How can we create high-quality learning environments for children from socially, politically, and economically marginalized groups? How do early childhood programs help to overcome the challenges ...created by poverty? Seeking to answer these questions, The Starting Line delves into the ups and downs of early education programs serving Latinas/os in Texas, using the state as a window into broader debates about academic opportunity and the changing demographics of the United States. Immersing readers in the day-to-day activities of Texas's early childhood education programs, Robert Crosnoe illuminates how significant obstacles can stymie the best intentions. Crosnoe pays particular attention to the complex connections among classrooms, schools, families, and communities, as well as the frequently unfolding interplay of educational philosophies. The result is a story highlighting the promises of early childhood education, the perils faced in attempting to fulfill them, and the degree to which Texas stands at the forefront of some larger movements and lags behind in others. Giving voice to bilingual educators and low-income Latina/o families, this book is a timely exploration of the strengths and needs of what will soon be the largest share of the US child population.
In "Teaching Expertise in Three Countries," Akiko Hayashi shows how teachers from Japan, China, and the United States think about what it means to be an expert teacher. Based on interviews with ...teachers conducted over the span of fifteen years and videos taken in their classrooms, Hayashi gives us a valuable portrait of expert teachers in the making. While Hayashi's research uncovered cultural variations in the different national contexts, her analysis of how teachers adapted their pedagogy throughout their careers also revealed many cross-national similarities. Younger teachers often describe themselves as being in a rush, following scripts, and "talking too much," while experienced teachers describe themselves as being quieter, knowing children better, and being more present. Including a foreword by scholar of early childhood education Joseph Tobin, "Teaching Expertise in Three Countries" provides a foundation for understanding the sequence and pathways of development over the first decade of teaching in three national contexts, demonstrating the value of the field of comparative education in the process.
Listen to a short interview with David L. Kirp Host: Chris Gondek | Producer: Heron & Crane The rich have always valued early education, and for the past forty years, millions of poor kids have had ...Head Start. Now, more and more middle class parents have realized that a good preschool is the smartest investment they can make in their children's future in a competitive world. AsThe Sandbox Investment shows, their needs are key to the growing call for universal preschool. Writing with the verve of a magazine journalist and the authority of a scholar, David L. Kirp makes the ideal guide to this quiet movement. He crouches in classrooms where committed teachers engage lively four-year-olds, and reveals the findings of an extraordinary longitudinal study that shows the life-changing impact of preschool. He talks with cutting-edge researchers from neuroscience and genetics to economics, whose findings increasingly show how powerfully early childhood shapes the arc of children's lives. Kids-first politics is smart economics: paying for preschool now can help save us from paying for unemployment, crime, and emergency rooms later. As Kirp reports from the inside, activists and political leaders have turned this potent idea into campaigns and policies in red and blue states alike.The Sandbox Investment is the first full story of a campaign that asks Americans to endorse a vision of society that does well by doing good. For anyone who is interested in politics or the social uses of research--for anyone who's interested in the children's futures--it's a compelling read.
All children are born with emotional talent. If left untended, those talents can wane during the first five years of life. The book focusses on children's readiness for learning. It addresses the ...natural joy explicit in children's early conversations and engagement with music and their development through play with both adults and other children.
The OECD Starting Strong Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS Starting Strong) is the first international survey that focuses on the ECEC workforce. It offers an opportunity to learn ...about the characteristics of the workforce, the practices they use with children, their beliefs about children's development and their views on the profession and on the sector. This first volume of findings, Providing Quality Early Childhood Education and Care, examines multiple factors that can affect the quality of ECEC and thereby can influence children's learning, development and well-being.
Beyond Early Literacy Taylor, Janet B.; Branscombe, Nancy Amanda; Burcham, Jan Gunnels ...
2011, 20100930, 2010, 2010-09-02, 2010-09-30
eBook
For early childhood classrooms – where curriculum is increasingly shaped by standards and teachers are pressed for time – Beyond Early Literacy offers a literacy method that goes beyond simply ...developing language arts skills. Known as Shared Journal, this process promotes young children’s learning across content areas – including their communication and language abilities, writing skills, sense of community, grasp of diverse social and cultural worlds, and understanding of history, counting, numeracy, and time. Pairing interactive talk with individual writing in the classroom community, this rich method develops the whole child.
