The purpose of the U.S. Department of Education's online newsletter "The Education Innovator" is to promote innovative practices in education; to offer features on promising programs and practices; to provide information on innovative research, schools, policies, and trends; and to keep readers informed of key Department priorities and…

Project Early Kindergarten-Early Reading First (PEK-ERF) is a partnership between Saint Paul Public Schools, Wilder Child Development Center, and Bethel University King Family Foundation Child Development Center. The program provides pre-kindergarten education to 3- and 4-year-olds in Saint Paul, and targets those who are low-income, English…

The author shares a story about the positive power of nature in the lives of children, particularly those children who are at-risk for school failure. The setting for the story is the Central Child Development Center (CCDC) in Rock Hill, South Carolina, a public preschool with four-year-old kindergarten students (4K) and preschoolers with special…

This working paper explores the methodology and initial issues raised in seeking to involve young children in the design process. It reports a study concerned with how young children can play an active role in the designing and developing of children's spaces. The focus is on children under 6 years old in early childhood provision. (Contains 2…

This article features the Project of Excellence, a program that was designed to engage families in an interactive community-based school literacy program. The authors discuss how they created the Project of Excellence. Although the goal of the Project was to improve the reading skills of young children, the focus of the Project was directed toward…

THIS IS A REPORT OF A USOE CONFERENCE ON PLANNING PRESCHOOL FACILITIES. THE DISCUSSION COVERED AREAS OF SPACE RELATIONSHIPS, SPACE NEEDS, INDOOR AND OUTDOOR AREAS, AND NEEDS AND ACTIVITIES OF PRESCHOOL CHILDREN. A CHECKLIST OF MAJOR AREAS NEEDED FOR TEACHING AND LEARNING (INDOORS AND OUTDOORS) WHICH HAVE IMPLICATIONS FOR THE PLANNING OF…

Highlights selected construction projects for learning centers, early childhood and development schools, and special purpose educational facilities that have won the Learning By Design Awards for 2001.(GR)

This secondary analysis of the Early Head Start Research and Evaluation Project, a randomized study of program participation of children and families in Early Head Start (that is, enrolled in programming prior to children's first birthdays) investigated sociodemographic (race and ethnicity, income level, and maternal education level) and program…

National Children's Island provides a central place of art, education, culture and heritage for children and a headquarters for national groups whose primary interest is in child development. (For availability see EA 507 194.) (Author/MLF)

Previous studies on the influence of mixed groupings within preschool classrooms have indicated positive effects on childrens development. This study extended earlier findings to determine the effects of socioeconomic diversity within the classroom on the language, cognitive and social-emotional development of preschool children of low-income…

This study reports on research into a Local Authority initiative in York, in North Yorkshire which aimed to establish early education and childcare partnerships between its 51 primary schools and local early-years providers from the community-voluntary and private sectors in close geographical proximity to the schools. The initiative was named…

A citation from the 23rd P/A Awards Program for the design of an educational environment for 160 children between the ages of two and one-half and five years. (Author/MLF)

Discusses briefly new books available on the subject of preschool education. (JF)

At Edmonds Community College (Washington), the Campus Parent Child Care Center, which provides parent education and day care for children from 2-1/2 to 5 years of age, has extended the children's curriculum to include computer science instruction. First, the children are introduced to basic computer terminology, such as "keyboard,""monitor" and…