The Young Child In Context

Children are already learning at birth, and they develop and learn at a rapid pace in their early years. This provides a critical foundation for lifelong progress, and the adults who provide for the care and the education of young children bear a great responsibility for their health, development, and learning. Despite the fact that they share the same objective - to nurture young children and secure their future success - the various practitioners who contribute to the care and the education of children from birth through age 8 are not acknowledged as a workforce unified by the common knowledge and competencies needed to do their jobs well. Transforming the Workforce for Children Birth Through Age 8 explores the science of child development, particularly looking at implications for the professionals who work with children. This report examines the current capacities and practices of the workforce, the settings in which they work, the policies and infrastructure that set qualifications and provide professional learning, and the government agencies and other funders who support and oversee these systems. This book then makes recommendations to improve the quality of professional practice and the practice environment for care and education professionals. These detailed recommendations create a blueprint for action that builds on a unifying foundation of child development and early learning, shared knowledge and competencies for care and education professionals, and principles for effective professional learning. Young children thrive and learn best when they have secure, positive relationships with adults who are knowledgeable about how to support their development and learning and are responsive to their individual progress. Transforming the Workforce for Children Birth Through Age 8 offers guidance on system changes to improve the quality of professional practice, specific actions to improve professional learning systems and workforce development, and research to continue to build the knowledge base in ways that will directly advance and inform future actions. The recommendations of this book provide an opportunity to improve the quality of the care and the education that children receive, and ultimately improve outcomes for children.

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.

This book explores how young children’s language development is intricately connected to the context in which it takes place. The term ‘context’ not only specifies a geographical location, but also encompasses notions of culture, community and activity. ‘Context’ also refers to discourse features and functions, and to the relationships between the speakers. Every context thus embodies specific practices, intentions and values which privilege particular words, phrases, meanings and communication conventions. Each chapter highlights the dynamic, fluid and multifaceted interplays between language and context to illustrate how context, in every sense, is inextricably intertwined with young children’s language and literacy learning opportunities. The chapters interrogate the topic of ‘Young Children’s Language in Context’ by collectively exploring the multiple ways that context, broadly and variously conceptualised, intersects with language and literacy experiences. Authors examine how contexts shape language and literacy learning opportunities, how children’s language shapes their social-interactive and relationship contexts, and how their language and literacy experiences are, themselves contexts which create socially and culturally endorsed ways to represent ideas, intentions and expectations. This book will be of interest to researchers and advanced students of early childhood education and language development. It was originally published as a special issue in the International Journal of Early Years Education.

Graue and Walsh discuss the research process, emphasising the areas where work with children presents particular challenges. They present contributions from numerous researchers as well as insights from their own fieldwork with children.

There are many assessment systems available to provide the answers teachers and parents seek regarding the progression of infants, toddlers, and young children. However, simply choosing and administering an assessment instrument or procedure from the wide array of tools available today can be an overwhelming task. Assessment of Young Children with Special Needs helps prepare teachers for the task of evaluating the skills of infants, toddlers, and preschool children with developmental delays and those considered at risk to ...

A guide to promoting literacy in the digital age With young children gaining access to a dizzying array of games, videos, and other digital media, will they ever learn to read? The answer is yes—if they are surrounded by adults who know how to help and if they are introduced to media designed to promote literacy, instead of undermining it. Tap, Click, Read gives educators and parents the tools and information they need to help children grow into strong, passionate readers who are skilled at using media and technology of all kinds—print, digital, and everything in between. In Tap, Click, Read authors Lisa Guernsey and Michael H. Levine envision a future that is human-centered first and tech-assisted second. They document how educators and parents can lead a new path to a place they call 'Readialand'—a literacy-rich world that marries reading and digital media to bring knowledge, skills, and critical thinking to all of our children. This approach is driven by the urgent need for low-income children and parents to have access to the same 21st-century literacy opportunities already at the fingertips of today's affluent families.With stories from homes, classrooms and cutting edge tech labs, plus accessible translation of new research and compelling videos, Guernsey and Levine help educators, parents, and America's leaders tackle the questions that arise as digital media plays a larger and larger role in children's lives, starting in their very first years of life. Tap, Click, Read includes an analysis of the exploding app marketplace and provides useful information on new review sites and valuable curation tools. It shows what to avoid and what to demand in today's apps and e-books—as well as what to seek in community preschools, elementary schools and libraries. Peppered with the latest research from fields as diverse as neuroscience and behavioral economics and richly documented examples of best practices from schools and early childhood programs around the country, Tap, Click, Read will show you how to: Promote the adult-child interactions that help kids grow into strong readers Learn how to use digital media to build a foundation for reading and success Discover new tools that open up avenues for creativity, critical thinking, and knowledge-building that today's children need The book's accompanying website keeps you updated on new research and provides vital resources to help parents, schools and community organizations.