Looks at evaluations of the program to frame a discussion of the troubled history of Head Start and its current favored position. (IRT)

Project Early Kindergarten-Early Reading First (PEK-ERF) is a partnership between Saint Paul Public Schools, Wilder Child Development Center, and Bethel University King Family Foundation Child Development Center. The program provides pre-kindergarten education to 3- and 4-year-olds in Saint Paul, and targets those who are low-income, English…

The author shares a story about the positive power of nature in the lives of children, particularly those children who are at-risk for school failure. The setting for the story is the Central Child Development Center (CCDC) in Rock Hill, South Carolina, a public preschool with four-year-old kindergarten students (4K) and preschoolers with special…

This working paper explores the methodology and initial issues raised in seeking to involve young children in the design process. It reports a study concerned with how young children can play an active role in the designing and developing of children's spaces. The focus is on children under 6 years old in early childhood provision. (Contains 2…

Five major reasons for the high incidence of laboratory school closings are indicated prior to a description of survival strategies applied in the Early Learning Center at Pennsylvania's Kutztown State College's Child Development Laboratory School. Causes of laboratory school closure are the following: (1) financial difficulties; (2) retrenchment;…

Child care and early childhood education should be fully integrated. The roots and consequences of the current separation are examined. A description is provided of the Kramer Project, a day care school. Obstacles to fully integrated day care and educational services are discussed. (IAH)

This article profiles Helen J. Post-Brown, director of Sunbeam Child Care Center in Fairmont and president of West Virginia Childcare Centers United, and explains how Post-Brown faced the obstacles when managing a child care business. In the fall of 1980, Post-Brown started Sunbeam as a small preschool with 12 children. Over the years, Sunbeam has…

This article features the Project of Excellence, a program that was designed to engage families in an interactive community-based school literacy program. The authors discuss how they created the Project of Excellence. Although the goal of the Project was to improve the reading skills of young children, the focus of the Project was directed toward…

THE RECRUITMENT, SELECTION, ORIENTATION, AND EFFECTIVE USE OF VOLUNTEERS IN CHILD DEVELOPMENT CENTERS ARE DISCUSSED. VOLUNTEERS WITH PROFESSIONAL SKILLS CAN SERVE AS PHYSICIANS, NURSES, TEACHERS, AND SOCIAL WORKERS. LAY VOLUNTEERS CAN RELIEVE REGULAR STAFF MEMBERS OF ROUTINE DUTIES AND INCREASE THE EFFECTIVENESS OF PROFESSIONAL SERVICE. VOLUNTEERS…

Suggestions for expanding and improving the volunteer participation in all local Head Start programs are provided in this manual. The primary aims of the volunteer programs are to: (1) provide additional staff in all areas of the program, thus increasing the effectiveness of the paid staff; (2) give interested local citizens, including parents of…

The Early Childhood Library Specialist (ECLS) concept was first conceived as the Early Childhood Media Specialist, and was written into a proposal that included a curriculum for the training of such media specialists. Cognizant of the interrelationship of the library and media fields, the proposal was adapted to include aspects of children's and…

PROVISIONS FOR PILOT CHILD CARE CENTERS FOR PHYSICALLY HANDICAPPED AND MENTALLY RETARDED MINORS WERE MADE BY THE CALIFORNIA STATE LEGISLATURE IN 1959. ADDITIONAL FUNDS WERE PROVIDED IN 1961 AND 1965. BY NOVEMBER 1965, FOUR CENTERS WERE IN OPERATION AND FOUR MORE CENTERS WERE BEING ESTABLISHED. THESE EIGHT CENTERS SERVED 348 HANDICAPPED CHILDREN.…