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…

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,…

Attention to students' socio-emotional, behavioral, and academic outcomes raises important considerations for the psychological well- being of teachers, especially Head Start teachers who often work with underserved families. This scoping review summarizes current literature on Head Start teacher psychological well-being and identifies (1) how…

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…

The early childhood workforce needs to be prepared to support children with disabilities within the inclusive preschool classroom. Early childhood personnel standards and requirements include competencies for supporting children with disabilities and their families. Teacher preparation programs should ensure that preservice teachers engage in…

Teacher educators might consider using high-quality picturebooks as partners to help teacher candidates understand and navigate today's painful world realities. From a critical perspective, these books also have the potential to reflect and shape empathy and action in regard to these difficult situations. This piece includes a rationale for using…

Given urgent need for culturally competent early childhood educators and the strategic encouragement by colleges for students to travel internationally, this analysis focuses on the question: What is the relationship between international experiences and preservice early childhood educators' cultural competence? More specifically, three questions…

Policy makers and early childhood stakeholders across the United States continue to seek policy solutions that improve early educators' instruction of young children. A primary vehicle for attaining this goal is professional development. This has led to an influx of empirical studies that seek to develop a set of best practices for professional…

This article examines the bodies of knowledge that influence and inform the teaching of mathematics methods courses for preservice early childhood teachers, focusing on the U.S. context. In particular, the article reports on an analysis of scholarship published over the last 20 years in four journals (two focused on early childhood education and…

The rigorous and complex demands of a mentor's role are often overlooked during the mentorship of preservice teachers. Mentors have the profound responsibility to be both supervisor and instructor all the while fostering a cooperative, trusting, and supportive relationship. However, many mentors feel unprepared to meet the needs of preservice…

The preservice and in-service predictors of 1,668 Part C early intervention and Part B(619) preschool special practitioners' perceived self-efficacy beliefs are reported. The preservice variables were type of degree (discipline), years of formal postsecondary education, licensure, and participants' judgment of how well their preservice training…

This article compares history chapters in recent introductory early childhood education textbooks with those from an earlier study, reviewing history chapters on four dimensions: the rationale for the study of history, the dominant story of the history, the facts of the history, and the image of the history. Ten textbooks are reviewed, including…

The author combines a literature review with a theoretical analysis of the interface between teacher researchers and Institutional Review Boards in higher education. Maintaining that teacher researchers are "creators of knowledge" (Castle, 2006, p. 2), the article explores the lack of fit between insider research with an emic design and the…

We reviewed 31 articles that explored issues related to gender and sexuality in early childhood education (ECE) settings. This body of literature suggests that ECE programs and elementary schools often reinforce the homophobia, heterosexism, and sexism that characterize contemporary U.S. society. A number of the articles described strategies that…