In 1998 a group of American adoptive parents led by Jenny Bowen created Half the Sky Foundation (HTS) to provide nurturing care and education for children living in Chinese orphanages (known as children's welfare institutions). Jenny, a former screenwriter and film director, and her husband Richard wanted to ensure that the children still waiting…

The early childhood years (conception to age 8) are not only the most critical time for human growth but also for development and learning. Neurological and behavioral scientists document how inadequate stimulation and interactions can disrupt basic neural circuitry and cause long-term challenges for child's cognitive development. Yet, despite the…

Describes a training program for early childhood program directors in Israel. The program focuses on leadership training and is based on the belief that the growth and development of children and their families depends on the home, the educational setting, and the community at large. (CM)

Describes the work and organization of the Center, which focuses on strengthening the capacity of child care and Head Start programs to improve social and emotional outcomes for young children. Specifically examines two main activities: creation of a series of What Works Briefs and development of a set of comprehensive training modules. (SD)

When a Virginia-based international consulting company extended its early education services to India, a model of collaborative, interactive training--Training of Trainers--was born. To apply the principles of quality early childhood education in India, training must be meaningful, sustainable, and relationship based. In this article,…

Describes an approach used in Ramsey County, Minnesota to improve quality of family day care. (CM)

Hyson briefly describes a number of national fellowships sponsored by professional associations, foundations, and government agencies-some intended for early career professionals, others for mid-career professionals, and still others for graduate students.

Describes a family day care program designed to enable day care mothers to become professional child development workers. Factors which facilitate this development are elaborated: recruiting and selecting day care mothers; preservice and inservice training; use of consultants; and some administrative considerations. (CS)

Describes an inservice teacher education project designed, over a period of 3 years, to upgrade the quality of care provided to children in 10 day care centers in a six-county area of southwestern Wisconsin. (RH)

Describes the Home-Based Child Care Program, an initiative to improve child care quality by providing training to kith-and-kin caregivers and to family child care providers in three New York City low-income immigrant communities and by expanding local employment opportunities. Notes that the program achieved its primary goals, providing…

Describes the design, implementation, and impact of the Mobile Training for Directors of Day Care Centers (MTDDC) Program, a program that was created to provide directors with information to improve their administrative and organizational skills. (Author/RH)

Examined the impact of a two-year leadership training program that used a problem-centered and site-specific curriculum for program directors to improve the quality of 14 early childhood programs in the Chicago area and to increase the number of programs receiving accreditation from NAEYC. Found that administrators expanded their repertoire of…

Describes the Child Development Associate program, administered by the Council for Early Childhood Professional Recognition. (BB)

Maintains that appropriate staff training for family and child care center providers is critical in providing services to special needs--disabled--children, and outlines briefly a course designed to provide such training offered by Montgomery College in Montgomery County, Maryland. (BB)