For a great portion of the history of the American education system, multiage education was the norm in one-room schoolhouses throughout the nation. The current graded, curriculum-centered approach in the U.S. appeared during the mid-nineteenth century with the rapid economic development and massive immigration into the country. Concurrently, some…

In the Early Childhood Education (ECE) field, the term Developmentally Appropriate Practice, otherwise known as DAP, has been defined many times and many ways. One aspect of DAP that has received recent attention is environment. Because of the accountability emphasis of the No Child Left Behind Act, environment is generally being approached in a…

Kindergarten has changed significantly in the last two decades: children now spend more time being taught and tested on literacy and math skills than they do learning through play and exploration, exercising their bodies, and using their imaginations. Many kindergartens use highly prescriptive curricula geared to new state standards and linked to…

One way to help preservice teachers to articulate and advocate their teaching stance is by developing their knowledge, skills, and confidence in their ability to carefully, didactically, and strategically plan for instruction. The Integrative Research Project (IRP) is a planning process that enables the preservice teacher to incorporate not only…

The purpose of this position statement is to promote excellence in early childhood education by providing a framework for best practice. Grounded both in the research on child development and learning and in the knowledge base regarding educational effectiveness, the framework outlines practice that promotes young children's optimal learning and…

In this article, the author proposes to offer a glimpse into the practical challenges of teaching literacy in a public school setting where students enter classrooms at various stages of reading readiness. The author begins with the case of Kahea, a kindergarten student reading at an emergent literacy level, as an illustration of some of the…

The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) has ushered in an era of increased accountability and assumed universal proficiency at a time when there is significant variability in children's abilities as they enter kindergarten. Despite NCLB's emphasis on the use of evidence-based practices to improve students' achievement, it explicitly recommends grade…

With public demand and recent federal legislation calling for high standards and improved student performance, virtually every state in the nation has created and administered statewide tests that measure student progress over time. The requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 will result in increased use of these tests. After careful…