Briefly reviews significant moments in the history of early childhood education and urges that child advocates (1) raise consciousness about the importance of the early years, (2) generate new information to demonstrate program effectiveness, (3) build coalitions of support with other groups working with children, and (4) work to gain public…

Professsional child care is a comprehensive service to children and families that supplements the care children receive from their families. Need for such care will vary quantitatively as a function of demographic characteristics of the family. Child care programs can and do vary in quality, but all must foster the development of the whole child.…

Discusses the need for child care quality assessment by regulatory agencies, researchers, and parents. Examines the usefulness of telephone interviews for assessing child care quality, focusing on research usage, the inclusion of family child care, and generating items for telephone interviews. (Author/KB)

This paper highlights six issues to be faced by practitioners and others working in early intervention programs as they strive to meet parental expectations and achieve increased scientific respect and public acceptance. Issues discussed include the need to: (1) find an acceptable auspice and a nomenclature that communicates to everyone that…

Argues that studies of young children's cognitive, socioemotional, and physical development in group day care generally support the social realities of contemporary family life, including the need for developing high-quality professional infant and child care systems. (HOD)

The concept of deprivation has become very appealing to specialists of many disciplines as an explanation for deviations in human development. This is understandable, since the phenomenon does seem to be a key factor in development, but several technical and methodological considerations hinder immediate efforts at understanding and alleviating…