Democracy is a most accepted form of government system and has a great importance for citizens by allowing them equal and active participation in common life. As its development and characteristics are important for all citizens of a country, each democratic country puts much emphasis on democracy education in its educational curricula. In recent…

This study uses the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Birth Cohort (child-B) data, collected by the National Center for Education Statistics in the U.S. Department of Education. The EC LS-B is a nationally representative longitudinal study of approximately 11,000 children who were born in 2001. The children in the EC LS-B have been followed…

This paper presents an overview of the Early Head Start program. The objective of the Early Head Start program is to enhance the cognitive, social and emotional development of low-income children, including children on federally-recognized reservations and children of migratory farm workers, through the provision of comprehensive health,…

The 2004 Council on Rehabilitation Education (CORE) standards were revised to include Human Growth and Development (HGD) as a knowledge domain. The HGD domain introduces a significant amount of new content to the curriculum, including several topics that have not traditionally appeared in the rehabilitation counselor educational curriculum. Thus,…

This is one of several papers written to provide a rationale for programs of the new National Institute of Education (NIE). The basic elements of the rationale for each proposed NIE program and the sequence in which they will be discussed are: (1) educational goals to be achieved, (2) variables that can be manipulated to reach the goals, (3)…

Describes in operational terms the benefits of Montessori's developmental perspective for children from birth to 3 years, and from 3 to 6 years. Identifies optimal outcomes for social, moral, cognitive, and emotional development to be used in educational and psychological research and for child assessment. (KB)

Defines and discusses instructional games in terms of their uses in education. Nine categories are suggested for assessing games: instructional development, skills development, perceptual development, development of social awareness, pupil's readiness, use, design quality, adaptability, and flexibility and validation. (MS)

The higher order objectives of applying, analyzing, synthesizing, and evaluating must be accomplished to maintain an interest in physical education through the elementary grades. However, higher order objectives can only be attained after lower order prerequisites, the fundamentals of locomotor movement, and basic physical behaviors are met. (JN)

An outline for Piaget-based early childhood education curricula is presented. Long term objectives of the curriculum are the facilitation of moral and social growth, and intellectual development leading to formal operational functioning. Education is seen as a process that encourages creative and critical thinking. Short-term objectives are listed…

Argues that since 17 percent of a child's growth occurs between four and six, kindergarten programs should stress all aspects of child development; cognitive, social, affective and psychomotor, rather than being school readiness programs. (MS)

This policy brief explores kindergarten readiness observation and its benefits to local and state level stakeholders; highlights efforts by California counties and other states to measure school readiness; and makes recommendations for moving toward statewide use of kindergarten readiness observation tools. Key points include: (1) Early efforts to…

In a speech before the American Educational Research Association, the author asserts that childhood education theory is going through one of its periodic over-reactions to new findings. The result is the present overemphasis on environmentally caused cognitive development. Yet a very basic biological law is the law of human variability. The…

This report capsulizes the problems of defining the meaning of social competency in young children in relation to a panel discussion held in January 1973. Four approaches are discussed: (1) the "bag of virtues" approach, (2) the "industrial psychology" approach, (3) the normative-expectation approach, and (4) the theory-guided approach. Seven…

Chapter 1 of this document on learner outcomes in early childhood education (ECE) discusses the values, educational philosophy, mission, and goals of the Minnesota State Board of Education. Chapter 2 describes components of an effective early childhood program, the role and purpose of ECE, and emerging issues in ECE. An overview of learner…

Designed to accompany the Project CONSTRUCT Validation Survey, this booklet begins with an overview that presents answers to commonly asked questions about the project, a process-oriented curriculum and assessment framework for working with children aged three to seven. The remainder of the booklet is divided into three sections which correspond…