Research Findings: The present study investigates both the proximal processes and contextual influences on children's oral language development in preschool. We examine whether teacher language practices vary across activity settings and program type, which teacher language practices predict children's oral language skills, and potential…

The emphasis on social-emotional competence and its importance to positive academic and nonacademic outcomes has led to a focus on identifying and implementing effective practices for supporting young children's social-emotional competence. Our work to identify, validate, and support the fidelity of implementation of evidence-based practices to…

The emphasis on social-emotional competence and its importance to positive academic and nonacademic outcomes has led to a focus on identifying and implementing effective practices for supporting young children's social-emotional competence. Our work to identify, validate, and support the fidelity of implementation of evidence-based practices to…

This article describes some of the extraordinary accomplishments of the second cohort of states to participate in the Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health Financing Policy Project (IECMH-FPP). The purpose of the IECMHFPP is to support states' advancement of IECMH assessment, diagnosis, and treatment policies that will contribute to the healthy…

This study provides preliminary evidence for reliability and validity of the Hawaii Early Learning Profile Strands 0-3 (HELP Strands 0-3), an assessment instrument for young children. First, the degree of interobserver agreement for a sample of representative HELP items was examined; results indicated that HELP scoring was dependable and…

In 2009, the Tennessee Professors of Middle Level Education (TPOMLE) examined how Tennessee schools implemented the middle school concept. Of concern was the impact that emphasis on accountability and achievement had on the middle school concept which emphasizes the development of the whole child. A survey was developed based on the tenets of…

Over a decade ago, Bredekamp asserted (1996) that the field of early childhood education lacked a research base to document the effectiveness of approaches to producing highly skilled and effective early educators. The National Center for Research in Early Childhood Education's (NCRECE) Course and MyTeachingPartner (MTP) Coaching were developed to…

The goal of this study was to examine developmental change in visual attention to dynamic visual and audiovisual stimuli in 3-, 6-, and 9-month-old infants. Infant look duration was measured during exposure to dynamic geometric patterns and Sesame Street video clips under three different stimulus modality conditions: unimodal visual, synchronous…

Three experiments that demonstrate a novel constraint on infants' language skills are described. Across the experiments it is shown that as babies near their 1st birthday, their ability to respond to talk about an absent object is influenced by a referent's spatiotemporal history: familiarizing infants with an object in 1 or several nontest…

Care Quality Rating and Improvement Systems (QRISs) have advanced and matured, a number of states and localities have undertaken evaluations to validate the systems. Such efforts stem from the desire to ensure that the system is designed and operating in the ways envisioned when the system was established. Given that a central component in a QRIS…

This study explored the impact of using best practices identified in previous studies in designing age-appropriate websites for middle and high school youth. Utilizing a mixed-method approach, 31 middle and 22 high school youth took part in six focus groups across four states. Participants were introduced to a website specifically designed for…

A critical issue facing the nation today stems from the fact that many classroom teachers in Early Childhood Education lack adequate training. This deficit in the professional education of teachers impacts outcomes for children every day. This article discusses the establishment of a training system that has impacted Early Childhood education in…

This hearing serves as a first in a set of hearings focusing on early learning. In his opening statement, Senator Tom Harkin, Chairman of the Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, strongly encouraged members of this committee on both sides of the aisle to hold roundtables and have discussions on early learning in their local…

This study is a secondary analysis of a statewide sample of licensed family child care providers in the Tennessee Child Care Evaluation and Report Card Program ("N"?=?1,145) that describes the general quality of family child care programs in the state and examines the relationships between provider education and global quality. Study…

This paper makes a fundamentally simple line of empirically supported argumentation. The increasing demands for high level student learning can best be achieved by the use of the substantive research evidence of the past decade demonstrating that developmentally oriented instruction facilitates academic, behavioral, and social performance. Most…