Garden-based lessons are gaining popularity as a means of increasing fruit and vegetable intake among children. The study objective was to pilot test a garden-based preschool curriculum for feasibility and acceptability in Harris County Department of Education Head Start using qualitative and quantitative methods. A total of 103, 3- to 5-year-old…

While the parental involvement field has progressed from asking what the impact of parental involvement is to how we can better involve parents, research has lagged in finding out how sociocultural and class differentials between homes and schools affect immigrant families' interactions with schools. This case study uses ethnographic tools to…

The purpose of this study was to assess changes in children's language skills and parenting stress following participation in the Parent-Child Mother Goose Program (PCMGP). The intervention group consisted of 29 parents (age range 24 to 43 years, "M" = 33.5, SD = 4.1) and 30 children (18 females and 12 males) with ages ranging from 1 to 46 months…

With dual language learners falling behind their same-age peers at the beginning of kindergarten, understanding how school experiences can enhance language learning is critical. This study demonstrates how play among preschool-aged children can foster English language learning. Using an ethnographic approach, one classroom composed of two teachers…

Social factors in the classroom (such as interactions with peers and teachers, talk, observation of others, and presence of peers and teachers) influence engagement, but little is known about the sequence or timing of these social factors with engagement. In this observational study of 12 preschoolers, ages 2-5 years, the influence of the timing…

Early Years Professionals are graduate leaders working with children below 5 years of age, their families and practitioners in early years settings in the private, voluntary and independent sectors and children's centres in England. Their leadership of practice role is central to raising the quality of early years provision and practice. In…

The importance of home-school relationships between parents and practitioners in early childhood settings is widely accepted. This article discusses the effects of the level of involvement and the nature of practitioner-parent relationships in early years settings in England on the basis of a two part study that examined parents' experience of…

This study investigated teachers' experiences of closeness during interactions with children in child care. Structured interviews were conducted with 24 female teachers who were teaching children between the ages of three and five (mean age = 3.9) regarding their conceptions of closeness, and their perceptions of their own and the child's…

This article reports the effects of pre-school quality on children's cognitive and behavioural outcomes at age 11 using a large-scale longitudinal study of 3000+ children in England (EPPE/EPPSE). The ECERS-R and a curricular extension to it (ECERS-E) were used to assess the quality of provision in 141 pre-school settings attended by the children.…

As policy-makers continue to implement early childhood education reforms that frame the field as a mechanism that is to ready children for elementary school success, questions arise as to how the multiple variables in the readiness equation, such as the child, family, and program, are affected by these policies. The instrumental case study…

With increasing numbers of women joining the workforce, there is a need for quality childcare. This project, conducted in Japan and using a large number of participants, sought to standardize an evaluation scale to measure the development of children. The development of children under six years of age (N = 22,819) who are enrolled in childcare…

Childcare policies introduced in England in the last 10 years have created economic tensions within the sector. Having set the scene, this article presents an exploration of the different ways in which childcare providers approach operating their childcare businesses. Drawing on a case study of one Local Authority in England, the article presents…

Many grandparents play a significant role as educators and carers of children in the preschool years. Recently, this role has become the focus of much early childhood research as challenges facing grandparent carers and grandparent-headed households increasingly become an economic and social issue. Using survey data from China we explore the role…

This study examined the multiple factors that contribute to the school readiness and early school progress of children living in an urban disadvantaged area. Structured interviews were undertaken with parents of children who had recently started school to elicit information about those aspects of children's health, and their home and neighbourhood…

Conducting research is an ever evolving process of deepening one's understanding of multiple research concepts and issues. In the research on Head Start that this author and her colleagues conducted under the tutelage of Dr Sally Lubeck, their research team increased their knowledge and experience of research while developing a contextualized…