This brief is based on the 61-page report of the same name. This paper, commissioned by the Brookings Institution, studies the emergence of the mixed delivery model, in which pre-kindergarten is delivered in community-based settings and schools. It describes findings of a state survey CLASP conducted to understand the policy choices,…

This workshop presents information on mentoring relationships within child care settings. Articles are: (1) "Mentoring Teachers...A Partnership in Learning" (Patricia Scallan-Berl); (2) "The Potential Gains of Peer Mentoring among Children" (Leslie Moguil); (3) "Mentoring Advocates in the Context of Early Childhood…

Asserts that child care providers must collaborate with children's families in order to better understand their culture and their child, and to successfully deal with challenging behavior issues. Addresses: (1) culture definition; (2) culture and identity; (3) cultural differences; (4) seeing culture; (5) child care and school culture; (6) moving…

Discusses steps to building an administrative infrastructure to support high-quality child care, in particular the development of a comprehensive evaluation plan around which measurable objectives can later be assessed against performance. Describes background information needed, situational analysis, collecting current program information, and…

This article explains how educators can use the ecological congruence assessment process for identifying functional goals for young children with disabilities. Process steps include: teacher collects information about functioning in usual classroom activities, routines, and transitions; summarizes the collected information; and shares the…

Wisconsin's Early Childhood Excellence Initiative was a $15 million public policy effort designed in 2000 to increase child care quality for low-income children. An evaluation revealed significant improvement in classroom quality, the quality of caregiver interaction, and caregivers' beliefs about children following a complex multi-faceted…

Offers practical guidelines for directors of child care centers on creating a budget and managing the center's finances. Suggests ways to establish priorities, establish a tuition rate, compute projected monthly enrollment and income, budget variable and fixed expenses, create the final budget, and monitor financial statements. (JPB)

Lists public relations strategies for child care center directors seeking to cultivate relationships with their program sponsors. Suggests ways to identify a public relations message, make the sponsor part of the child care family, become part of the sponsor's family, give public recognition, and share the children's accomplishments. (JPB)

The types of non-maternal child care received by more than 1000 U.S. children were examined from birth to 54 months and related to family selection factors and to child outcomes. Individual children tended to experience a variety of different types of care and not to fit into clear patterns of either stable care types or progressive patterns of…

Teachers have the opportunity to discuss the emotions of children as they occur in the context of the classroom. As such, teachers play an important role in the socialization of emotions of young children. This observational study examines teachers' discussions of emotions in three child care centers. The findings suggest that child care centers…

A recent national survey on the expulsion of preschool children from child care centers reports that centers with access to mental health consultation have lower rates of expulsion than centers without access to classroom-based behavioral consultation. This article uses a series of vignettes from a composite case study to illustrate in…

"Exchange" surveyed members of the Panel of 300, their advisory board of center directors, to find out what questions they would like to address to manufacturers and bus companies for early childhood programs. They then posed these questions to the companies and have presented a representative sampling of their responses in this article.

Measures of quality are now in widespread use across states as part of quality improvement initiatives. For example, many states are currently using global measures of quality that were first developed for research and practice purposes (such as the Environmental Rating Scales) in their Quality Rating Systems (QRSs). Although global quality…

San Diego is the first major city in the United States with comprehensive before and afterschool programs in every public elementary and middle school within its jurisdiction. This "6 to 6" program currently serves both elementary and middle school students in 204 public schools in the city of San Diego. With a strong public endorsement…

Previous research has demonstrated that attending center care is associated with cognitive benefits for young children. However, little is known about the ideal age for children to enter such care or the "right" amount of time, both weekly and yearly, for children to attend center programs. Using national data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal…