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…

Presents a view of developmentally appropriate practice that differs from that of the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC). A program that incorporates this view is described in terms of its theoretical perspectives and classroom practices and compared to the NAEYC description of appropriate and inappropriate practice.…

In 2005, an estimated 48 million children aged 0-18 years--12 percent of all children in sub-Saharan Africa--were orphans, and that number is expected to rise to 53 million by 2010. One quarter of all orphans are orphaned because of AIDS, and about 2.6 million children are currently infected with HIV. Untreated, most children born with HIV will…

Stark County is the 7th largest county in Ohio. In 2001 the researchers formed a P-16 Compact and began looking at the accomplishment of two goals: raising the high school graduation rate and increasing the number of students going from high school to college. Then as now, it was important for them to know the context of Stark County in Ohio and…

This paper examines the preschool programs of the Reggio Emilia region of Northern Italy, describing the role of Loris Malaguzzi in the founding of the municipal preschools in the region after the Second World War and discussing the theoretical and philosophical basis of the child-centered, developmentally appropriate, art-centered Reggio Emilia…