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…

Research Findings: The present study involved using a questionnaire to investigate the mathematics teaching practices of 74 U.S. and 67 Chinese early childhood teachers. Quantitative and qualitative analyses yielded several key findings. First, U.S. teachers are less intentional in mathematics teaching than their Chinese counterparts.…

The study investigated a relationship between National Board certification and perceived use of developmentally appropriate practices (DAP). A self-developed survey, the Early-childhood Teacher Inventory of Practices, was e-mailed to participants. Participants included 246 non-National Board-certified (non-NBCT) and 135 National Board-certified…

The researchers conducting this study investigated the relationship between early childhood teachers' educational levels and their beliefs about appropriate and inappropriate practices by examining the differences between lead teachers and teacher assistants in publicly funded prekindergarten classrooms. For this purpose, the researchers analyzed…

Research suggests that children benefit from preschool programs only when the programs are of high quality. This study sought to ascertain if Texas public prekindergarten teachers and administrators recognized standards for high quality preschool consistent with nationally recognized standards, and to determine if their level of acceptance was…

A survey of 27 principals, 45 kindergarten teachers, 86 primary teachers, and 57 preservice teachers was designed to determine whether teachers instruct kindergarten children and elementary school students differently. Subjects were asked about benefits of free exploration of materials, child-selected activities, use of props in play, social…

This preliminary study aimed to develop measures that could be used to differentiate kindergartens employing developmentally appropriate and inappropriate instructional practices, and explore the relationship between appropriate and inappropriate practices and stress behaviors of 37 kindergarten children. Four instruments were used to gather data:…

A Q-sort technique was used to determine whether there were appreciable differences between views of appropriate kindergarten programming held by professional organizations, kindergarten teachers, and elementary school administrators. A set of 52 cards with statements regarding kindergarten program components was developed from position statements…

Explored beliefs and practices of Head Start, kindergarten, first-, second-, and third-grade teachers. Found that belief measures were moderately correlated and observed practices supported what teachers reported as their beliefs and practices. Beliefs were significantly more appropriate than practice at every grade level. As grade level…

Six children (5 boys, 1 girl; aged 36-60 months) participated in this qualitative study. Each child was enrolled in a different family child care facility. The authors rated the child care providers in 3 of the facilities as using developmentally appropriate practices (DAP) most of the time and rated the providers in the 3 other facilities as…

This paper presents Rudolf Steiner's maturational readiness theory of human physiopsychology and comments on education in the Waldorf Schools. Discussion asserts that Steiner's concept of human development is complex and that intensive study is required for even a superficial understanding of "the four members of man": the physical,…

Although there is considerable evidence that kindergartners in child-centered programs have more opportunities to increase prosocial behavior and are more internally motivated than children in basic skills programs, the efficacy of child-centered versus basic skills programs with regard to prosocial behavior has not been examined among preschool…

Examined Greek kindergarten teachers' beliefs and practices relative to the National Association of the Education of Young Children's position on developmentally appropriate and inappropriate practices. Administered questionnaire to 67 teachers, and used checklist as an observation measure to check validity of reported beliefs. Found various…

Viewpoints of 119 preservice teachers were examined at beginning or end of programs in early childhood (ECED) or elementary education (ELED). Compared to ELED students, ECED students favored primary education practices more consistent with constructivist nature of NAEYC guidelines in several areas. Student teachers favored more frequent use of…

An initial study revealed that kindergarten children in a developmentally inappropriate classroom exhibited significantly more stress behaviors than children in a developmentally appropriate classroom. Marginal gender differences were noted. Purposes of the study were to determine whether findings from the initial study would replicate if a larger…