Used naturalistic inquiry and context evaluation to examine work of three experienced teachers during a year's implementation of an inclusive kindergarten program involving children who are deaf or hard of hearing. Found that the two kindergarten teachers met about 50%, and that the special education teacher met about 70%, of recommended standards…

Discusses growing recognition of and pressure to improve the quality of early childhood services, and the resulting increased professionalism of practitioners. Considers broadening early childhood professionals' roles to include political action, conference presentations, and professional organization contributions. Concludes that the early goal…

This is the second part of an article that explores key questions about the role of technology in early childhood training, continuing education, and professional development, and identifies issues and challenges of teaching online. This part focuses on specific strategies and effective practices faculty and trainers can use to create a community…

Describes collaborative project between an art specialist and kindergarten teacher to develop take-home art appreciation kits for kindergartners. Discusses benefits of the collaboration for teachers, children, and families. Focuses on aesthetic inquiry approach to the art kits to develop inquiry and critical thinking skills. Describes the kits'…

Describes how the personal narratives of Vivian Paley led one early childhood specialist to surprising insights about the ways young children and adults learn. Focuses on the role of children's storytelling and playacting in supporting thinking, classroom discipline techniques, and using children's thinking to improve one's teaching skills. (KB)

Discusses ways in which preschool teachers can meet the needs of the gifted preschool child in the classroom. (BB)

A relatively context-free method of assessing teacher behavior was tested on nine preschool teachers, five elementary school teachers, and seven remedial teachers in Israel. The context is removed via use of extremely brief (10-second) video clips of teacher behavior, separated into verbal and non-verbal channels. (TJH)

Reminds early care teachers to make quality decisions that keep the child's best interests in mind. Gives several examples of possible parent-school conflicts and guidelines for resolution that keep the child's best interest foremost. (ET)

University faculty members, an elementary teacher, and a school psychologist used bookmatching, an innovative form of action research, to help a kindergartner cope with sexual abuse. The project created dramatic breakthroughs in the student's behavior. His classmates all grew in their knowledge of strategies to apply if confronted by abuse. (SM)

Relates one kindergarten teacher's experiences while participating in a research project on the incorporation of portfolio assessments into student progress reports to parents. (BB)

Describes how Drake University Head Start, the largest Head Start agency in Iowa, provides extensive support for staff and parents in developing high levels of professional competency. Education and employment opportunities are provided through: a parent university; teacher associate/bus associate workshops; employment and tuition waivers;…

Presents strategies to make planning-through-play activities a fun and integral part of the preschool developmental curriculum. Strategies are influenced by a Piagetian approach and an information processing approach that focuses on development of decision making. Specific suggestions are based on a model preschool program in Brookline,…

In a survey of early childhood program directors, teachers, and parents, over 90 percent felt teachers were underpaid and most were pessimistic about prospects for change. Lobbying, media campaigns, and working with employers were cited as effective strategies for improving wages, while walkouts and unionizing were rejected. (AC)

Describes a preschool curriculum unit that includes activities designed to help prepare young children for medical treatment, visits to hospitals, and health care. (BB)

Explores the ideas of teacher Vivian Paley about social justice in the kindergarten classroom. Reviews her book "You Can't Say You Can't Play." Once kindergartners begin to grapple with questions of rejection and exclusion, Paley extends the debate to older children to encourage schoolwide conversations about justice and democracy. (SLD)