Describes a study of the effects of violence on elementary students which used the television program Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, and found increased aggression which parents should be concerned about. Offers suggestions for parents and teachers, including taking action against violent programming, utilizing technology which bans unwanted…

In an effort to address issues concerning credentialing early childhood directors, explores career decisions and provides a framework for understanding the growth and development of director competence through the career cycle. The career cycles of beginning, competent, and master directors, and the growth and change which occur, are detailed.…

Argues that teachers play a major role in guiding children toward responsible anger management. Addresses what researchers know about the development of children's feeling, expression, and understanding of anger. Examines factors contributing to managing anger including memory, language, and self-referential and self-regulatory behaviors.…

This column, the last in a series of articles dealing with partnerships in educating young children, focuses on partnerships developed with communities. Examples of the importance of community partnerships--including provision of comprehensive services to meet student interests--welfare reform issues, and the need to be politically active are…

This annual report provides strategies for improving the quality of early childhood programs. Describes changes in early childhood education, changes affecting National Association for the Education of Young Children's (NAEYC's) capacity, and adapting NAEYC's existing strategies and launching new ones. Contains a 1996-97 financial summary of…

Presents an ecologically based training model to guide parents and teachers in reflecting on family involvement in early childhood programs. The two-phase process involves developing a philosophy of family involvement through brainstorming, identifying family involvement themes, and creating a philosophical statement, and examining roles shared by…

Explores the complexities of making teachers' work more visible to mothers of kindergartners, through focusing on one day's events as seen by their teacher and a university professor. Considers teachers' fear that parents will witness their mistakes and teachers' wish to maintain dominance over parents in the educational hierarchy. (KB)

Uses a psychoanalytic approach to examine effective ways to articulate concerns to parents about their child's difficulties. Presents methods for developing trusting relationships, planning prior to the conference, conducting the parent-teacher conference and post-conference follow-up, and meeting teachers' concerns. Describes two situations in…

Discusses implications of cultural influences on child rearing for teachers' communication and caregiving routines in early childhood settings. Highlights the Parent-Teacher Dialogue Project (San Francisco Bay area) to encourage open dialog between parents and caregivers, which has resulted in increased awareness of the impact of teachers'…

Examined quality of infant/toddler and preschool child care centers. Found that although overall program quality was mediocre at best, accredited programs scored better than nonaccredited programs. Preschool classrooms needed improvements in cultural awareness, child privacy, and furnishings for relaxation. For infant/toddler programs,…

Describes the look/listen approach and the look/talk approach of the language experience method of early reading instruction. Suggests guidelines for early literacy development that integrate these approaches through the use of trained classroom volunteers. Identifies resources for implementing the integrated literacy approach. (KB)

Describes the incorporation of math concepts into snacktime for prekindergarten students through a self-serve center with a snack menu. Children gain experience in counting, sequencing, and measuring continuous quantities; understand the concepts of sets, uniform units, more and less, equal quantities, fractions, zero, and patterns. (KB)

Discusses use of monthly themes to making "sharing time" a central part of the preschool and primary curriculum. Reading picture books, sharing songs, and planning classroom activities are used to integrate the themes into all curricular areas. Discusses the developmental appropriateness of this practice and presents two examples of themes,…

Describes a preschool classroom project intended to explore cotton and wool production. Describes the planning process, project implementation and evaluation, collaboration with other teachers, additional fiber-related center activities, and how the project provided opportunities for work in many curriculum areas. The fabric project concluded with…

Reviews research on three issues related to the first edition of the developmentally appropriate practice (DAP) guidelines of the National Association for the Education of Young Children: (1) the prevalence of DAP; (2) teachers and parents beliefs about DAP and influence of beliefs on practice; and (3) how appropriate and inappropriate practice…