This book for parents and child care providers describes a program for home-based, early childhood education that does not use formal, disciplined instruction. The program uses the technique of "incidental teaching," which emphasizes learning activities that occur while children participate in typical daily activities, such as eating,…

The increasingly diverse ethnic composition of the nation's children poses new opportunities, but also serious challenges, to the nation's education institutions, including the early childhood programs that lay the foundation for children's school experience and achievement. In light of the controversy on this subject, its significance for…

Whether the transition to primary school is smooth or abrupt for children depends on whether early childhood and elementary school programs work together to build bridges between their services. This report presents several examples of collaborative efforts to smooth the transition to school. Specifically, it describes how various elements of five…

The Illinois Prekindergarten Program for Children at Risk of Academic Failure was a grant program for public school districts to enhance growth and development of children ages 3 to 5 who are at risk of academic failure. The program has experienced significant growth since its initial implementation, and the number of participating projects…

The model presented by the preschools in Reggio Emilia, Italy, is one of cooperation and collaborations among teachers, parents, and children; curriculum based on the "project approach," and constructivist learning philosophy, which states that children construct their knowledge and values as a result of interactions with and action on…

In recent years, government has recognized that programs like Head Start are cost-effective investments that improve the school readiness of disadvantaged children. Over the last decade, states have been leaders in supporting services to infants and toddlers and their families. Examples of such initiatives include Hawaii's Healthy Start program,…

This document reports on a symposium on pre-school to school transition that was co-sponsored by the SouthEastern Regional Vision for Education (SERVE) and 13 other organizations and that brought together over 100 educators, human service providers, policymakers and business people to share their experiences in working to strengthen the…

This manual, part of Project STEPS (Sequenced Transition to Education in the Public Schools) is intended to provide teachers, particularly those at the preschool level, with ideas for increasing independence in young children as they make the transition from preschool to school-age programs. Section 1 is an overview of instructional issues which…

Kansas has schools that compare well with the rest of the states. Kansas has met the 90% high school completion goal, with one of the highest graduation rates in the country and a low dropout rate. Kansas is also making significant progress in school readiness, with increasing numbers of Kansas women receiving early prenatal care, and fewer…

The 1991 National Household Education Survey collected information on children's experiences in the home; in home-based child care; in center-based programs, including day care centers and nursery school; and in school. Data were collected by telephone from the parents and guardians of 13,892 children of 3 to 8 years between February and April of…

This booklet is designed to help parents make their children's first days in school successful and exciting. It also answers questions about school entrance requirements in Virginia and suggests ways parents can be involved in their children's education. The first sections offer information on entrance age and compulsory school age, requirements…

This document outlines 44 strategies for meeting the educational needs of urban areas by the year 2000. The strategies are based on six goals for urban education adapted from the national education goals issued by President George Bush and the National Governors' Association. The strategies were proposed by representatives from more than 70…

A longitudinal study examined the factors that facilitate or hinder Native American children's literacy acquisition. Subjects, 18 three-year-old children attending Headstart classes on the Lummi Reservation in northwest Washington, were observed during their daily hour of free play for an entire school year. The subjects' experiences with drawing,…

Discussion in support of the all-day kindergarten is provided in this pamphlet. Following an introductory description of program rationale, the first section outlines the arguments for and against all-day kindergarten programs. Various research in support of such programs is cited in the second section. The third section reports the commitment in…

Underlying structure of the Basic Achievement Skills Individual Screener (BASIS) and the Kaufman Test of Educational Achievement (K-TEA) were investigated using canonical correlation. Both are individually administered placement and screening instruments currently in use in many school systems that measure achievement in mathematics, reading, and…