Notes the challenges posed by cultural diversity in the United States. Presents a demographic assessment of factors relating to the schooling of culturally diverse populations, analysis of challenges associated with the growing number of language-minority students who are Hispanic, and conceptual and empirical perspectives precipitating a more…

Discusses the importance of, and issues associated with, developing strong partnerships with the families that early childhood programs serve. Describes resources that recognize the centrality of the relationship between professionals and families and that offer advice on building quality programs that reflect this relationship. (TJQ)

Presents a case study involving a primary grade student who has been caught stealing, offering differing perspectives on how the teacher should handle the situation. Each proposed solution draws on the NAEYC's code of ethics, offers analysis of student's behavior, and makes recommendations for disciplinary action that may or may not involve the…

Examines implications of public interest in findings on brain development for building support for high-quality early childhood education. Discusses how children learn, neural plasticity, and the existence of critical periods. Provides recommendations for parents, caregivers, policymakers, and the public from the Families and Work Institute…

The family strengths approach to parent involvement is based on core beliefs summed up by the concepts of communication, collaboration, and community. Communication involves relationships based on shared responsibility around common goals. Collaboration begins with teacher-parent dialogs around goals for children, later formalized in written…

The Martin Community School Cradle School Project served children in low-income families with the goals of involving parents early in their child's education and establishing communication. Challenges included establishing trust and increasing parent and school personnel awareness of demands on university research faculty. Outcomes included…

Describes the ensuing conflict when the book "Daddy's Roommate" was included as part of the preschool anti-bias curriculum. Discusses parent boycott, letters to parents, board discussions, and formation of a committee to propose solutions. Describes the voting plan based on position statements on both sides of the issue and how creating a ballot…

Based on experience of having two children with multiple learning disabilities, the author offers strategies for parents to help children experience success and excellence in their education: (1) never limit expectations or predetermine the final outcome; (2) explore all interests and abilities for hidden potential; and (3) include children in…

Discusses how H. Heath's (1994) method for planning can be used by parents and teachers before disruptive classroom behavior occurs. Describes planning components, including describing the situation, brainstorming, deciding on options to implement, implementing options, and reflecting upon the result. Indicates that important contributors are…

Describes project on making a book of stories told to kindergartners by their Yup'ik families. After parents told children stories, children retold and illustrated them at school, and created books. They wrote letters to parents, shared stories at an open house, and received copies of the book. Project encouraged home-school partnership and…

Presents the use of cross-age tutoring to enhance literacy in kindergarten students. Covers benefits of the approach in comparison to other methods. Describes tutor and tutee selection, frequency and length of tutoring, tutor training, tutoring session format, evaluation, and problems encountered. Discusses results, including increased emergent…

Describes five basic understandings involved in rational counting: (1) groupings of same or different items may be counted; (2) there is a stable order of the counting numbers; (3) one-to-one correspondence; (4) it does not matter which item is counted first; and (5) the cardinal principle. Discusses the importance of rational counting ability and…

Describes journal writing with first-graders to promote math relevancy. Children brainstormed situations requiring mathematics, wrote about them in journals, and shared journal entries with classmates. After children solved a word problem that the teacher created from journal entries, they wrote their own word problems, worked in pairs to check…

Mills College Children's School uses math journals, conferences, and a "congress" to promote mathematical reflections and problem solving among primary students. The program enhances the ability to explain math problem strategies and solutions orally and the ability to record solution methods and answers and use records for later reference.…

Uses the case of a boy named Franklin, making the transition between free play and a group activity, to illustrate conflict between teachers' respect for individual play and scheduled group activities. Discusses various issues, including differing perceptions of time, closure, and independence; using learning-environment organization for…