Mainstream educators tend to assume that families should follow a school-prescribed pathway, centred on parent-child storyreading sessions, to help their children become literate and achieve educational success. The research discussed here focuses on case studies of bilingual families with six-year-old children growing up in London, and shows that…

The purpose of this study was to examine how young children's homes and preschool programs influence kindergarten achievement by being "ready environments." Ready environments provide opportunities for cognitive and social growth through culturally and developmentally appropriate activities, interactions, and materials. This study used…

This study explored the effects of a full-day preschool program on 4-year-old children. The study compared the development of a group of children (N = 403) who attended the preschool program on a half-day basis during the 1999-2000 school year (the last year the half-day program was in place) with the development of a group of children (N = 418)…

This working paper considers ways to tackle the critical issue of early drop-out and under-achievement of children at school. It draws on evidence of the benefits of early childhood programmes to children's learning and success in school. It particularly examines how well-designed early childhood programmes can effectively address poverty and…

The Academy for Educational Development's (AED's) work in the United States includes programs with many of the nation's major foundations on issues of education reform, parental involvement in the schools, youth development and bridging the distance between school, work, and successful university education. The projects described here cover a wide…

Effective teaching requires skill in implementing challenging and inviting curricular activities. It also involves evaluating children's learning in order to extend their development through the school year. Being able to implement and evaluate at the same time is at the heart of good teaching. Written for PreK-3 educators, this book blends…

Parent involvement in literacy instruction has a significant, positive impact on children's reading acquisition and family economic success. Much like other place-based family strengthening approaches, family literacy programs are inherently family-focused, designed to address the learning needs of an entire family rather than each separate…

The future of Head Start depends on how well people learn from and apply the lessons from its past. That's why everyone involved in early education needs this timely, forward-thinking book from the leader of Head Start. The first book to capture the Head Start debates in all their complexity and diversity, this landmark volume brings together the…

Divided into three parts, this book reviews the basic concepts of the High/Scope preschool curriculum and its development, implementation, and effectiveness. The introduction offers a retrospective of the program's history, describes the five basic principles that form the framework of the approach, and discusses some of the reasons for its…

Noting that patterns of childrearing are highly variable across the human species, this book explores the developmental processes of infancy over a wide range of cultural and social environments. By presenting multiple alternative examples of the context of infant development, the book attempts to stimulate continued discussion on the ways in…

This chapter focuses on the innermost level of Bronfenbrenner's four-level conception of the human environmental ecology, namely the microsystem, and more specifically, the child's socialization in the family. Following discussion of concepts related to socialization, competence, and environmental ecology, selected research studies are reviewed to…

Written for parents, this book discusses the socialization of boys into men. The book takes the perspective that socialization should not lead to an exclusive and rigid masculinization. The books is divided into 5 sections, discussing: (1) the need for power as it affects boys and men; (2) the development of boys and the unseen messages provided…

This book argues that a paradigmatic change of emphasis is needed from treatment to prevention in order to promote the well being of children and to reverse many of the social problems children face today. Written for an interdisciplinary audience, the book is divided into three sections. The first section provides a framework and overview of…

This compiltation of articles provides ideas and solutions for creating and improving family, community, and school partnerships. A broad variety of topics are covered in the 20 articles of this issue, including: (1) ideas to help parents improve the thinking skill of their children; (2) four models of parent involvement developed by the Superior…

Educators face no greater challenge than improving the academic odds for economically disadvantaged, minority children, because they are at the greatest risk for failure. A recent study from the Frank Porter Graham Child Development Center of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill uncovered ways in which, despite good intentions,…