This report is one of a series of special booklets concerned with current trends in school policies and programs. The purpose of this particular publication is to provide practitioners at all levels, and others interested in education, with the most up-to-date information on some of the current issues in early childhood education. Individual chapters offer a concise coverage of the debate over early schooling, an overview on some of the state-sponsored and local community-initiated early education programs, a perspective on the changing role of the parent in early childhood educational programs, and descriptions of some of the new approaches to staffing early childhood programs. (CS)