Initiatives aimed at improving STEM education have largely focused on school-based programs, with the majority of STEM professional development targeting primary and secondary school educators. However, there is growing interest in STEM education in the early childhood years. This paper reviews the available evidence to explore the extent to which…

Practicums as part of teacher education are important for teacher students' professional development. Co-operative teachers support students' learning during practicums, but in the early childhood education (ECE) context the work community of the ECE center is also seen as an essential part of the practicum environment. This study investigated ECE…

Young children's communication is dependent upon caregivers' responsiveness to their behaviors; however, little is known about the responsiveness of toddler teachers to children in their classrooms. To increase teachers' responsiveness to children's behavior, a peer-coaching model was implemented in three Early Head Start classrooms. The…

Policymakers' demands for standardization and increased academic achievement have led various stakeholder groups to call for more professional development (PD) in early childhood education and care (ECEC) settings. Federal initiatives and state agencies' quality improvement initiatives also position PD as a key component to improve access to…

Research-supported knowledge about how children develop language is considered foundational for high-quality instruction and as such, measuring and developing teachers' knowledge has been emphasized across the field of early childhood. However, there is a critical gap in understanding how this static knowledge gained through pre-service and…

The article describes a systematic review of 109 studies using the data-informed decision-making framework to understand the sources of assessment data and the main purposes for assessment use among early childhood educators. Findings revealed assessment use is driven by the purposes of measuring and monitoring children's learning and development,…

Continued professional development is important for promoting quality early childhood care and education (ECE) programs. One approach to fulfill this need for professional development is through the creation of a community of practice, which brings together professionals with similar interests. In this investigation, we report the evaluation…

The integration of technology in the classroom has become commonplace in early childhood education; however, promoting outdoor learning is not as emphasized. A wealth of research has documented how young children learn and develop while engaging with technology or outdoor play, but limited literature exists on balancing these learning experiences…

Many within early childhood and early childhood teacher education are concerned about the changed kindergarten. At the same time, students entering early childhood teacher education programs were educated in these changed schooling systems that emphasize standards and accountability, which can impact the ways in which they make sense of teaching…

This study explores common themes in recruitment and retention practices of Latinx undergraduate and graduate students that emerged across interviews of faculty in leadership positions at Institutes of Higher Education (IHE). In-depth interviews were conducted of six faculty holding leadership positions in their early childhood education programs…

This study evaluated the impact of a pilot coaching project that included peer coaching in an early childhood program in the Northeast. A total of 18 coaches provided coaching with 15 teachers. Peer coaches included a participant-selected teacher or a director-selected teacher; program administrators also provided coaching. A one-page coaching…

This qualitative study explores how a group of preservice teachers, all of whom had been well prepared to become primary-grade teachers, made a transition into infant/toddler group care settings. The authors used the teachers' daily journal entries, individual interview, document analysis (course syllabus, weekly planning sheets), and weekly team…

The US Census states that Americans under the age of five are a majority- minority with 50.2% of this population from minority backgrounds. As our country continues to grow as a rich, diverse multicultural nation, it is imperative that early childhood teacher educators prepare future teachers to embrace this diversity and provide experiences that…

Strong family involvement in children's education supports positive academic and social-emotional outcomes. Therefore, developing early childhood (EC) professionals' competence in engaging and involving families in their children's education is emphasized across state licensure requirements, personnel preparation standards, and professional…

Professionals in the field of early childhood are encouraged to demonstrate reflective perspectives of their work supported by pedagogical documentation. The purpose of this article is to introduce a rubric developed for preservice and inservice teachers to improve documentation and reflection. The rubric's four dimensions: visible learning,…