Universal prekindergarten initiatives have increased at the local and state levels. With the goals of supporting children's development and increasing families' access to high-quality, affordable early learning opportunities, prekindergarten programs have gained political support and funding. Approaches to program design and implementation vary…

Successful early childhood inclusion uses multitiered systems of support (MTSS) to support children's development and learning. MTSS is a multitiered, educational, data-based decision-making framework that facilitates collaboration across general and special education to support all learners (Sailor et al., 2018). MTSS implementation requires…

In 2021, California committed to providing universal prekindergarten (UPK) for all 4-year-olds and income-eligible 3-year-olds by 2025-26. UPK includes several early learning programs, including transitional kindergarten (TK), the California State Preschool Program (CSPP), Head Start, and expanded learning opportunities to provide full-day early…

This is a comprehensive, detailed account of the complex state of Universal Preschool (UPK) in the United States. As discussions regarding access, equity, and the societal value of early childhood education enter into the public forum, this book offers critical perspectives for next steps. The authors join the synergy of wonder to the practicality…

Communities are investigating new ways to expand access to high-quality early education. A new early care and education partnership initiative in a mid-Atlantic state offered publicly-funded preschool slots to eligible children in private early childhood programs and provided quality supports to participating private programs. This qualitative…

Experts have heralded domain-specific play-based curricula coupled with regular coaching and training as our "strongest hope" for improving instructional quality in large-scale public preschool programs. Yet, details from different evaluations of the strongest hope model are not systematically compiled, making it difficult to identify…

The purpose of this phenomenological study was to describe kindergarten teachers' experiences with integrating play-based learning into standards-based academic curriculum in a school district in South Carolina. Play-based learning experiences were defined as instances which allow children to engage in active, social learning experiences in…

Family involvement can no longer be considered a luxury but is rather a main component of early childhood programmes. The purpose of this study is to explore the effectiveness of family involvement in early childhood programmes in Jordan. In total, 84 kindergarten principals and 276 teachers participated in the study. To achieve the study…

Authors in this paper present the design and implementation of daily routines in Slovenian kindergartens. Slovenian national document for preschool education, "Curriculum for Kindergartens" (1999), describes daily kindergarten activities (communication and interaction with and among children, use of compliment and reprehension, and rules…

This paper explores the range of ways in which school districts are using Title I funds for early education through kindergarten and examines how the implementation of No Child Left Behind (NCLB) has impacted those investments. It also makes recommendations for local education agencies (LEAs) interested in creating Title I-funded early education…

This report presents a brief history of the Abbott School Construction Program, describes the implementation to date, lays out some current challenges, and outlines lessons learned from the process so far--what is known now about how such an initiative should be planned and carried out. The report is intended to illuminate the complex process of…