Early Childhood Education Journal最新文献

Children in the early childhood years experience trauma at high rates. Trauma can impact children’s social-emotional, cognitive, and physical development, as well as their behavior in the classroom. Therefore, early childhood education professionals need to be prepared to support children through the use of trauma-informed care. The Pyramid Model is a framework for early childhood educators that promotes social-emotional competence and strives to prevent and address children’s challenging behavior that is used to train both pre-service and in-service early childhood teachers. Because of this, it is critical to understand the connections between the Pyramid Model and trauma-informed care. The initial aim of this scoping literature review was to synthesize the literature available on the Pyramid Model and trauma-informed care. However, due to limited research on the topics together, we had to expand our search to examine the range of research on the Pyramid Model and identify gaps in the literature and future directions related to trauma-informed care and the Pyramid Model.

Young children’s social-emotional development refers to the development of capacities to form relationships, to express emotions, and to explore the environment. The social-emotional development is one of the critical factors contributing to their school readiness and future success beyond educational settings. However, assessing young children’s social-emotional development often utilizes standardized procedures based on developmental theories, which may lead to inaccurate diagnostic categories that do not reflect children’s cultural backgrounds. Further, these early diagnostic categories or labels could lead to lower expectations resulting in persistent achievement gaps. In this paper we discuss the assessment of young children’s social-emotional development through the lens of social-cultural ecological systems. This approach acknowledges that children's development is shaped by interactions with caregivers, peers, their home and neighborhood, as well as the broader environment and communities. First, we recognize the conceptual and operational misalignments of the current approaches to measuring and understanding social-emotional development. Second, we identify challenges in methodology related to assessing children’s social-emotional development. We then discuss the cultural context that is integral to children’s social-emotional development. To illustrate how the social-cultural ecological framework works in assessing children’s social-emotional development, we use a case study to demonstrate the content, context, interactive relationships of individuals, and implementation with collaborative teamwork.

This content analysis examined the evaluative components of elementary, high-stakes, state standardized writing sample rubrics. We explored the ten most populated states in the United States, and thus most influential states, to yield salient trends in writing evaluation for early grades. Using Spandel’s analytical traits as our conceptual framework and thus, our a priori sieve for this content analysis, this manuscript explored possible commonalities and intersections among the six traits within each state’s writing sample rubric. First, we found that North Carolina no longer requires an elementary writing sample. Further, this content analysis found four of Spandel’s six categories of Ideas, Organization, Sentence Fluency, and Conventions were clearly prominent in each of the other nine most populated state evaluation rubrics. Word Choice and Voice proved to be less obvious, yet embedded within subcomponents or indicators in eight of the nine remaining state rubrics. By bringing these states’ writing rubrics into clarity, related trends across states offer insights for teachers in early grades to streamline and improve elementary writing evaluation and instruction by focusing on these foundational six traits. Findings point to leveraging Spandel’s six analytical categories as a starting point and a foundational anchor, so that teachers can be in compliance with their state’s current and changing high-stakes testing while simultaneously supporting children to become confident, joyful, and capable writers.

Teachers in the early care and education (ECE) workforce have been experiencing elevated levels of depression and job stress, which can lead to lower quality teaching practices, less emotional support to children, and higher staff turnover. Research has shown that racial concordance (or matching) between teachers and their students is associated with positive effects on children’s outcomes and lower stress in teachers of kindergarten through 12th grade. However, no research had examined how racial concordance is related to teacher well-being in ECE settings. To examine the predictors of ECE teacher stress and depression and the role of racial concordance, this study analyzed data collected in 2019 for the National Survey of Early Care and Education (NSECE) using survey-weighted regression models. Higher racial concordance between ECE teachers (n = 3,547) and their students was associated with lower teacher depression levels. Lower staff turnover and Hispanic or Asian teacher identity also predicted lower depression. Lower wages, working less than full time, Hispanic identity, and, for higher-income teachers, greater student racial and ethnic diversity in the classroom were all associated with lower job stress. This study contributes to further understanding ECE teacher well-being and important contextual factors, including racial concordance and classroom diversity.

Language development is fundamental in early childhood education (ECE). While in recent years, research regarding the importance of dual language development for DLLs in ECE has increased, there remains a great need to determine effective practices and quality measurement tools that effectively support linguistically diverse children in ECE settings. This study investigated the effectiveness of positive adult–child interactions and intentional language instruction as the two recommended practices to support the language and literacy development of at-risk linguistically diverse preschool children in ECE classrooms. A mixed-methods research approach was used to gather data. Positive adult–child interactions in the classroom significantly influenced DLLs’ language and literacy development. Intentional language instruction can positively impact DLLs’ language and literacy development when supportive conversations and language modeling are included as part of the intentional instruction. Discussion of the findings and implications for future research and practice is discussed.

