This qualitative case study explored how early childhood teachers' beliefs and practices influence the function of preschool outdoor play. Teachers believed that supervision was paramount. They perceived that the physical design of the outdoor environment posed limitations for planning, preparation, and implementation. Teachers'…

Recent surveys have provided some guidance and recommendations for the student teaching component in early childhood teacher preparation, but specific information on the focus of supervision and evaluation of student teachers is limited. The current study surveyed 128 early childhood programs in 2- and 4-year institutions of higher education…

The articles in this special issue make clear that the field of early education is characterized by a breadth and depth of knowledge unimaginable 200 years ago, even to someone as exceptional as Elizabeth Peabody. This radical feminist used early 19th-century ideas of the "woman's sphere" to suggest that a career in early childhood education was…

The aim of this article is to describe how field studies can be useful in teacher education. While participating in a specialty area called "Play, learning and development," student teachers collected data about their own and young children's experience and perception of the outdoor environment. They observed, carried out interviews from a…

Case analysis is often used in early childhood teacher education as a constructivist method for developing students' professional skills and knowledge. Although case-based instruction is popular, the professional literature contains little empirical evidence that it effectively helps students develop professional knowledge. Indeed, some empirical…

Teacher research served as both the content and frame of analysis for this study. Parallel teacher research projects took place over the course of a year as preservice teachers engaged in their first experience with teacher research as part of an infant-toddler development course and the first author (their instructor) engaged in teacher research…

Preparing early childhood education (ECE) and early childhood special education (ECSE) professionals to work with young children with and without disabilities entails the acquisition of content, its application, and opportunities for reflection. This article describes a component of an ECSE assessment course focusing on the logistics and process…

Disadvantaged children--those in poverty, minorities, or whose first language is not English--often come to kindergarten several years behind their more advantaged peers, especially in the areas of literacy and oral language development. A logical place to begin making a difference in children's literate lives is in the years before kindergarten.…

The No Child Left Behind (NCLB) legislation has increased the academic expectations for kindergarten children. Where kindergarten was once a place for children to learn to socialize through play, many kindergarten classrooms have become replicas of first grade with children sitting at desks completing worksheets, learning to sound out words, and…

In this article, the author describes a service learning experience that allowed university students to work with culturally and linguistically diverse children as a partial requirement for an introductory level course in Early Childhood Education. Data from the journals and case studies indicated that preservice teachers benefited from this…

The increasing diversity of students and the pedagogical issues that such differences bring to the classroom is a challenge for early childhood teacher education programs today. In the early childhood education classroom, culturally and linguistically diverse teachers are sought after, yet these same diverse teacher candidates find it difficult to…

The Quality Child Care Initiative, the federal apprenticeship program applied to the field of early care and education, has been implemented in over 40 states. This federal initiative was designed to reduce turnover, increase wages, provide a more stable environment for children, and lower the concern of parents. Rhode Island received funding in…

Empirical studies of early childhood educators' experiences with learning and implementing positive guidance skills are absent from the extant literature. This study explored this topic with 63 junior and senior level university students who were involved in concurrent instructional lecture and practicum experiences. Participants defined "positive…

While early childhood education programs seek to provide the tools to work with children and explore content, many fail to address the social and emotional contexts in which early childhood education occurs. This is evident in the seldom addressed topic of collaboration between lead teachers and assistant teachers in the early childhood classroom.…

This article describes the independent study project of a student who was a graduate assistant in a child development laboratory preschool when Hurricanes Katrina and Rita struck the Gulf Coast area. Through her experiences with "Project Katrina" she deepens her understanding of developmentally appropriate practices as she learns firsthand about…