At a time when crucial questions concerning the nature of early childhood and early childhood education are being increasingly examined worldwide, an exploration of the issues, priorities, and methodologies of research in early childhood education may provide valuable material for debate. This book focuses on research in early childhood education…

Until recently, culture (a collectively held set of values and assumptions) was not considered as a factor in the process of development. Now, however, culture is recognized as the heart of the development process. What policies promote a sustainable development process that encourages the flowering of human culture? Cultural freedom is a…

Recognizing the importance of providing high-quality preschool education for helping to ensure children's future educational success, this document presents guidelines for what constitutes high-quality programming across a broad spectrum of curriculum and practice for California preschools, taking into account the state's move toward higher…

The new edition of this text provides updated views, events, and research findings, including a study of extraordinarily successful career women, more attention to gifted education in rural areas, counseling of gay students, and suicide prevention. Chapters have the following titles: (1) "Gifted Education: Matching Instruction with Needs"; (2)…

This issue describes how researchers are studying ways to reduce the overrepresentation of students from minority backgrounds in special education. It begins by discussing problems associated with inappropriate classification and placement of minority students, including being denied access to the general education curriculum, being placed in…

This paper explored the attitudes of college faculty toward diversity and multiculturalism at the University of Guam, which is characterized by the Department of Education as a minority institution; the faculty, on the other hand, is less diverse (60 percent Caucasian). The research explored the dynamic between the ethnic composition of the…

Stressing that children's development in diverse cultures follows different paths, this book describes children's development in its cultural context. The book illustrates that the everyday work, school, and play activities provided for children vary from one culture to another depending on the social and economic structure of the cultures and…

This paper describes the first year of a 3-year project to identify the specific skills of expert special education teachers. The project has three objectives: (1) to develop a knowledge base of identified expert special educators who work with culturally and linguistically diverse students with mild/moderate disabilities; (2) to field-test…

Some researchers have asserted that the poor outcomes from American Indian schools result from the lack of cultural fit between teachers and students. Data gathered from 258 American Indian faculty at U.S. colleges and tribal departments of education indicate that 65 institutions of higher education produced 1,347 new American Indian teachers…

Archaeology provided knowledge of cultural background, understanding of scientific processes, and a common interest for Whites and Cree Indians in a teacher education program in Oxford House, Manitoba. As such, archaeology is a partial solution to providing a success-oriented education system for American Indians. (SB)

Analyzed conversations within mother-kindergartner dyads for tendencies to discuss specific categories of child-other relationships, differences in tendencies with gender and ethnicity, and the association between discussed categories and children's perceived peer acceptance. Found that discussion categories varied with gender, ethnicity, and…

Discusses the difficulties Indian students have with civics and government classes. The tribal value system of reciprocal respect and loyalty is often antithetical to many political concepts such as confrontational politics and special interest groups. This, in turn, leads to a distrust of the idea of self-government. (MJP)

Examined how Chinese and American Indian mothers (20 mother-child dyads from each culture) supported their young children's emergent literacy development during everyday interactions. Found that Chinese mothers tended to privilege print-based literacy interactions more than American Indian mothers. American Indian mothers tended to privilege…

Summarizes a project that investigated Australian Adnyamathanha and Canadian Sechelt peoples' attitudes toward those aspects of their culture that western society considers art. Discusses the differences between indigenous societies' conception of spiritual representation and westerners' conception of art. Suggests ways for art educators to…

Draws on theory and research from education, counseling, and social work to form some preliminary conclusions regarding how race and ethnicity might affect the supervisory relationship. Calls on educational practitioners to fill the research gap on how diversity affects the process of supervision. (Contains 46 footnotes.) (AUTHOR/WFA)