This manual provides guidelines for early childhood programs and public school systems wishing to establish or formalize a transition process to meet the needs of preschool children moving into the public school system, based on the STEPS (Sequenced Transition to Education in the Public Schools) model developed in Kentucky. The manual begins with…

This paper presents a general rationale for investing in early childhood development (ECD) in Latin America that derives from scientific evidence about the importance of the early years in the formation of intelligence, personality, and social behavior. This rationale argues that the economic returns of ECD programs can be quite high (through…

This third annual Pennsylvania Progress Report is designed to convey to the citizens of Pennsylvania information on how well we are progressing on our road to achieving the National Education Goals. This report has three parts. The first part is a description of the major education initiatives undertaken in 1993 by Governor Casey. The second and…

The primary purpose of testing in early childhood is to identify children who may be at risk for learning problems so they may be placed in appropriate educational environments. Testing is popular because educators take at face value the claim by test developers that using standardized test instruments to classify, retain, or promote children is…

This report provides research-based answers to questions facing families of young, gifted children. Questions include: (1) "what does "giftedness" mean in a very young child?"; (2) "how does one know whether a child is gifted?"; (3) "should my young child be tested?"; (4) "how do adults promote the development of gifted children?"; (5) "does a…

This document reports the findings of the 1989-90 process evaluation of the Saginaw, Michigan school district's state-funded prekindergarten program for 4-year-olds at risk of academic failure. As of January 29, 1990, a total of 255 pupils were participating in the program at 11 sites. The Michigan Early Childhood Education Preschool (MECEP)…

If present trends in family life and education continue into the next decade, most children under five will spend substantial proportions of their early years in various types of early childhood programs, most five- to six-year-olds will attend all-day kindergarten, and during their elementary school years they will spend much of their time before…

This final report documents the findings of a study designed to evaluate the quality and efficiency of early education programs for handicapped children in Louisiana during 1985-86. More than 400 classes in 65 formal programs (residential, home-based, and center-based) serving approximately 5,000 handicapped children ages 3-5 were studied. The…

This bulletin describes a first-grade "readiness program" developed at the Aumsville (Oregon) School District to help children who have been found to be at risk in a standard first-grade program. These students attend a readiness first grade designed to assist their development emotionally, socially, physically, and academically and only…

In accordance with the Basic Skills Assessment Program (BSAP, Act 631), all local school districts of South Carolina are responsible for providing instruction in the basic skills of mathematics, reading and writing to students that demonstrate deficiencies in one or more of these tests. The BSAP represents a comprehensive approach toward…

AN EXPERIMENTAL PRESCHOOL PROGRAM HAS BEEN DEVELOPED, THE PRIMARY OBJECTIVE OF WHICH IS TO HELP THE CHILD TO LEARN THE PROCESS OF LEARNING. ORGANIZED ON THE ASSUMPTION THAT COGNITIVE GROWTH PROCEEDS FROM MOTOR TO PERCEPTUAL TO SYMBOLIC FUNCTIONING, THE PROGRAM EMPHASIZES THE IMPORTANCE OF LANGUAGE AS A TOOL FOR THINKING AND REASONING. AN…

Assuming the premise that "a child has gone fifty percent of the way in organizing the thinking patterns that we call his intelligence by the time he has reached the age of four, and the next thirty percent by the time he is eight," 50 Schenectady kindergarten-through-first-grade teachers and administrators formulated a chart of behavioral…

There are three parts to this bibliography of tests for children aged two to six. First is an alphabetical index of the 89 tests with a graphic display to indicate which tests measure which of the following functions: (1) intellectual functions or attained skills; (2) oral language communication; (3) self-concept, personality, sociability,…

This paper describes the scope and findings of a separately published comprehensive review of research on optimum age of entry into first grade, covering the literature from 1915 to 1976. (Not included was research on reading, the gifted, mentally retarded, and materials in popular journals.) Findings noted the inadequacy of chronological age as a…

COUNSELING IS AN ACCEPTING, TRUSTING RELATIONSHIP DEALING WITH NORMAL CHILDREN AND EMPHASIZING THE COUNSELOR'S SPECIAL ABILITY TO LISTEN, EMPATHIZE, AND UNDERSTAND. THE SETTING OF GROUP COUNSELING PROVIDES EXCELLENT CONDITIONS FOR LEARNING. EFFECTIVE GROUP COUNSELING INVOLVES TREATMENT BY THE GROUP AS WELL AS INDIVIDUAL TREATMENT WITHIN THE GROUP.…