Middle school scholars periodically lament the lack of holistic implementation of the middle school concept (Alverson et al., 2021; Dickinson & Butler, 2001; Lounsbury, 2013; Schaefer et al., 2016). The results of a case study conducted in Alberta, Canada (Rheaume, 2018) are compared to a recent examination of the current status of middle…

We might call this decade the era of early childhood. In the US, federal and state governments invest in the creation of public pre-kindergarten (preK) programs and create standards that articulate goals for practice and benchmarks that can be used to evaluate success. How have these trends provided a context for the evolution of preK curriculum?…

The field of early childhood education (ECE) is currently unable to reach consensus on the extent to which ECE should be based on child development. One manifestation of this situation is the dilemma that early educators purportedly face between teaching the whole child and the curriculum, between developmentally appropriate practice (DAP) and…

Although the number of homeschool students in the United States has increased to approximately 2 million K-12 students as of spring 2010, there has been limited research on homeschool families and physical education. In particular, investigations of parent perceptions of homeschool physical education programs are lacking. The purpose of this study…

Using computers and keyboarding skills for written communication have been common adaptations recommended by occupational therapists which are now important for all students. We used a quasi-experimental, pre-test/post-test design to examine the effectiveness of a developmentally based curriculum, Keyboarding Without Tears®, as compared to free…

This chapter summarizes the results of nearly 100 years of research on school-based social and emotional learning (SEL). The SEL field has grown out of research in many fields and subfields with which educators, researchers, and policymakers are familiar, including the promotion of social competence, bullying prevention, prevention of drug use and…

With growing emphasis on the development and use of competencies (knowledge, dispositions, skills) for training and evaluating the early childhood workforce, this study aimed to identify sources of variation in undergraduate students' beliefs and knowledge related to competencies identified by the Collaborative for Understanding Pedagogy for…

Background/Context: Early childhood education joined the standards movement in 2002 with the Good Start, Grow Smart initiative (Brown, 2007), with advocates arguing that standards were a tool for creating more continuity and coherence in PreK systems (Bowman, 2006; Kagan 2012). Critics posed concerns about a perceived poor fit between…

Parents and non-parental adults who interact with children influence child development. This study evaluates the knowledge of child development in two large and diverse samples of adults from Alberta in 2007 and 2013. Telephone interviews were completed by two random samples (1,443 in 2007; 1,451 in 2013). Participants were asked when specific…

Cultivating students' design abilities can be highly beneficial for the learning of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) concepts, and development of higher-order thinking capabilities (National Academy of Engineering and National Research Council in STEM integration in k-12 education: status, prospects, and an agenda for…

Stimulus overselectivity refers to maladaptive narrow attending that is a common learning problem among children with intellectual disabilities and frequently associated with autism. The present study contrasted overselectivity among groups of children with autism, Down syndrome, and typical development. The groups with autism and Down syndrome…

This article presents an evaluation of the first 2 years of a research-based summer learning program that provided self-selected and developmentally appropriate books to students in low-income and low-resource elementary schools by a local philanthropic organization in a large urban district. The evaluation found evidence of a positive effect of…

This study examined the developmental profile of male infants with fragile X syndrome (FXS) and its divergence from typical development and development of infants at high risk for autism associated with familial recurrence (ASIBs). Participants included 174 boys ranging in age from 5 to 28 months. Cross-sectional profiles on the Mullen Scales of…

Despite the number of deaths that occur worldwide each year and their negative effects on school-aged children and teenagers, teachers and school psychologists report not being properly prepared to assist grieving students (Adamson and Peacock, "Psychology in the Schools," 44, 749-764, 2007; Pratt et al. "Education," 107,…

The objective of this study was to examine the different development characteristics of gifted children during the preschool period in comparison with normal developing children according to family observation. For this purpose, face-to-face interviews were carried out with the parents of 112 children identified as gifted and data regarding the…