Early Childhood Education Journal最新文献

Even though the tenuous financial model for Early Care and Education (ECE) is one of the primary reasons for many ECE programs’ permanent closing, considerably little attention has been devoted to supporting ECE leaders’ business knowledge and skills. Supporting the leadership and business practices can be an effective strategy for ensuring a strong supply of high-quality ECE for children and families. Using a randomized controlled trial (RCT), this study evaluated the effectiveness of a business management course (BMC) for ECE program leaders serving under resourced communities. Half of the sample was randomly assigned to the BMC intervention group and received a 14-week training. After controlling for the pre-test scores, perceived business management skills and confidence in business practices were higher among the BMC participants than those in the control group. This study provides insights into efforts to improve the sustainability of ECE programs.

Since its inception in 1965, Head Start has provided low-income families with wraparound early childhood programming. Serving nearly a million children and families nationwide, Head Start’s “Whole Child” philosophy was particularly evident during COVID-19 when families faced unprecedented disruptions at home, school, and work. Utilizing qualitative interviews with 20 Head Start Directors from multiple regions in Illinois and across two different time-points, this study aims to identify the resources that Head Start programs provided for families during COVID-19, and describe the challenges they faced. Findings revealed that all Head Start centers provided families with basic need resources, while some, through community partnerships and granteerelationships, were able to secure additional funding to allocate cash awards for families in more dire need. Using technology needed for remote learning was a challenge for staff, teachers, and families, and many Directors expressed that their ability to continue meeting the needs of children with special needs during closures was less than ideal. Our findings highlight the critical role that Head Start plays for families and ways that practice can be improved in non-pandemic times.

Approximately 40% of the U.S. early care and education (ECE) workforce lacks foundational training in research-based, developmentally appropriate practices for working with young children, which can impact the quality of ECE they can provide. To support young children’s positive developmental trajectories, it is critical that all teachers have access to comprehensive, high-quality ECE professional development that helps translate knowledge into practice. This pilot study examined a community-based pilot of the U.S. Federal Agency Virtual Lab School (VLS) platform for ECE teachers in childcare centers providing publicly funded childcare. The 15-month hybrid professional development intervention (internet-based content paired with individualized coaching) was positively received by teachers. Results show that comprehensive, foundational professional development using a hybrid approach is feasible in community based ECE settings. Teachers cited supportive relationships with their coaches and accommodations made by their centers as key facilitators of progress; time pressures and complications associated with the COVID-19 pandemic were barriers that impeded completion. Giving teachers time and support to complete foundational ECE training may help a greater number of ECE teachers achieve competency, and thus, better support all young children receiving care.

In Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) programs, the quality of teacher–child interactions is regarded to be important for children's vocabulary development. However, prior studies on the relationships between teacher and child, as measured by the Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS), and children’s vocabulary skills are inconsistent. In this study, we conducted a three-level meta-analysis to investigate the correlation between three CLASS domains and preschool children’s vocabulary skills and then explored the moderating effects of vocabulary components, family SES, publication year, and sample mean age. Relevant literature was searched using four databases (Web of Science, PsycINFO, PsycARTICLES, ERIC) and Google Scholar, leading to the identification of 23 articles published between 2010 and 2022 meeting the inclusion criteria. The findings indicated that the overall effect of the associations between Emotional Support, Classroom Organization, Instructional Support, and vocabulary skills was small to moderate in magnitude. Sensitivity and meta-bias analyses generally supported the robustness of the pooled effect of the association between three CLASS domains and children’s vocabulary skills. Also, the association between Emotional Support and vocabulary skills was moderated by SES, and the components of vocabulary skills, while Classroom Organization and Instructional Support were only moderated by the components of vocabulary skills. Implications for future research on assessing the quality of early childhood education are discussed.

