Many Grade K-5 teachers in the United States do not receive the mathematics support they need from the professional development (PD) activities offered by their school districts. The purpose of this qualitative research was to explore the perceptions of Grade K-5 teachers on the PD activities they received from their school district to support…

The first year of teaching has and continues to be fraught with challenges for early educators in public school contexts across the United States. A persistent problem that has been documented across the globe is the ability of novice teachers to engage in developmentally appropriate practices (DAP) with their students. We examine this issue…

Graduation rates and standardized test scores are common indicators to measure student academic achievement. These indicators have revealed a gap between two socioeconomic cohorts of students in kindergarten through 12th grade. Students attending high-poverty schools have lower academic performance than students attending low-poverty schools. As a…

In this study in which case study -- one of the qualitative research methods -- was used, it was aimed to assess the effects of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic on preschool education by teachers. Preschool teachers working in 14 provinces where the number of cases is high form the universe of the study. Sample group is 140 teachers in…

This study explored male teachers' perceptions of their roles in early childhood education and their beliefs about their own professional development in shaping their careers. Although the participants' experiences are strongly influenced by strict gender roles in China, they appear to be consistent with the experiences of men across the globe.…

With the poverty cycle continuing and many communities facing an increased number of lower socioeconomic status (SES) families, it is essential to understand the perception teachers have regarding students living in poverty and how teachers' life experiences may differ from those of students who come from lower SES families. Many constructs,…

This paper argues that whilst inclusive education in early childhood is gaining wider acceptance in the equity and diversity movement, the value and contribution of educators' voices about what is working and challenging are frequently ignored. This small-scale research explored five early childhood educators' understandings and experiences of…

The field of publicly funded early childhood education continues to evolve into a discipline in which early educators are expected to teach a more culturally and linguistically diverse student population a standardized set of knowledge and skills so that they can meet policymakers' academic achievement requirements. This creates a range of…

The pendulum is shifting from teacher-directed approaches in childhood education towards child-directed learning where developmentally appropriate practices (DAP) inform curriculum and instruction. This study explored the perspectives of teachers and administrators towards the supports and barriers of DAP and play in Transitional Kindergarten (TK)…

Based on the recommendations of the K-3 Assessment Think Tank, an assessment design team consisting of current and former educators and early childhood education scholars developed a kindergarten entry formative assessment (KEA) which was piloted in 193 classrooms during the first 60 instructional days of the 2014-2015 academic year. North…

Emphasis on continuing professional development is seen as an important aspect of educational reform at all levels of education. In recent years, a number of colleges and universities have established partnerships for the professional development of teachers at the elementary and secondary levels. However, there have been few partnerships within…

Kindergarten teachers are being asked to deliver differentiated small-group literacy instruction. The problem is managing the independent work being done by the rest of the class during the literacy period. Research on early childhood development and literacy indicates that the classroom environment plays an important role in supporting student…

Accountability systems have important implications for schooling. Missing from discussions about their implementation, however, are ways they affect teacher responsibility. Responsibility has been insufficiently explicated in the education literature, including its impact on teacher motivation, emotion, and behavior. We propose that a…

Well-educated staff consists of multidimensional experts, and this staff is one of the strengths of the Finnish day-care system. The aim of this article is to clarify the development of the expertise of those early childhood educators who have qualified as kindergarten teachers. The data consisted of the early educators' stories (n = 80) of their…

This study was designed to explore how Korean preschool and kindergarten teachers understand teacher research and utilize it in professional development. Two teachers, two site directors, and one district supervisor were interviewed in South Korea. Data were collected in multiple ways: (1) open-ended individual interviews; (2) participants'…