This manual for trainers of new mentors offers activities for 2 workshops that together add up to between 5-6 hours of training. The activities are intended for preservice training and designed to help participants: understand their role as mentors; develop necessary skills and attitudes; understand the concept of positive youth development; learn…

This report presents the findings of a reassessment of an ongoing, multi-site evaluation of the Parents as Teachers (PAT) home visiting program. The evaluation had, from its inception, included data collection and analyses regarding engagement; however, a reassessment of research questions driving the evaluation shifted engagement from a secondary…

This digest examines the value of outdoor experience for young children, reasons for its decline, ways to enhance school play spaces, and aspects of developmentally appropriate outdoor environments. Young children appear to benefit from being outdoors and especially need the broad experiential base provided by being outdoors. The richness and…

This paper discusses the development of the Anchorage Kindergarten Developmental Profile in the context of the Alaska Kindergarten Developmental Profile and presents some evaluation results from studies of the Anchorage measure. Alaska mandated the completion of an Alaska Developmental Profile (ADP) on each kindergarten student and each student…

The purpose of this "Written Language Developmental Continuum" brochure for second through fifth grades is to provide helpful information for parents, teachers, and other adults as they work with young children to advance and refine written language (writing) competence. The brochure is intended to be a useful tool for assessing…

This policy brief provides an introduction for a series of 10 such briefs examining policies that seek to increase family income by encouraging, supporting, and rewarding parental work. The purpose of the series is to synthesize what is known from research about the effectiveness of various policies in increasing parental employment, either by…

Based on the view that the primary caregivers for infants and toddlers are their own best resource for understanding and caring for their child and that parenting is a lifelong learning process, this book provides information and tools to help caregivers build a strong foundation for their child's development. The book, both in English and…

This book is a collection of essays in which the author counters high-stakes testing, the pathologizing of children, and the unrelenting critique of public schools with a persuasive account of how children actively make sense of the world and their experience through the making of works, such as drawings, constructions, and writings. The book is…

Under the state's Quality Schools Initiative, each Alaska school is required to take a number of steps toward improving the quality of education. This brochure provides information to educators about the first requirement of the Quality Schools Initiative: completing the Alaska Developmental Profile. This profile is completed for each child…

At the Temple University Center for Research in Human Development and Education, Pennsylvania's largest independent multidisciplinary evaluation program, approximately 300 preschool aged children are evaluated annually to determine developmental performance in the areas of cognition, speech-language, gross and fine motor skills, social-emotional…

This paper establishes a link between children's development, appropriate teaching practices, and the use of computers in the early childhood classroom. The paper notes the growing body of research on young children and computers which educators can use to assist them when integrating technology into their programs. Current investigative studies…

This report presents both a framework for understanding positive factors that contribute to the healthy development of young people, termed "developmental assets," and a portrait of 6th-to-12th-grade youth based on that framework. The report analyzes and interprets data from 99,462 youth in 213 communities collected during the 1996-97 school year.…

Information and education are crucial for child development. The child's right to information and education protect human values and the human dignity of the child. Formal and non-formal forms of education by parents, friends, schools, and libraries should be based on human rights. The United Nations (UN) Convention on the Rights of the Child…

Based on the view that a simple and efficient process of portfolio collection could be developed based on authentically documenting the daily experiences of children in away-from-home settings, this book identifies steps in the processes of portfolio planning, collection, and selection, and conferencing with families. The book is intended for…

This paper begins by reviewing literature relevant to the history of children of battered women and difficulties in defining domestic violence. Major attempts to explain the behavioral profile of children of battered women include issues related to family characteristics and patterns; effects of family violence on children; links between marital…