Picturebooks play a vital role in the lives and learning of young children. These complex, multimodal texts offer unique opportunities for meaning-making as readers engage with the interplay between text and illustrations. Picturebooks offer children stepping stones into the literary arts, providing information and storylines that illuminate readers’ perspectives about their own lives as well as offering opportunities to glimpse the lives of others. This article provides an overview of current perspectives of picturebooks, focusing on their potential (i.e., the unique qualities this literary format offers young readers), their power (i.e., the invitations these books provide for supporting readers’ authentic literary transactions and affective responses), and associated practices (i.e., the ways in which these texts can be used as instructional tools to support learning both within and beyond the curriculum). Through picturebooks, caring adults can nurture children’s reading and responses in supportive, developmentally appropriate, and impactful ways.

Cultural navigators (CNs) serve as a bridge between immigrants and refugees and receiving communities. CNs help individuals from minoritized cultural groups navigate human service and educational systems and provide connections to local resources, services, and social support systems. This qualitative case study describes the experiences and perspectives of three CNs and 35 family childcare (FCC) providers who participated in a program designed to support the business skills of FCC providers living in three distinct cultural communities, drawing on Yosso’s community cultural wealth framework (2005). Data indicated that the CNs’ lived experiences as refugees and immigrants enabled them to provide culturally and linguistically responsive support to the FCC providers, illustrating the aspirational, linguistic, social, and navigational capital of both navigators and providers.

Early math skills predict later achievement for young children; thus, it is important to expand what is known about how to support preschool children’s development of these skills. While there has been some research on interventions, including those using systemic instruction, to teach math skills to preschoolers, there is a need for additional research to expand the field’s knowledge about what works, for whom, and under what conditions. I used an experimental single case design—a multiple probe design across behaviors, replicated across children—to determine if there was a functional relation between the demonstration-practice procedure embedded in researcher-created books and preschoolers’ acquisition of three early math skills. A functional relation was found for each participant, with some modifications needed for one participant. This is consistent with existing research that suggests systematic instruction is an effective approach for supporting preschoolers in acquiring early math skills. Additional research is needed to determine how best to choose skills to target for instruction, how to account for the relationship between math and other domains of development when teaching early math skills to preschoolers, and how to ensure interventions can be implemented with fidelity and adaptability.

This is a conceptual paper that explores critiquing picturebooks set in Africa. The paper is grounded in BlackCrit (Black Critical Theory) and Racial and Ethnic Socialization (RES). Using pragmatism as a method, we offer a detailed analysis of 3 carefully selected books, on the broad basis of authenticity, accuracy, and respectfulness. A deeper dive into the books looks for hidden messages that dehumanize, oversimplify, exotify, and generally present Africa from a Eurocentric lens. The critique goes beyond the books by looking at how they are shared on YouTube and other forums that offer pedagogical ideas for sharing the books with children. Overall, from the critique we find that books authored by cultural insiders are favorable while the reverse is, in most cases, true with authors who are cultural outsiders. The paper emphasizes the power of accurate, authentic, and respectful pro-Blackness representations as beneficial for all children in developing positive behaviors, attitudes and agency toward pro-Blackness and antiracist rhetoric. We also found that there is an urgent need for more pro-Black books on our educational shelves.

Emotional labour is an important part of teaching. Teaching self-efficacy and job dedication are important parameters that influence teaching. Mixed findings have been reported on the link between emotional labour, teaching self-efficacy, and job dedication. This study examined the pattern of emotional labour performed by early childhood teachers, the relationship between emotional labour and job dedication, and the mediating effect of teaching self-efficacy on the relationship. Data were collected through a self-administered questionnaire survey from a convenience sample of 305 teachers from nurseries and kindergartens across the UAE. The mean comparison revealed that surface acting (M = 2.92) was performed significantly less frequently than deep acting (M = 3.90) and expression of naturally felt emotions (M = 4.19). Structural equation modeling with bootstrap mediation analysis revealed that expression of naturally felt emotions had a positive, direct effect on dedication (β = 0.43, p = 0.012) and teaching self-efficacy (β = 0.84, p = 0.002), and that teaching self-efficacy had a partial mediating effect on the relationship between expression of naturally felt emotions and job dedication, with an amount of indirect effect of 0.501 (p = 0.002) and mediating effect ratio of 54.10%. The implications of the results were discussed.