Transforming schools to ensure every student has the opportunity to learn requires innovation at the teacher education level. The goal of inclusion is complex, and so it is critically important to prepare teachers to lead organizational change that will increase engagement and achievement of children with diverse learning abilities.

Around the world, dedicated professionals are implementing innovative programs to improve access to quality education for children living in poverty and otherwise marginalized communities. This article provides an overview of the work being conducted by BRAC, an international development organization based in Bangladesh that is working to…

Sometimes, innovation means recognizing and acknowledging when an approach needs to be refined and expanded in order to reflect new understandings about ourselves and society.

While inclusive education has been part of the education system for a long time in the United States and elsewhere, it is an innovative approach just starting to be established in some countries around the world, including Burkina Faso.

The first issue of "Childhood Education," published in 1924, included an article by the eminent physician, Arnold Gesell. In the article, "The Significance of the Nursery School" he advocated for early childhood education, indicating its importance for both promoting the development of young children and supporting and…

Improving education equity and quality is a major focus of global developmental movements. Within that overarching goal, educators and advocates around the world are working to ensure children with special needs receive a quality education. For many, this means pursuing programs of inclusion. The author of this article uses the tools of education…

This article addresses a question that is of key importance in preparing early childhood personnel, especially those in inclusive environments: "How do we teach in ways that we want our students to teach?" There is an emphasis on developing a "community of practice" where professionals can share their work-related concerns and…

As an early childhood professional, this author spent the first 17 years of her career as an advocate for children and their families. With an advanced degree in early childhood special education, she learned about the pitfalls and triumphs of special education. After leaving the classroom and entering the world of academia in teacher education,…

Currently, students in early childhood special education programs experience social isolation. To ameliorate the inappropriate behaviors that often contribute to this isolation, it is imperative that educators begin to include instruction in appropriate social interaction in the general education early childhood curriculum for children with…

The role of culture in children's development and in early intervention/early childhood special education practices has been ignored in the United States until recent years (Coll & Magnuson, 2000), with the values of the Anglo American culture dominating. Among the cultural characteristics of families, parental perceptions in connection with…

Early childhood educators are facing the challenge of creating quality educational programs for young children from an increasingly diverse mix of racial and cultural backgrounds. Programs that, in the past, have largely ignored the diversity of their participants must re-examine approaches that emphasize the universality of linear lists of…