At the earliest grade levels, young Black males, who have been identified by their teachers as "challenging" (in psychological terminology, exhibiting externalizing behavior), have the same disproportionate rate of school suspension and expulsion as their older counterparts (Gilliam, 2005; Lewis, Butler, Bonner, & Joubert, 2010;…

This study found that teachers who were randomly assigned to take a 14-week course on effective teacher-child interactions demonstrated significant changes in beliefs and knowledge about effective practices and provided more stimulating and engaging interactions in the classroom. [This research brief is based on: Hamre, B. K., Pianta, R. C.,…

This study uses the Family and Child Experiences Survey (FACES) data from 1997 to investigate the degree to which child, family, classroom, teacher, and Head Start program characteristics are related to children's school readiness and continued development over the four-year-old Head Start year. Latent class analyses were used to examine the…

According to the findings of a recent European study on competence requirement for the early childhood education and care workforce, competent systems that succeed in achieving high levels of professionalism are embedded in coherent public policies that build on consultation with key stakeholders, particularly at local level. In order to flourish,…

Children's success in learning to read in the first grade is crucial for their ultimate success in schooling. This study aimed at identifying self-declared practices in preschool and first grade in Spain and contrasting these practices with the official recommendations for the initial teaching of reading and writing. A characterisation of the ways…

Standards can aid educators as they work to produce strong student writers who can create meaningful and skillfully crafted authentic pieces of writing. This once-a-month, yearlong professional development program, conducted during the school day, shifted a district's kindergarten writing program to a writing workshop model that enabled the…

This study is the first to examine the effectiveness of the "Fun FRIENDS" programme, a school-based, universal preventive intervention for early childhood anxiety and promotion of resilience delivered by classroom teachers. Participants (N = 488) included children aged 4-7 years attending 1 of 14 Catholic Education schools in Brisbane,…

This study explored whether or not, and how, an on-site and research-teacher community of practice model for professional development addressed the challenges to classroom practices in a Head Start program. Data sources included interviews with teachers, videos of planning and teaching sessions, and the researchers' fieldwork log and reflective…

Research Findings: The purpose of this article is to examine how dimensions of the preschool instructional context predict child-teacher relationship quality. A total of 118 low-income, predominantly Latino/a children and their teachers participated in this study. Children were observed in their 1st preschool classroom. Measures of instructional…

Theory-driven and practice-driven research are often separated, but in this article we shall argue for a research approach that is theory-driven but practice-oriented and shares features with the specific kind of early childhood education pedagogy this research approach has generated, what we refer to as developmental pedagogy (Pramling Samuelsson…

Halgunseth (2009) noted the two most influential environments in which young children develop are their homes and their early childhood programs (p. 56). The unique responsibility of an early childhood educator lies in bringing these two contexts together to create a foundation for a respectful and trusting partnership with a child's family. Thus,…

Student underachievement in kindergarten through Grade 3 continues to be a challenge in the Philadelphia School District. The purpose of this quantitative descriptive correlation study was to examine, using record archives from one Philadelphia school, whether there is a relationship between (a) reading achievement scores for the Dynamic…

In 1994, the federal Early Head Start (EHS) program was created to address the comprehensive needs of low-income pregnant women and children under age 3. EHS was created almost 30 years after Head Start was established in 1965 to serve low-income 3- and 4-year-old children and their families with comprehensive early education and support services.…

The North Carolina Pre-Kindergarten Program (NC Pre-K) is a state-funded initiative for at-risk 4-year-olds, designed to provide a high quality, classroom-based educational program during the year prior to kindergarten entry. Children are eligible for NC Pre-K based on age, family income (at or below 75% of state median income), and other risk…

The purpose of this research was to better understand affordances and constraints of the Candidate Mentor Supervisor Model (CMSM) as experienced by teacher candidates and their mentor supervisors. The results indicated perceived benefits to teacher candidates. Candidates participating in the CMSM reported a sense of nested support within their…