As the number of publicly funded early childhood education (ECE) programs increases, policymakers will need empirical evidence to justify the taxpayer investment. Such justification will require a stronger understanding of the essential components of an ECE program's design, as well as solid evidence on which components, or constellations of…

Study abroad programs offer a unique opportunity for students to immerse themselves within different cultural backgrounds as they continue to further their education. By experiencing this first-hand, in-service and pre-service educators are better prepared to address diversity issues within their classrooms. The "Handbook of Research on…

The purpose of this paper is to propose a framework for conceptualizing and assessing fidelity of implementation (FOI) in the context of a cluster-randomized design study. A research-validated mathematics curriculum for preschool children called Numbers Plus is used as an example to describe the role of curriculum implementation fidelity in the…

High-quality pre-K that really improves children's outcomes--that's the goal early childhood professionals will work toward with this groundbreaking text, the first volume in the NEW National Center for Research on Early Childhood Education (NCRECE) series. Combining the most current knowledge of top researchers, policy makers, and federal and…

Most early care and education teachers are not required to have attained a bachelor's degree (BA) prior to working with young children. Because of the research base demonstrating that teachers with a BA specifically related to early childhood play an integral role in the provision of high-quality early care and education, there have been…