美国学前教育新动向:联邦政府加强中央干预

为了适应学前教育事业发展的需要,美国联邦政府有意加强了对学前教育事业的干预:通过有条件的拨款法,监控学前教育发展;推动开端计划与其他保教项目的整合,在更大范围内渗透优质教育理念;组织重大研究项目,解决学前教育发展瓶颈问题;开展国家层面的学前教育行动,促进学前教育发展.     

全区学前教育内涵发展的教研举措

随着第一个＂学前教育三年行动计划＂实施的结束和第二个＂学前教育三年行动计划＂的开始,全区学前教育迎来了跨越式发展的历史新阶段,同时也面临着前所未有的发展机遇。加强科学保教、提高保育教育质量、促进学前教育内涵发展就成为当前的重要任务。因此,为进一步适应教育改革与发展的新形势,     

建立以社区为基础的学前儿童整合性服务——英国“确保开端”项目的启示

随着“早期儿童保育和教育”这一整合性词语所代表的理念和实践的推行,以及从0岁开始的学前儿童教育一体化的实施,建立“以社区为基础的学前儿童整合性服务”已成为当今世界学前教育领域的一个热点。其中英国的“确保开端”(surestart)项目,以其特有的理念、巨额的投资和完善的配套工程,更加引人注目。虽然英国的政治、经济、文化状况与我国有很大不同,但是他山之石,可以攻玉,该项目对我国学前教育事业的改革和发展有着诸多启示。英国“确保开端”项目的几个特点“确保开端”是英国政府的一个项目,它的总目标是让所有儿童的生命都有尽可能好…     

美国开端计划的教育公平取向及其启示

美国的开端计划为处境不利的儿童提供教育补偿,促使他们在原有基础上获得良好的发展,并以此追求教育公平.开端计划实施过程中,政府投入了大量资金.该计划提供的是适合儿童年龄和发展水平的综合性服务.并重视与家庭、社区的合作.这些做法为我国改善当前学前教育公平状况提供了启示.     

“开端计划”经费管理制度及其对我国的启示

开端计划是由美国联邦政府主导的面向弱势群体儿童的教育补偿计划。它经历了初期及快速发展期、曲折发展期、注重质量的健康发展期。在其发展过程中,该计划形成了项目审批权与项目拨款权分立、项目运作权与经费管理权分立、独立采购与独立审计、多重监督与及时评估、严格而细致的奖惩制度等特点,对我国学前教育财政投入有一定的启示意义。     

英国布莱尔政府的重要学前教育改革政策

一、“确保开端”计划（Sure Start,1998） “确保开端”计划是布莱尔政府大力发展学前教育过程中最先推行的一项改革举措,它以消除“社会排斥”,促进教育公平为宗旨,以实现儿童全面发展为目标,     

英国“确保开端”项目的发展近况及启示

从20世纪末以来,英国政府推出了多项新的政策举措,进行了规模宏大的学前教育改革,以扩展和提高早期儿童保育和教育服务的数量和质量,为幼儿及其家庭建立一个更加广泛的支持系统."确保开端" (Sure Start)项目便是其中的一个重要组成部分,被有些学者誉为英国学前教育发展的"希望工程",它的一些思想和做法值得我们学习和借鉴.     

幼儿教师继续教育需求分析与对策——以鲁东大学成人高等教育学前教育专业为例

学前教育是人生发展的奠基性教育,对于促进个体早期的身心全面健康发展具有重要意义。调查表明,目前的学前教育专业的继续教育教学需求主要集中在加强专业基础理论知识学习、加强幼儿教师心理调适能力训练、加强社会人际交往能力培养、加强特殊儿童心理与教育指导诸方面。与此相应,优化人才培养方案、实施＂校—园＂联合、强化心理健康教育、密切＂家—园＂合作与沟通应是成人高等教育学前教育专业教学改革的重点。     

