Accreditation is a widely accepted indicator of quality in early education and includes many of the components cited in broad conceptualizations of quality. The purpose of this study was to examine whether kindergarten readiness rates differed between Florida child care facilities that were and were not accredited by any relevant national…

This investigation examined the influence of varying levels of Spanish receptive vocabulary and phonemic awareness ability on beginning English vocabulary, phonemic awareness, word reading fluency, and reading comprehension development across kindergarten through second grade. The 80 respondents were Spanish speaking children with no English…

The current English-language research and educational program was driven by an initiative to create a more interactive, theme-based bilingual language education model for preschools in Chengdu, China. During a 2-week teacher education program centered at the Experimental Kindergarten of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Chengdu, China, a team of…

This study investigates the perceptions of 207 college students in early childhood education and child and family studies (future professionals) regarding the role of play in early childhood classrooms. The results indicate that future professionals in their freshman and sophomore years in college held relatively positive perceptions of play in…

The aim of this study was to assess whether children's development benefited from teacher-and child-managed academic activities in the preschool and kindergarten classroom. Extensive systematic observations during four half-days in preschool ("n"?=?8) and kindergarten ("n"?=?8) classrooms revealed that classrooms differed…

In recent years, the Chinese government has initiated a national plan to universalize quality kindergartens for all age-eligible Chinese children. Kindergarten is the main form of early childhood education and care (ECEC) service across China. However, the government faces two thorny issues on the journey toward realizing educational equity for…

The study investigated a relationship between National Board certification and perceived use of developmentally appropriate practices (DAP). A self-developed survey, the Early-childhood Teacher Inventory of Practices, was e-mailed to participants. Participants included 246 non-National Board-certified (non-NBCT) and 135 National Board-certified…

Parent-teacher communication and partnerships are important in children's early years. This study compared goal setting, conducted in English, during Head Start parent-teacher conferences with native Spanish speaking, Latino bilingual, and native English speaking parents and their children's teachers. To understand conference…

This study used an ethnographic research design to explore the perceptions of 27 families with preschool children whose parents or guardians designated themselves as culturally diverse. Multiple data sources were collected over 9 months in the field, including transcripts of focus group meetings and individual parental interviews, preschool…

The purpose of this study was to examine how 28 kindergartners in two half-day classrooms from a rural midwestern school monitored and self-regulated their understanding of texts (fiction and nonfiction) while reading. Three different interviews (fall, early spring, and late spring) were conducted while the children read from one of two…

Educational policy is often developed using a top-down approach. Recently, there has been a concerted shift in policy for educators to develop programs and research proposals that evolve from "scientific" studies and focus less on their intuition, aided by professional wisdom. This article analyzes several national and international educational…

As policymakers and early childhood advocates across the United States continue to promote the expansion of early childhood education to prepare students for success in elementary school, many within the field are worried about how these reforms will affect the field. Little is known as to why early education stakeholders would seek out…

This study was designed to gain insight into how early intervention (EI) services incorporate the cultural and linguistic resources of families and how EI professionals and families build partnerships with each other. Through observation and interview, the author looked deeply at the experiences of a small group of culturally and linguistically…

The purpose of this research was to examine the moderating role of sibling relationship quality in the associations between shyness and indices of socioemotional adjustment in an early childhood education context. Participants were 79 children ages 4 to 6 (M = 4.74 years) who had at least one sibling. Parents completed ratings of child shyness,…

This study investigated the home literacy environments (HLEs) of 4-year-old children attending an early childhood program prior to school entry and the association between the HLE and children's interests in and attitudes to literacy. One hundred and thirty-eight parents and 140 children participated in the study. Parents completed a questionnaire…