The young child's exposure to disaster and trauma through the media or in the social milieu poses a challenge for the early childhood educator who is faced with responding and educating in a developmentally appropriate manner. In the case of public commemoration of a national disaster, the classroom implications are seemingly unavoidable. This…

The purpose of this paper is to conduct a review of reviews to identify characteristics of effective sex and relationship education (SRE) interventions and/or programmes in young people to improve sexual health and identify barriers and facilitators for implementation. Six bibliographic databases were searched from 1986 to 2006 for systematic…

As a new reform in Australian education, middle schooling has been gaining momentum. The rationale behind middle schooling is to bridge the traditional primary-high school gap and provide a more developmentally appropriate educational experience for young adolescents. Middle schooling in the USA has gone through a "boom-to-bust" cycle…

This article talks about a model child abuse prevention approach called, "Supporting Teachers, Strengthening Families." It is NAEYC's professional development initiative to help early childhood educators play leading roles in preventing child abuse and neglect through family strengthening efforts. It focuses on six strategies that high-quality…

Except for Timothy Hodges and James Harter's restrained research summary, the feature articles in this issue are evangelical in their praise of strengths-based education. It is, they assure us, a major innovation. English teacher Alexis Onishi writes that StrengthsQuest, a specific strengths-based approach, will have "a lifelong impact on how…

For the past 20 years, youth services in England have increasingly articulated their work in terms of curriculum, yet youth work academics have consistently maintained that a youth work curriculum is anathema. This paper argues that youth work necessarily has a curriculum; however, it is not the formal school curriculum, nor is it explicitly…

Most music educators are unaware that one of the earliest known electronic music keyboards for children dates back to 1952. It was unsophisticated in appearance, but much like the inventions of today, the mid-century electronic musical toy piqued the interest of children, and they begged their parents to buy it for them. The invention was named…

There has been a great deal of focus in recent years on high school reform as a way to ensure all students graduate ready for a skilled job or additional postsecondary education. As expectations for a more highly educated American citizenry rise, what happens in the middle grades--the beginning of the secondary-to-postsecondary education…

The near-collapse of the American financial system has led to a search for its causes and ways to prevent it from happening again. Many political leaders blame at least some of the sub-prime mortgage crisis on mistakes caused by financially "illiterate" consumers and propose to solve that problem with mandatory classes in personal finance.…

Over the last decade, high-stakes test preparation has crept into the inventory of developmentally responsive middle level instructional practices. Amid calls for increased accountability and more rigorous curriculum and academic standards, the middle school movement now finds itself in a spotlight of intense scrutiny. This article examines the…

Drawing from an incident that took place during a year-long investigation of children's play and peer culture on a school playground, the author argues that seemingly neutral child-centered techniques can maintain and even strengthen existing gender inequalities as teachers and children access "laminated" but contradictory identity…

In 1986, the "Harvard Educational Review" published Vivian Gussin Paley's article "On Listening to What the Children Say," which detailed the beginnings of her career as a teacher and author. The article described Paley's methods of tape-recording and analyzing her students' daily engagement in "the three Fs: fantasy, fairness, and friendship."…

Effectively including individuals with disabilities in a physical activity setting can often be a challenge due to constraints related to equipment, class size, curriculum, and the various ability levels of individuals with and without disabilities. However, there are ways the instructor can control the environment and tasks to meet the needs of…

Early childhood programs are becoming increasingly inclusive. What strategies can teachers use to address challenging behaviors? This article demonstrates how DAP and PBS can be blended so teachers can help children learn more positive behaviors.

As a facilitator of professional development for preschool teachers, the author is continually faced with questions related to the great divide between theory and practice. Although most child care professionals learn that developmentally appropriate practices support the holistic growth of young children during their initial training, many…