美国学前教育改革战略新走向——《力争上游——早期学习挑战》计划述评

2011年,美国教育部与卫生及公共服务部联合推出《力争上游——早期学习挑战》计划,这是迄今为止美国最大的联邦学前教育投资计划。它缘于奥巴马政府不满学前教育现状、践行改革的承诺,以及补充《力争上游》计划。该计划包括关键领域、选择标准、优先等级等内容。该计划对美国学前教育改革的推动作用已逐步显现,亦对我国学前教育事业的发展具有参考和借鉴意义。     

美国开端计划的现状探索

美国"开端计划"是一个全国性的大型项目,对于促进美国幼儿学前教育机会、儿童认知能力发展以及入学准备有很大的促进作用。本文根据美国NCES的翔实资料,从开端计划的性别比例及族裔构成、开端计划家长参与情况、开端计划层次与家庭环境、开端计划效果和认同等几个方面进行现状分析,以期能够对我国学前教育发展提供启示。     

美国父母参与儿童早期保育与教育述评

父母参与儿童早期保育与教育是美国儿童早期发展的"干预计划"中重要内容。在"开端计划"、"儿童保育运动"和"家庭援助方案"中父母以课堂志愿者活动、义工、家访交流等多种形式参与儿童早期保育与教育,以传递家庭中的文化、语言、宗教等方面的传统,监督保育与教育的各种实施措施改进和总体质量的提升,促进其子女的健康发展和自身素质和技能的提高。     

Children’s Behavioral Challenges in Head Start Classrooms: Links to Teacher Well-Being and Intent to Leave

Early Childhood Education Journal - Using the nationally representative Head Start Family and Child Experiences Survey 2014 (FACES 2014), this study examined the associations...     

Impact of a Statewide Collaborative on Strengthening Families Through Early Care and Education

Research Findings: Research suggests that early care and education programs are most effective when they include strong components of family involvement. The Center for the Study of Social Policy recommended that early care and education programs build family-centered practices to strengthen families and reduce the incidence of child abuse and neglect. This article summarizes a statewide effort to implement this strategy, called Strengthening Families through Early Care and Education. We analyzed program self-assessments submitted by 186 early care and education programs. Analyses revealed that Head Start programs had better support systems in place for families than did “mainstream” (non–Head Start, non-accredited) early care and education programs. Results also showed that a small amount of state and local funding provided enough incentive for programs to improve their family-strengthening practices. Commitment and collaboration at the state level led to a sustainable impact by infusing “strengthening families” concepts into the early care and education field statewide.     

Labor Market and Teaching Staff Considerations for Making Early Childhood Education Work for Migrant Head Start Teachers: The Case of Michigan Migrant Head Start

This paper considers the case of the Michigan Migrant Head Start program to describe and analyze the labor market conditions and teaching staff characteristics to identify the challenges faced by Migrant Head Start grantees in attracting, hiring, retaining, and training degreed teachers. The emphasis is on describing and analyzing the child care labor market characteristics that confront Migrant Head Start grantees in upstream locations and on describing the characteristics and opinions of Migrant Head Start teachers and interpreting their significance for developing educational programs that facilitate the ability of Migrant Head Start teachers to become degreed in early childhood education. The implications of the findings for making early childhood education work for Migrant Head Start teachers are discussed from the perspective of administrators of Migrant Head Start programs and teacher preparation programs at community colleges and universities.     

Family and classroom correlates of head start children's developmental outcomes

Program quality is an important theme for Head Start. Even staunch supporters of Head Start are concerned that too few Head Start classes are of the quality that is needed to best promote children's growth and development. This study examined relationships between classroom quality and child outcomes among 145 Head Start children from poor quality to more stimulating home environments. Results indicated that children in higher quality Head Start classrooms performed better on measures of achievement and preacademic skills, regardless of the quality of their home environment. Children from better home environments seemed to benefit more from classroom quality in the area of problem solving and reasoning than did children from less stimulating homes. Teacher characteristics such as education, experience, and attitudes were not associated with classroom quality in this group of 32 Head Start classrooms. On the Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale, no classroom received a rating of inadequate, but only 9% met or exceeded the score that would be considered developmentally appropriate.     

