COLLABORATIONS IN EARLY CHILDHOOD TEACHER EDUCATION: CHALLENGES AND PROMISE

Abstract

This article describes the reflective process used by a group of early childhood faculty members to study national standards in order to improve their teacher education program. The standards studied included those from the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC), Interstate New Teacher Assessment and Support Consortium (INTASC), National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) and the Division for Early Childhood of the Council for Exceptional Children (DEC/ECE). The reflective process and study resulted in changes in field experiences, course requirements and activities and assisted in state and national accreditation.     

AGING AND HIGHER EDUCATION: PROSPECTS FOR INTERVENTION

Consistently low participation in higher education programs by older adults suggests the need for theory‐derived research efforts to uncover barriers to educational activity in later life. In the present paper it is argued that an understanding of adulthood educational participation be developed according to a criterion of environmental and situationally dependent factors rather than solely to one of inexorable and cross‐situational biophysical decline. Specific environmental and organismic factors that may relate to chronically low rates of educational participation by older learners are pinpointed and described and suggestions are made for examining and rearranging the ecological context of life‐span education in order to stimulate greater educational involvement in the later years. Changes in cross‐age attitudes and behaviors that may result from an influx of older adult learners into college and university classrooms are also considered in light of recent research evidence on inter‐generational contact.     

LESSONS LEARNED IN FOUR URBAN EARLY CHILDHOOD PROGRAMS AND THE IMPLICATIONS FOR TEACHER EDUCATION

Abstract

Teacher educators are often searching for methods and/or techniques to enhance and expand the content of their courses. As teacher educators, we do not want to introduce new methodology that detracts our students’ attention away from the course content. However, we need to keep our courses current and interesting for ourselves as well as for our students. Several teacher educators at one institution have begun including service‐learning projects into their preservice and inservice teachers’ courses as a way to augment the standard curriculum. The focus of this study is to illustrate how service‐learning was incorporated into the existing children's literature course and share the five cooperative projects that resulted from this integration.     

INFUSING TECHNOLOGY: TRANSFORMING EARLY CHILDHOOD TEACHER EDUCATION

Beginning teachers of young children often express concern that their professional preparation has not adequately prepared them to work effectively with families. This remains the case in spite of literature documenting the importance of involving parents in their children's early education. This article describes a service learning project designed to give students early in their professional preparation an authentic opportunity be a resource for the families of the children with whom they have worked. Service learning is a particularly appropriate pedagogical approach to enhance students' confidence and competence working with families because it provides authentic and hands-on opportunities to apply course content. This project effectively provided students an opportunity to assume a professional voice when working with families. It enhanced our program's success ensuring that our students take the requisite skills and dispositions to their work with families, while building their confidence and honing their communication skills.     

EARLY CHILDHOOD TEACHER EDUCATION FOR THE 21ST CENTURY: NOT BY CHANCE

Abstract

This study examined correlations between teachers’ attitudes toward mathematics/teaching mathematics and the practice of developmentally appropriate mathematics. This study tested two independent variables: (1) kindergarten teachers’ attitudes toward mathematics; and (2) kindergarten teachers’ attitudes toward teaching mathematics; and their relationships with the practice of developmentally appropriate mathematics.

The researcher designed a survey questionnaire by cross‐referencing several instruments and the review of related literature. A sample of 200 kindergarten teachers was randomly selected from the Indiana Department of Education website directory. Of the 200 kindergarten teachers, 81 teachers participated in this study by returning the survey questionnaire to the researcher via the postal service, e‐mailing, or posting the response over the Internet.

Each independent variable was tested to determine the level of its statistical significance by using multiple linear stepwise regression procedures. The results of this study revealed that kindergarten teachers’ attitudes toward teaching mathematics were found to be a significant variable correlating with the practice of developmentally appropriate mathematics, but kindergarten teachers’ attitudes toward mathematics were not a significant variable.     

IMPLEMENTING COLLEGE AND CAREER STANDARDS IN MATH METHODS COURSE FOR EARLY CHILDHOOD AND ELEMENTARY EDUCATION TEACHER CANDIDATES

This study is purposed to measure the efficacy of implementing College and Career Readiness Standards (CCRS) math standards into math methods courses for early childhood and elementary education teacher candidates at an urban university located in the Dallas and Fort Worth metroplex area. A total of 161 college seniors (teacher candidates) enrolled in the mathematics methods courses for early childhood and elementary education participated in this study. The results showed that incorporating CCRS into the math methods courses was successful as shown by the significant findings between pre- and post-assessments in both skills- and knowledge-associated items. Although only two items were found to be significant between pre- and post-assessments on disposition, teacher candidates showed higher scores in pre-assessments on disposition compared to skills- and knowledge-associated items.     

WOMEN AND RETIREMENT: EVOLVING ISSUES FOR FUTURE RESEARCH AND EDUCATION INTERVENTION

Until recent years, occupational retirement was perceived primarily as a male life transition process. Women now comprise a major population experiencing active, long‐term involvement in occupational roles and facing significant concerns in their transition from work to retirement.

This article provides an examination of the current status of research regarding women and retirement and discusses multiple issues that surround the aging woman and her relationship to the retirement process. Key orientations are discussed in relation to conceptualizing and shaping future preretirement educational programming alternatives.     

PROFESSIONALISM, PROFESSIONALITY AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF EDUCATION PROFESSIONALS

ABSTRACT:  What purpose is served by renovation or redesign of professionalism, and how successful a process is it likely to be? This article addresses these questions by examining the effectiveness as a professional development mechanism of the imposition of changes to policy and/or practice that require modification or renovation of professionalism. The 'new' professionalisms purported to have been fashioned over the last two or three decades across the spectrum of UK education sectors and contexts have been the subject of extensive analysis, and this article avoids going over old ground and revisiting issues that have already been much debated. Nevertheless, the example of UK government education policy during this period is used as a basis for considering the pitfalls associated with mechanisms for modifying professionalism through a reform and standards agenda. The article's analysis incorporates re-definition and examination of the concept and substance of professionalism and offers new perspectives in the form of three distinct conceptions: demanded, prescribed and enacted professionalism. Exploring the existentialist status of 'new' or 'modified' professionalisms and the relationship between professionality, professional culture and professionalism, it examines how professionalism may be interpreted and utilised for the development of education professionals.     

TRANSFORMING COLIABORATION BETWEEN PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND ONE EARLY CHILDHOOD TEACHER EDUCATION PROGRAM

Abstract

For 10 years a group of early childhood teacher educators in Oregon have been developing a portfolio articulation system that students can take with them as they move through the educational sequence from high school through university. This article reports on the group's efforts to determine content of such a portfolio and how those contents should be scored. The group based their recommendations on commonalities among programs and samples of students’ work. The article also describes the contents of an articulation portfolio which includes evidence of and scores for the student's ability to observe and record children's behavior, plan for instruction, develop a philosophy of early childhood education and teach children. In addition, there is discussion of what was learned during this lengthy enterprise including the realization that articulation needs to respond to what students know and are able to do, not what courses they have taken. Readers are also given information on how to obtain a copy of the portfolio guidelines.