Standards and competencies are critical structural supports for any professional workforce, including early childhood professionals. Workforce capacity building, career progression, and career longevity can be supported by the foundation of consistent competency expectations. Defining and embedding consistent, evidence-based competencies is a…

This is a research report of teaching patterns of critical thinking using the competency-based 3CA (an acronym for the educational practices of Concept maps, Critical thinking, Collaboration, and Assessment) model of classroom instruction to change the grammar of schooling. Critical thinking is defined as the "WH questions": "what,…

Early years education has received considerable attention in recent years, particularly as a result of longitudinal studies that demonstrate the importance of the first few years in a child's development and educational experience. In 2004, a new approach to early years education, the Foundation Phase, was introduced in Wales. This is a major…

Skills developed through qualitative research and community partnerships can be essential for developing education students' cultural competency and understandings about diverse student populations. Toward this end, we developed a qualitative "service-research" project in a teacher education course focused on child development, whereby…

Suggestions are made for using an understanding of child development to ensure fair and constructive competency testing in the first years of school. (JD)

Describes a continuing medical education program designed to provide physicians with the information and skills necessary for early intervention. The model provides competency-based training through an introductory seminar and a program of independent study in the areas of child-find, assessment, Individualized Family Service Plan development, and…