Quality in early care and education (ECE) has been widely studied across several decades. There is not one standard definition of quality across ECE contexts. However, classroom quality often encompasses both structural features of quality, such as teacher-child ratios and teachers' qualifications, and process features of quality, such as…

Children's Approaches to Learning (AtL) represents how children seek learning opportunities in their classrooms. It can include children's persistence, attention, and initiative. It has often been studied using a composite of a teacher-rated scale. However, person-centered approaches may account for heterogeneity in children's learning approaches,…

This study involved a pilot implementation of an evidence based school readiness intervention in new community contexts. The Head Start Research Based, Developmentally Informed (REDI) program was implemented in preschools on and near a Native American reservation with both indigenous and non-indigenous students and teachers. The REDI curriculum…

A sample of 496 early childhood teachers was assigned randomly in two phases to a series of professional development (PD) interventions. Phase I intervention was a 14-week course on effective teacher-child interactions. Participants were then re-randomized into Phase II intervention, which consisted of individual, interactions-focused coaching.…

Head Start is a national program that promotes school readiness by enhancing the social and cognitive development of children through the provision of educational, health, nutritional, social, and other services to enrolled children and families. The Head Start program provides comprehensive child development services to economically disadvantaged…

Drawing on a qualitative case study of four Head Start sites, this article analyzes a number of governing patterns that have emerged and grown in the field of early childhood education and care in the United States. This article specifically highlights a government's enhanced oversight and management of Head Start programs by mandating a school…