Discusses the views and attitudes of preschool and kindergarten teachers towards parental involvement and parent-teacher partnership during early childhood education in Greece. Identifies types of involvement needed in order to prepare for future policy-making on preschool education. (AS)

Fifty early childhood special educators and 82 school psychologists responded to questionnaires analyzing the school psychologist's role and potential contributions to early childhood programs. While psychologists viewed their primary responsibility as conducting psychological assessments, educators' greatest expressed need was for assistance with…

Investigated the physical activity of 514 children enrolled in nursery schools and day care centers. Among study results are findings that preschool children are not engaged in vigorous physical activity year round, boys are more physically active than girls, and children in nursery school are more physically active than children in day care. (RJC)

Presents a general discussion of the difficulties expected to be encountered, regardless of setting, when attempting to implement an early childhood literacy program in which a social interactional approach to instruction is used. The author provides a framework for understanding early childhood teachers' attitudes and beliefs that can lead to…

Reports the outcomes of a 16-month leadership training program for Head Start teachers and directors. Based on pre- and posttraining measures, documents the outcomes related to (1) participants' level of perceived competence; (2) the quality of teaching practices in participants' classrooms; and (3) the quality of work life for participants at…

A study designed to replicate teacher values considered five domains: use of space, use of time, patterns of teacher-child interaction, materials and activities, and parent-teacher interactions. The program had an approximately even balance between the use of a cultural transmission model and a developmental model. (LB)

Researchers tested the Concerns Based Adoption Model and the Stages of Concern Questionnaire (SoCQ), which address professionals' feelings about innovation. Professionals who received innovative training on early intervention completed the survey. Results support the Concerns Based Adoption Model's broad underlying assumptions. A revised model and…

Peer nominations and teacher ratings of children's social behaviors were obtained for 36 preschoolers during their first, second, and third years in preschool. Peer nominations showed stability across time, and teacher ratings correlated with peer nominations. (MDM)

This study assessed the judgments of 131 preschool special education teachers on the acceptability, feasibility, and current use of child-specific, peer-mediated, and environmental arrangement intervention strategies for promoting social interaction skills of young children with disabilities. Teachers found all three types of interventions…

Examined impact of three preschool models identified through cluster analysis of teacher-survey responses on 4-year olds' development and basic-skill mastery. Found that children in the child-initiated model demonstrated greater skill mastery than children in programs emphasizing academics and skill instruction. Children in the combination model…

A survey of 500 preschool teachers found a majority view individualized intervention on specific goals to be important for all children, they would like to receive all of the listed forms of assistance from special educators, and they want special educators to be involved in collaborative roles in their classrooms. (Contains references.)…

Current preschool assessments lack the ability to capture performance variance and complex thinking skills. This study examined the relationship among student performance, student feelings, and teacher perceptions as they apply to using a formal performance assessment in a preschool setting. A formal performance assessment was administered to 71…

This practicum paper describes a fantasy play program designed for 3- and 4-year-old preschoolers with Barbie dolls that could be used as a tool in regularly scheduled center play activity. Because of strong biases held by teachers against commercial toys, children were not afforded the ability to experiment with these tools, or discover the role…

In spring 1996, William Rainey Harper College (WRHC), in Illinois, undertook an evaluation of its preschool facilities, or Child Learning Centers, at the main campus and at WRHC's Northeast Center. Telephone surveys were conducted of 21 former student teachers to determine their evaluation of the Centers and of the learning experience the Centers…

In recent years there has been an increasing emphasis on the parent-school partnership, especially in early childhood settings, but the effects on parents are less clear than the beneficial outcomes for children. This study considers two prominent conceptions of the influence processes in family-school partnerships in Israel: an educational…