Special features include:
sample lesson plans, rubrics, and templates throughout the book
children’s artifacts, including examples of oral and written work
teacher accounts examining the use of Shared Journal in the classroom, including strategies and suggestions
a Companion Website with templates, additional resources, and video clips of in-classroom teaching and examples of exciting ways to use new technologies.
This two-part book is first framed by current theory and research about children’s cognitive, language, and literacy development, and an extensive body of research and case studies on the efficacy of the method. The second part features strategies from on-the-ground teachers who have used the process with their students and explores how Shared Journal can be used with new technologies, can meet standards, and can be appropriate for diverse populations of children. This is a fantastic resource for use in early childhood education courses in emergent literacy, language arts, and curriculum.
Part One: The Child as Learner
1. The Child as Learner
2. The Process of Shared Journal
3. Learning in the Communicative Arts
4. The Reading-Writing Connection
5. Developing the Narrative Voice
6. Learning in the Content Areas
Part Two The Teacher as Facilitator
7. A Study of Cases
8. Meeting Standards and Mandates: A Teacher’s Story
9. Technology and Shared Journal
10. Shared Journal with Special Groups
11. Assessment and Documentation: A Teacher’s Story
12. Teachers as Advocates
Janet B. Taylor is Wayne T. Smith Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Early Childhood Education at Auburn University.
Nancy Amanda Branscombe is Assistant Professor of Early Childhood Education at Athens State University.
Jan Gunnels Burcham is Professor of Early Childhood Education and Fletcher Distinguished Chair of Teacher Education at Columbus State University.
Lilli Land is a recipient of the NAESP National Distinguished Principal Award for Alabama and currently is an education consultant.
Recommended by CHOICE Magazine for upper-division undergraduate, graduate, and research collections.
Early childhood assessment Van Hemel, Susan B; Snow, Catherine E
National Academies Press,
2008, 20081210, 2008-00-00, 2008-11-21
eBook, Book
Odprti dostop
The assessment of young children's development and learning has recently taken on new importance. Private and government organizations are developing programs to enhance the school readiness of all ...young children, especially children from economically disadvantaged homes and communities and children with special needs. Well-planned and effective assessment can inform teaching and program improvement, and contribute to better outcomes for children. This book affirms that assessments can make crucial contributions to the improvement of children's well-being, but only if they are well designed, implemented effectively, developed in the context of systematic planning, and are interpreted and used appropriately. Otherwise, assessment of children and programs can have negative consequences for both. The value of assessments therefore requires fundamental attention to their purpose and the design of the larger systems in which they are used. The book addresses these issues by identifying the important outcomes for children from birth to age 5 and the quality and purposes of different techniques and instruments for developmental assessments. (DIPF/Verlag).
For over 15 years, researchers have described a crisis in early learning classrooms in the United States. Hundreds of children are expelled from child-care programs and preschools every day, a rate ...nearly three times that of kindergarten-12th grade students. While policymakers have taken steps to mitigate this crisis, disparities in who is expelled persist. Boys and Black children are routinely over-represented among those pushed out of the exact environments supposed to help prepare them for school. Each child's expulsion is symptomatic of a larger crisis--an overburdened, underfunded, undervalued, and fragmented early education system. "No Longer Welcome" starts a critical conversation between and across sectors of the early childhood field. Parents, teachers, preschool administrators, researchers, and policymakers all have a role to play in ensuring that all children have the opportunity to be retained in high-quality early care and education settings. Drawing on research and interviews with teachers, program administrators, parents, and policymakers, this book presents a detailed description of the myriad of factors contributing to the expulsion crisis. "No Longer Welcome" offers a compelling argument for the importance of ending the practice of excluding young children and outlines roles that each and every member of the field (from classroom aide to legislator) must play in sustaining this change.
Decades of research point to the need for a universal preschool education program in the U.S. to help give our nation's children a sound cognitive and social foundation on which to build future ...educational and life successes. In addition to enhanced school readiness and improved academic performance, participation in high quality preschool programs has been linked with reductions in grade retentions and school drop out rates, and cost savings associated with a diminished need for remedial educational services and justice services. This 2006 book brings together nationally renowned experts from the fields of psychology, education, economics and political science to present a compelling case for expanded access to preschool services. They describe the social, educational, and economic benefits for the nation as a whole that may result from the implementation of a universal preschool program in America, and provide guiding principles upon which such a system can best be founded.