Profiles of school readiness among four-year-old Head Start children

This study uses the Family and Child Experiences Survey (FACES) data from 1997 to investigate the degree to which child, family, classroom, teacher, and Head Start program characteristics are related to children's school readiness and continued development over the four-year-old Head Start year. Latent class analyses were used to examine the constellation of school readiness competencies within individual Head Start children in both the fall and spring of the four-year-old Head Start year. Multinomial regression analyses examined patterns of association between demographic and program characteristics and profile membership over time. Four distinct developmental profiles were found in the sample in the fall, and three were found in the spring. Furthermore, a substantial proportion of Head Start children (43%) moved from a developmental profile including some risk to a strengths profile between the fall and spring of the Head Start year. Child age, family structure, parental educational attainment, classroom quality and teacher's level of educational attainment emerged as important factors associated with stability and change in profile membership over the four-year-old Head Start year, but receipt of social services through Head Start was not associated with stability or change in profile membership.     

Supporting optimal child development through Early Head Start and Head Start programs: Reflections on secondary data analyses of FACES and EHSREP

We are delighted to reflect on the 10 papers highlighted in this important special issue of Early Childhood Research Quarterly devoted to recent secondary data analyses of the FACES and EHSREP datasets. First, we provide some background on Head Start research and give an overview of the large-scale Head Start and Early Head Start datasets that are available for researchers to analyze. Then, we comment on the papers in this special issue from a methodological and statistical standpoint. Finally, we reflect on themes that stood out across the various papers. Throughout, we make recommendations for future large-scale data collection efforts and future research on Head Start and Early Head Start programs.     

Characterizing disability in Head Start programs: Not so clearcut

Head Start programs are required to set aside at least 10% of program slots for children with disabilities, but the percentage of children with disabilities served varies depending on the criteria used and source of the information. This study used the Head Start Family and Child Experiences Survey (FACES) 2000 data for a nationally representative sample to identify subgroups of children meeting three different criteria for having a disability or developmental delay. Results indicated that about one-third of children in Head Start (33%) met one or more of the criteria for a disability or delay, about one-third of those children (33%) met criteria for two or for all three of the subgroups. However, only 8% of children in Head Start had an Individualized Education Program (IEP). Children with disabilities or delays, regardless of the subgroup criteria used, had higher levels of many other risk factors associated with poor developmental and school readiness outcomes. They also exhibited poorer performance on early literacy, social, and behavioral measures both at entry into Head Start and at the end of kindergarten compared with children not in each of those subgroups. Implications of the findings for screening and assessment, serving children in Head Start programs, and the need for linkages between Head Start programs and the preschool special education system are discussed.     

National profiles of school readiness skills for Head Start children: An investigation of stability and change

Among a nationally representative sample of 2336 Head Start children, patterns of school readiness were compared at the beginning and end of children's first preschool year, and predictors of stability and change across readiness profiles were examined. The present study documented that although the majority of children remain in a qualitatively similar school readiness profile across their first year in Head Start, 20% of children move to a qualitatively different profile over the school year, reflecting both improvements and declines in functioning. Child and family attributes (e.g., child age, ELL status, maternal education, and family structure), as well as contextual factors (e.g., teacher education and experience, parenting style, and parent involvement) were significant predictors of both profile stability and change. Given that we have little understanding about what factors practice or policy can manipulate to improve school readiness, these findings shed light on what we might do to promote school readiness and prevent declines in functioning over time. Thus, findings from this study provide a population- and pattern-based perspective of Head Start children's strengths and needs, relevant for informing both individual and systems level change in Head Start programs across the nation.     

Understanding Head Start children's problem behaviors in the context of arrest or incarceration of household members

Using data from the nationally representative Head Start Family and Child Experiences Survey (FACES), the relationships between living in a household where a household member had been arrested or incarcerated and conduct problems of preschool children enrolled in Head Start were examined. Children who lived in such households showed more aggressive, hyperactive, and withdrawn behaviors than children who lived in households with no such exposure. These associations remained statistically significant after controlling for other family background characteristics. Parental involvement in Head Start, less use of spanking, and more time spent by the child in Head Start were associated with less problem behaviors.