Examines systemic issues contributing to inequities in early childhood, with ways faculty, teachers, administrators, and policymakers can work to disrupt them.

The long-awaited new edition of NAEYC's book Developmentally Appropriate Practice in Early Childhood Programs is here, fully revised and updated! Since the first edition in 1987, it has been an essential resource for the early childhood education field. Early childhood educators have a professional responsibility to plan and implement intentional, developmentally appropriate learning experiences that promote the social and emotional development, physical development and health, cognitive development, and general learning competencies of each child served. But what is developmentally appropriate practice (DAP)? DAP is a framework designed to promote young children's optimal learning and development through a strengths-based approach to joyful, engaged learning. As educators make decisions to support each child's learning and development, they consider what they know about (1) commonality in children's development and learning, (2) each child as an individual (within the context of their family and community), and (3) everything discernible about the social and cultural contexts for each child, each educator, and the program as a whole. This latest edition of the book is fully revised to underscore the critical role social and cultural contexts play in child development and learning, including new research about implicit bias and teachers' own context and consideration of advances in neuroscience. Educators implement developmentally appropriate practice by recognizing the many assets all young children bring to the early learning program as individuals and as members of families and communities. They also develop an awareness of their own context. Building on each child's strengths, educators design and implement learning settings to help each child achieve their full potential across all domains of development and across all content areas.

Parents and Professionals in Early Childhood Settings addresses the complex and sometimes controversial issues that emerge from the care and education of young children. Staff and parents in early childhood settings can find ample advice about how to promote good communication, but much of that advice has no grounding in their daily lives. Instead, it prescribes an established set menu of communication tools, such as newsletters, notebooks and message boards that rarely respond to what staff and families say about relationships between them. Drawing on the authors' research with hundreds of parents, staff and students, the book explores relationships between staff and families through a series of 'issue stories'. Each story features the voices and perspectives of 'real' staff and families and captures their various understandings, desires and feelings about a complex, difficult and/or controversial issue. The authors support each 'issue story' with snippets from relevant international research, 'Fairness Alerts' that highlight unfair thinking habits and show how to challenge them, and some 'points to ponder' and 'points to discuss' that encourage readers to extend their thinking about the issue/s in the story. Parents and Professionals in Early Childhood Settings is written for the diverse people in the international field of early childhood education and care. They include staff, students, academics, trainers, curriculum advisors, policy officers and managers, together with the parents and other carers of young children.

"Teachers and Families Working Together" is a concise resource that provides future teachers with exactly what they need to know when working with the families of young children. Chapters detail the benefits of family involvement for families, teachers, and especially children. Using the voices of many family members and teachers, this book describes diverse family types and cultures and gives specific strategies teachers can use to involve family members and the community in the life of a class or school. The family involvement strategies are divided into written communication, shared time, and other ways to involve families. Strategies are practical and are based on the experiences of early childhood educators. Features that this text offers: First section looks at family involvement from three different perspectives, -those of experts, families, and teachers. The barriers to family involvement from the perspectives of families and teachers are examined. Different ways of working with families -such as written communications, shared time with families, and working through differences between teachers and families are detailed. Fourth section shares closing thoughts and solutions about work with families. Pedagogy to support student learning includes: Voices of Teachers, Voices of Families, Case Studies, Suggested Reflections, Field Experiences, and Website Resources. Author Bio: Deborah Diffily is an assistant professor of early childhood education at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas. Her research interests include project-based learning, children's literacy and scientific development, and working with families. She coauthored "Teaching Young Children" with Margaret Puckett and "Project-Based Learning with Young Children" with Charlotte Sassman. "

For today's early childhood educator, change is a non-negotiable reality. While the size, force, and direction of change can often seem overwhelming, this book shows the way toward overcoming these gigantic odds or "Goliaths." The New Early Childhood Professional recounts some of the heroic stories and strategic approaches used by early childhood educators who particpated in the CAYL Institute Fellowship programs. The authors share a specific framework with concrete steps to help educators become positive change makers in the field of early care and education. Complete with resources, tools, and questions for reflection, this handbook takes readers through four progressive paths toward becoming an architect of change: Analysis, when confronting seemingly insurmountable situations, instead of being overwhelmed, think and reflect about the situation and discover hidden insights; Advance, better understand the nature of problems while also strengthening your vision and identity through planning and preparation; Act, begin with everyday challenges and use what you know from every situation, in every interaction with a child, parent, peer, or administrator; and Accelerate, focus on what you want to change, gather allies, document, and communicate.

