Articles

Published in March 2014 with support from the Heising-Simons Foundation, this policy report explores the perspectives of nationally recognized experts in the field of mathematics and early care and education about three main issues: The knowledge and competencies that practitioners need in order to teach mathematics to young children; Effective strategies for educating practitioners to support young children’s mathematical development; and The challenges and successes that these experts have experienced in math-related ECE workforce development efforts Read the report here.

This article, published in Early Childhood Research and Practice, examines the challenges experienced and supports received of early care and education practitioners who return to school to earn their bachelor’s degree. Students assessed the cohort structure of their B.A. program, financial assistance, the schedule and location of classes, as well as academic and technological challenges and supports over time. The study concludes with suggestions for those who design and implement programs on how to best allocate resources to support degree…

“Good quality care requires an environment that values adults as well as children.”– National Child Care Staffing Study, 1989The National Child Care Staffing Study (NCCSS) released in 1989, brought national attention for the first time to poverty-level wages and high turnover among early childhood teaching staff, and to the adverse consequences for children. In the succeeding 25 years, combined developments in science, practice, and policy have dramatically shifted the context for discussions about the status of early childhood teaching jobs,…

Across the K-12 and early care and education (ECE) communities, similar conversations are underway about how to recruit teachers and strengthen their preparation, how to provide ongoing learning experiences for new and veteran teachers, and how to organize school environments to ensure that all teachers can best address the needs of an increasingly diverse child population. But these conversations are also widely divergent, given that the histories of the two sectors have led to distinct personnel and service delivery systems.In…

CSCCE Announces Commitment to Action at the 2014 Clinton Global Initiative America (CGI America) MeetingOn June 25th, the Center for the Study of Child Care Employment (CSCCE) announced our Commitment to Action, Assessing What Teachers Need to Help Children Succeed, at the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) America Meeting. This represents a two-year commitment to expand the use of, and scale up our online tool, Supportive Environmental Quality Underlying Adult Learning (SEQUAL) and accompanying services and training resources.SEQUAL plays a critical…

In this article, which appeared in the July/August 2014 edition of Exchange Magazine, Marcy Whitebook and co-author Dan Bellm, discuss three aspects of mentoring – mentors as teachers, mentors and learners, and mentors as leaders – that are essential for developing a skilled corps of mentors who are responsible for helping early childhood teachers improve their practice. The article includes a discussion of the supports that mentors need to help them develop and improve their effectiveness as mentors, as well…

The Early Childhood Bulletin is now available online. Enjoy!

Want to build a kid who has the strength, character, and drive to succeed in school-and in life? Let him fail.

During bath time, put some bubbles on different parts of your baby. Say, "Fingers! Toes!" This is a fun way to help baby learn new words.

Arizona educators Wednesday praised a Bureau of Indian Education program that gets Native American parents actively engaged in the education of their children from birth until kindergarten.