Early intervention (EI) and early childhood special education (ECSE) practitioners participating in the Child Outcomes Summary (COS) process must understand age-expected development, the ages at which children typically acquire different skills. This resource provides answers to commonly asked questions about age anchoring as it applies to the COS…

A new book in the Knowledge Essential series, "School Success for Children with Special Needs" offers parents a guide for understanding and navigating the often-confusing special education system to ensure that their children get the best education possible. It tells them: (1) How to know if a child has physical, learning, or emotional…

This guide contains two checklists for evaluating educational materials and classroom activities to ensure that they meet requirements for equity for all students. The first checklist is for teachers and administrators to use when evaluating instructional materials. It asks questions about the depiction of men and women, diverse cultural and…

Suggestions and materials are presented to help analyze the messages about human diversity delivered to young children in day care centers through books, materials, and the environment. Ideas for staff meetings, a newsletter handout for parents, and a book and materials checklist are provided. (BB)

This chapter on collaborating with families is taken from a guide to designing, implementing, and evaluating instruction and services for students with disabilities. The chapter provides information abut values-based, family-centered programs that will involve all families and improve education programs and student outcomes. The tone is meant to…

When studying different types of returns to education, educational reforms are commonly used in the economics literature as a source of exogenous variation in education. The Swedish compulsory school reform is one example; the reform extended compulsory education throughout the country, in different municipalities at different points in time. Such…

This guide is intended to help principals, department chairs, teachers, and other educators who are chairing a mixed gender work group. The first section discusses research-identified differences between the way men and women communicate (both verbally and nonverbally) in groups. A 23-item gender communications assessment, which is designed to…

When children play with a broad variety of toys, the experiences help them to develop to their fullest potential. This booklet is designed to help parents provide the best play opportunities for children. It describes how the toy industry and government work together to ensure toy safety and offers simple charts to guide parents in toy shopping.…

Schools should study the scope and pervasiveness of the diversity in their community and look for collaborative possibilities with other public agencies and organizations. Suggests ideas to help students reach out to cultures, religions, races, and generations other than their own. (MLF)

This document, one of a series for child caregivers working in military care centers, discusses ways of constructing appropriate environments for toddlers. Sections of part 1 focus on recognizing the influence of environments on children's feelings and behavior, coordinating the arrangement of space with the physical and psychological…

One of a series designed for caregivers in military child care centers, this book discusses how to plan and implement an effective environment for infants 6 weeks to 12 months of age. The document is divided into two parts, with selected resources listed at the end. Part 1 outlines some ways to organize and arrange physical space at the center. In…

Guidelines for arranging environments appropriate for preschool-age children are provided in this staff development module, one of a series for child caregivers working in military day care centers. The document is divided into two parts. In part 1, discussion focuses on how environments affect children's feelings and behavior and on ways to…

One of a series written for child caregivers working in military day care centers, this book is about creating environments for "pretoddlers," children 13 through 24 months of age. The book is divided into two parts, with selected resources at the end. Part 1 discusses some ways to organize and arrange physical space for pretoddlers,…

Intended for providers of health education for parents of children from birth to 6 years, these protocols offer guidelines for 11 well-child visits. The schedule of visits is based on the periodicity schedule of well-child visits used by pediatricians with the Child Health and Disability Prevention Program. The color-coded protocols provide five…

This booklet is designed to provide parents of elementary and junior high school students with an understanding the purpose and nature of homework and suggestions for helping their children complete homework assignments successfully. After a discussion of why teachers assign homework, how homework can help children learn, and the optimum amount of…