High-quality care in the earliest years of life has been shown to relate to positive developmental outcomes for children, including improved early academic skills, social-emotional competencies, and cognitive functioning. Unfortunately, the early care experiences of many children are not always high quality; rather, research suggests that…

This document supplements the advice given in "How good is our school?" (HGIOS)--third edition and "The Child at the Centre"--second edition which set out comprehensive quality frameworks and provide helpful advice on the process of improvement through self-evaluation. In particular, this document provides advice on the…

In fall 2003, the Head Start Bureau began implementing the Head Start National Reporting System (NRS) to systematically assess the early literacy, language and numeracy skills of all 4- and 5-year-olds enrolled in Head Start. In addition to child progression on a designated set of outcomes during the year preceding kindergarten, the data will…

This volume contains 17 articles on the emergence and potential of "Quality Improvement" (QI) efforts in higher education. Quality Improvement is defined as continuous improvement of processes in a cycle of plan (administration of instructional processes), do/check (assess), act (on the assessment and then continue to), plan-do-check-act. The…

Provides direction to child care center directors in conducting a climate survey which can indicate quality and staff morale problems with measures of motivation, commitment, satisfaction/dissatisfaction, responsibility, and staff concerns. Presents advice on the construct, administering, interpretation, and reporting of findings to avoid serious…

This collection of articles of international appeal on the future of vocational and technical education and training begins with an introduction by William Hall and includes the following papers: "New Vocationalism in the United States: Potential Problems and Outlook" (Benson); "Learning within a Work Context: Training Concepts,…

This article presents the most recent results of a comparative review of early childhood education and care carried out by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Founded in 1961 and based in Paris, OECD is one of the world's most important sources of statistical, economic, and social data. Based on reviews in the…