Identifies benefits of family involvement in the early childhood classroom for the child, parents, and teacher. Describes barriers to parent involvement: parent availability, parent and teacher awkwardness, schedule conflicts, and school resistance to full parent inclusion. Provides six principles for involving parents in their children's…

Discusses current models of family-professional partnerships and barriers to true collaboration, including turf issues, the nature of trust, expertise differences, and differences in scope of responsibility. Offers recommendations for practice, including questions for self-evaluation. Asserts that as educators change their practice and ways of…

Examines the nature of the relationship between educators and parents of children in public schools, focusing on minority families. Discusses the need for flexibility and adaptability, the value of informal assessment, effective joint parent-teacher problem solving, and family differences and support. Provides options for improving communication…

Uses stories of families in one early childhood program to illustrate educators' challenges to communicate with families whose backgrounds are different from theirs, including low income families. Identifies strategies for supporting and involving families, including using empathy and patience to forge relationships, linking families with needed…

Focuses on children's daily experiences as an important component of assessing the quality of child care programs. Discusses the importance of individual and group engagement to better understand the quality classroom environments and keep track of improvements over time. Presents the Engagement Check II as a measure of group engagement and…

Describes methods and findings of the NICHD Study of Early Child Care. Argues that media focused too heavily on one isolated finding relating quantity of day care to child aggression. Describes the conduct of a steering committee to coordinate study design. Advocates improving child care quality and examines ways to prevent aggressive behavior and…

Synthesizes research findings on how general education, specialized education, and experiences relate to early childhood professionals' teaching practices. Finds that teachers' formal education relates to classroom quality and effective teacher behavior. Specialized education may be causally related to classroom quality and is correlated with…

Describes how early childhood professionals can help young children avoid getting involved with violence or being exposed to violence. Presents information on the ACT [Adults and Children Together] Against Violence campaign, a national, multimedia campaign and a community-based training program developed in partnership by the National Association…

Reprints speech originally given in 1947 to the National Association for Nursery Education (now NAEYC) to reflect on the organization's first 25 years. Speech examines accomplishments of the field, identifies challenges for the future, and recommends steps for the organization and the profession. (KB)

Presents ways parents and other adults can help young children deal with tragedy and violence in the wake of terrorist attacks on the United States. Suggests giving reassurance and physical comfort, providing structure and stability, expecting a range of reactions, helping children to talk if they are ready, turning off the television, and…

Explains concerns about the use of timeout in early childhood settings and the importance of replacing timeouts with guidance to build an encouraging classroom. Offers suggestions for becoming a guidance professional, teaching democratic life skills, and building an encouraging classroom. Suggestions for building an encouraging classroom relate to…

Revisits issues related to self concept development in light of a more sophisticated understanding of cultural influences. Examines the construction of a view of self as independent or interdependent and its impact on socialization and development. Suggests ways for early childhood practitioners to increase their sensitivity to the values and…

Examines experiences of a 5- and 7-year-old entering a U.S. early childhood program in context of child development theory, constructivist philosophy, and the Japanese social teaching model. Urges educators to consider alternatives to "tourist approach" in multicultural education and ways to translate individual differences into learning…

Describes the Cultural Relevancy, Anti-Bias Resource Room at conference of the Washington State Association for the Education of Young Children. Discusses how the exhibit was structured and evaluated; suggests ways to organize a similar resource. Maintains that providing hands-on materials is key to the exhibit's effectiveness and that the exhibit…

Discusses ways early childhood programs can support all children and families, especially multiracial and multiethnic children and their families. Asserts that early childhood professionals need to consult with interracial and interethnic families as well as seek advice and leadership from other early childhood professionals involved in these…