Within the United States, publicly funded pre-Kindergarten (pre-K) is a borderland of teacher practice--somewhere between early childhood and Elementary approaches to pedagogy. For pre-K teachers, this can mean negotiating many different, and oft-competing conceptions of what curriculum and practice should look like in order to support the…

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…

The purpose of this case study was to examine the play based teaching and learning methods at one particular elementary school in southeastern Massachusetts with the aim of identifying methods and practices that are seen as essential in developing the academic and social skills in kindergarten students. This school of study has been utilizing…

This qualitative case study explored how an infant teacher provided meaningful learning experiences for infants through play and the teacher's educational rationale behind these experiences. Findings were based on multiple sources of data, including classroom observations (natural observation and videotaped observation) for approximately 12 weeks…

This exploratory, qualitative multiple-site case study examined principals' expectations of teaching practices and children's learning for early elementary grade levels (K, 1st, 2nd, and 3rd). Specifically, this study investigated principals' understanding of developmentally appropriate practices regarding instructional methods, curriculum…

With the increased accountability of early childhood programs and the need to carefully document each assessment, teachers need to explore videotaping to enhance observational assessments. Observing children continues to be an effective method for understanding the uniqueness of each child's development. In this article, the authors present a case…

We present a naturalistic case study of one teacher's development of a growth-centered context for classroom assessment. In-depth interviews, analysis of student work, and observations were used to identify the processes this teacher used to engage her students in the assessment process. Data were analyzed using listening guide analysis to garner…

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…

Although many elementary schools have adopted one-to-one programs, we still lack information on how teachers integrate iPads or other tablets into their daily instruction, especially in early childhood settings. The purpose of this case study was to present how four experienced iPad-using early childhood teachers integrated one-to-one iPads into…

This article examines how international organizations promote play-based pedagogical approaches in early childhood settings around the world, and how local educators respond. As a case study, I investigated Sesame Workshop's efforts to introduce play-based approaches in Nigerian classrooms. In addition to producing a Nigerian version of…

The case study aims to provide insights into how a Hungarian EFL teacher used tests, assessed her young learners and gave feedback to them in the classroom. This qualitative, exploratory study was a follow-up to a large-scale project. In this single-case study, data were collected from an EFL teacher and five of her seventh graders on what tasks…

Preparing early childhood teachers for inclusion requires the blending of high quality developmentally appropriate practices with environmental adaptations and individualized instructional practices. This article describes how a field experience was redesigned to incorporate evidence based practices in teaming and collaboration, environment and…

This case study focuses on generalist primary (elementary) school teachers teaching music in an Australian school. With the onus for teaching music moving away from the specialist music teacher to the generalist classroom teacher, this case study adds to a growing body of literature focusing on generalist primary school teachers and music…

This yearlong qualitative multisite case study investigated ways middle and high school transition supports foster a developmentally responsive transition for students. A total of 23 participants engaged in this study, including 4 students, 4 middle school teachers, 13 high school teachers, 1 middle school principal, and 1 high school principal.…

This 3-year case study examined middle grades principal leadership in a takeover charter school. The researcher analyzed principal and teacher interviews, field notes, and documents in relationship to a middle grades model of principal leadership. Results suggest the principals' limited experience, organizational factors unique to takeover charter…