Executive function skills are critical in early development, as they “form the foundation for children’s ability to self-regulate” (McLelland, et al., 2016, p. 242). Inhibitory control, one component of executive function, is the ability to suppress or inhibit responses to distractions when completing a task. The purpose of this study was to improve children’s inhibitory control in the classroom through ageappropriate games, which promote controlling emotions and remaining on task. Three target children were observed in the classroom they attended with their regular teacher. Baseline data revealed that the target children needed improvement on inhibitory control skills, which included controlling emotions and staying on task. The Inhibitory Control Intervention consisted of age-appropriate games (Uno, Perfection, Matching Cards, I Spy book) that promoted staying on task and controlling emotions independently and with small groups of peers. Data were collected using momentary time sampling for a ten minute period during free choice center time. When the Inhibitory Control Intervention was in place, there was an increase in both on task behavior and controlling emotions during free-choice center time. Providing opportunities for children to practice inhibitory control skills can be beneficial for increasing children’s self-regulation skills.

This study details the methodology of a case study conducted with children aged 6–7 on COVID-19, emphasizing their important roles as co-researchers. During the study, children’s competencies were highlighted, and their voices were listened to with minimal adult interference. The research was conducted using the research with-children method, and 14 first-grade students from a private primary school in Istanbul, Turkey, actively contributed. Children participated in the research as researchers through their drawings, photographs, and individual and group interviews. The research process revealed that when children choose their research topics and create their questions, they enthusiastically engage and take ownership of their learning, fostering leadership and active participation. Research involving children should not be viewed merely as asking questions through adults. Using participant-friendly methods can enhance the enjoyment and meaning of the study for everyone involved.

Teacher-child shared-book reading is an everyday activity that promotes preschoolers’ oral language and reading development. Previous studies have investigated various facets of teachers’ questioning techniques. Little research, however, has focused on text-based questions (TQ) and life-experience-based questions (LQ) and how they are associated with children’s responsiveness. Furthermore, teachers’ questioning in the Mandarin Chinese context remains underexplored. This study examines how text-based questions and life-experience based questions influenced teacher-child talk during two shared-book reading activities. The participants included 88 children and 15 teachers who were randomly paired with 5 to 7 children for one-on-one shared book reading sessions on different themes, totaling 88 dyads. All the sessions were videotaped and transcribed. We coded teachers’ questions by type and content based on level of cognitive demand, and the form of response elicited from the children. The results indicate that life-experience based questions significantly, positively predicted children’s verbal response, when controlling for the variables of children’s Expressive Vocabulary Test scores, age, quantity of teachers’ questions, and book themes. Conversely, text-based questions negatively predicted children’s verbal responses. Open questions (rather than closed questions) were associated with increased verbal response from the children. These findings suggest that teachers could increase the effectiveness of shared-book reading and preschoolers’ engagement in discussions by incorporating more open-ended, life-experience based questions.

This study considered the intricate transition processes as children moved from preschool to primary school in Australia and Denmark. By employing Bronfenbrenner’s bioecological model, our investigations explored how children’s perspectives reflected and reproduced cultural and societal influences during the transition period. A qualitative approach, drawing on focus group interviews and a constructivist analytic approach based on grounded theory, supported the consideration of children’s reflections on transition to primary school. The results indicated that proximal processes played a crucial role in shaping children’s transition experience during this critical period. In Australia children’s perspectives emphasized feeling comfortable, safe, and secure, as underscored in the curriculum framework Belonging, Being and Becoming: The Early Years Learning Framework for Australia. In the Danish context, children’s articulations aligned with the legislative acts and reflected their developing independence when navigating the school’s new academic, social, and personal demands. These findings highlighted the necessity of considering children’s feelings and development when they transitioned from preschool to school. To ensure effective transitions, educational policies and practices should have enhanced targeted support for children unfamiliar with school environments or lacking confidence in their academic abilities, while promoting teacher-led initiatives that scaffolded children’s social, emotional, and personal development during this critical phase. By focusing on the individual experiences and the institutional context, we can better support children in their transition to school and promote their overall well-being and engagement in learning.

Approximately two-thirds of US birth-to-age-three-year-olds attend Infant Toddler Care and Education (ITCE) full- or part-time, making it the fastest growing segment of childcare. Despite widespread understanding of the importance of the first three years to lifetime learning and development trajectories, and recognition of the need for quality ITCE for families in the workforce and the US economy, ITCE remains underresearched. Too little is known about what qualifications and characteristics, pedagogical beliefs, and needs and motivations of ITCE professionals related to ensuring quality for children and families. Needed too, are valid and reliable tools to assess these attributes for use in pre- and in-service professional development of ITCE program administration and staff. Thus, the researchers developed and tested reliability and validity of a self-report survey – the Beliefs About Infant Toddler Education and Care (BAITEC). BAITEC items reflect NAEYC’s developmentally appropriate practice (DAP) principles for birth-to-age-three along with other widely adopted DAP-inspired guidelines for ITCE practice from major professional organizations including WestEd PITC, RIE, and ZERO TO THREE. Existing beliefs/practices instruments were used as models of survey language and structure. Reliability (internal consistency), and face, content, construct, and criterion related validity were tested using descriptive statistics, factor analyses, and hierarchical multiple regression. BAITEC was found to be a reliable and valid measure of ITCE teachers’ beliefs and education level moderated the relationship between beliefs and self-reported practices. Implications are identified for use in pre-and-in-service professional development.