Whether you direct, administrate or lead early childhood education, DEVELOPING AND ADMINISTERING AN EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION PROGRAM, 10E provides the knowledge and skills you need for success. This comprehensive edition highlights the director's role in leading both people and programs, with an emphasis on business and interpersonal skills. You also learn how to select and implement a high-quality curriculum. Updates present the latest changes in the field, including NAEYC�s 2020 statement on Developmentally Appropriate Practice and new position statement, Advancing Equity. Revised chapters integrate NAEYC's Power to the Profession Unifying Framework. A new chapter addresses leadership during change and crisis. Practical insights guide you through all aspects of directing a program -- from budgeting, facility and equipment to selecting, training and supervising staff; working with children and parents; and handling accrediting, licensing, evaluations and improvements.

After working in the field of early childhood education extensively, Jill McFarren Avilés and Erika Amadee Flores concluded that coaching educators from a holistic, culturally responsive, and strength-based perspective are three of the most powerful tools that will enhance the lives of young children and their families and contribute to equity in early childhood settings. Hearing All Voices offers a culturally responsive framework that supports educators in understanding the importance of equity in their interactions with children and families. The framework focuses on implementing practical strategies that can help increase equity in early education through day-to-day interactions. Written as a guidebook to support early childhood coaches to get inspiration, knowledge, and tools as they guide teachers from diverse backgrounds in early childhood settings. This book weaves together the latest in the science of change, brain development, adult learning, and practical “how-to” to transfer this into practice.

This book discusses how consultations with young children could signal a change of thinking about how children might influence policy and shape the development of a child-friendly state. While the consultations in this study were germane to political decisions, they took place as multi-modal dialogue with children in their educational settings. Framed by Australia’s national early years learning framework which focuses on children’s belonging and identity, the consultations saw unique partnerships formed among children, educators, families and policy officers, providing ways in which children’s voices may be engaged in educational spaces throughout the world. Using a qualitative case study approach, these consultations were documented through observations, interviews, artefact collection and document analyses, allowing the authors to construct a framework for engaging children as citizens that is transferable to a variety of settings. Chapters provide: • an insight into the various aspects involved in children’s consultations from conceptualizing and planning consultations with young children, to implementation and documentation, through to the uptake and consequence of children’s messages; • factors that contribute to the effectiveness of consultations, challenges that arise, and areas for improvement when engaging with children’s voices; • implications for children’s participation as valued citizens and a framework for considering young children’s voices in decision-making processes. This book offers fresh ideas for working with young children in the decision making process and will appeal to early childhood researchers, educators, policymakers and practitioners across various sectors, agencies and disciplines.

This volume is directed toward research to practice issues related to partnering with families of children birth through age 5. This monograph and the next monograph focuses on family and school involvement issues in two age categories. This sixth volume analyzes family involvement practices across a variety of settings and programs at the early childhood level. The seventh monograph in this series addresses research and practices related to family–school issues in middle and secondary schools. The chapters address, to varying degrees, five themes based on the principles of familycentered partnerships: 1. Recognizing and respecting one anther’s knowledge and expertise; 2. Sharing information through two-way communication; 3. Sharing power and decision making; 4. Acknowledging and respecting diversity; and 5. Creating networks of support The monograph supports the accomplishment of these goals as a whole by providing important insights about exemplary programs and promising practices, informed by current research. Also it highlights policies and theoretical perspectives relevant to these aims. Individual chapters offer a variety of practical strategies and recommendations that families, early childhood practitioners, policymakers, and researchers can use to enhance their knowledge and strengthen their skills for partnering effectively.