and 66 female teachers of preschool children. Differences were found between the behavioral expectations of teachers and mothers who were either non-Anglo, working class, or both, but not between teachers and Anglo…

Language programs, however excellent, do not usually attent to the basic interaction skill which keeps a child continuously in the language learning environment. Suggests that preschool teachers be alert to the preschool child's need for developing language skills in order for him to learn and communicate with his parents and teachers. (Author/RK)

This study attempted to (1) examine differences in the curiosity behavior of abused preschool children in situations with their mothers, a teacher, and a stranger; (2) determine whether the children exhibited more curiosity when exposed to novel versus familiar objects; and (3) examine adult behaviors theoretically related to children's curiosity.…