Based on the view that almost every interaction a parent has with an infant is an opportunity to help the baby learn more about the world, this book provides parents with simple and effective ways to enrich their infant's environment and to boost their childs language, motor, and social skills. Introductory remarks describe the learning areas…

This book describes New York City's Central Park East (CPE) Elementary School, which provides inner city children with the highest quality educators and pedagogy and is considered one of the most academically enriching U.S. schools. The book gives voice to young adults who emerged from poverty as a result of powerful experiences within CPE.…

This paper summarizes the proceedings of a 1999 symposium on mental health in infants and toddlers, particularly the role of attachment, held at the University of Minnesota. Presentations by Kathryn Barnard of the University of Washington and Anne Gearity of the University of Minnesota are included. Following an introduction and conference…

This Digest addresses the question of what young children should be learning that will best serve their development and learning in the long term. Two major dimensions of development--normative and dynamic--are explored, and four categories of learning goals are discussed: (1) knowledge; (2) skills; (3) dispositions; and (4) feelings. The view…

One of the most important skills of professionals who work with young children is the ability to assess developmental functioning through informal observation. This skill serves as the foundation for screening or identifying children in need of developmental services, conducting play-based developmental assessments, and helping parents to…

This document details Canada's mission to safeguard and improve the health and well-being of all Canadian children and youth and presents eight national goals through which Canada plans to fulfill that mission. The document is presented in three parts. Part 1 describes the development of national goals, including their origin in the underlying…

This paper discusses a practicum designed to address young teen mothers' lack of knowledge, experience, and skills needed to appropriately care for their infants. It documents that increased knowledge, enhanced interpersonal relationships, and augmented parenting skills made a difference in the teen mothers' approach to parenting. Parenting…

Noting that specialized educational programs for teen parents should address the teen parents' needs for knowledge about self-development, pregnancy, parenting, and economic independence as well as problem solving and interpersonal skills, this series of guides for school-age parents and the parent educators working with such teens provides a…

This study examined transitions into and out of poverty and welfare across 4-year time periods and their implications for math and reading skills and behavior among 10- and 11-year-olds. Analyses of data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth-Child Supplement indicate that even with controls for factors that select families into poverty,…

Noting that good feeding practices will prevent malnutrition and early growth retardation, which are still common in some parts of the World Health Organization (WHO) European Region, this report provides a scientific rationale for the development of national nutrition and feeding recommendations for children from birth to 3 years and presents…

This book examines historical features from antiquity through present times that are important to early childhood scholars. Chapter 1 presents the history of education, including discussions of educational practices from the seventeenth through the twentieth centuries in Europe and the United States, recent efforts to merge preschool and…

First Steps is a program instituted by the Western Australia Ministry of Education to improve the literacy and numeracy of primary school students, particularly those at risk of academic failure. First Steps is organized around reading, writing, spelling, and oral language; children's skills are organized along developmental continua. These…

The Project on State-Level Child Outcomes was initiated by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to examine the effects on children of waiver policies related to state welfare reform efforts prior to the passage of federal welfare reform legislation. This report details the project's examination of child well-being in the context of…

This paper highlights issues in the identification of appropriate metacognitive learning strategies when working with students at-risk for school failure. These students typically require explicit instruction to learn skills. The acquisition and efficacy of metacognitive learning strategies is explored across the lifespan. An outline is provided…