As the federal role expands to support increased state investments in school-based prekindergarten programs, National Association of Elementary School Principals (NAESP) has released an updated, principal competency guide: "Leading Pre-K-3 Learning Communities: Competencies for Effective Principal Practice." Developed by a panel of…

The Scale of Primary Classroom Practices (SPCP) is a short instrument which enables primary school teachers to observe and assess what goes on in their classrooms. The SPCP is divided into sections that describe teachers' and students' activities. A study of the SPCP has provided support for the reliability and construct validity of the scale.…

An education agency's early childhood resource developer implemented and evaluated a practicum intervention designed to increase administrators' and teachers' awareness of questionable trends and practices in kindergarten education. Most of the kindergartens in the agency's area had a highly academic, lock-step curriculum; used standardized…

This study examined parent and teacher attitudes toward developmentally appropriate instructional practice compared to traditional skill-based instruction in the classroom. The study surveyed parents and teachers of kindergarten, first, and second grade students in Marin County, California. The results of the surveys showed that most parents and…

This thesis examined the relationship between the level of endorsement of developmentally appropriate practice (DAP) by 14 second-grade teachers and the construction of self-concept of children in their classrooms. Teachers were given the Primary Teacher Questionnaire, a beliefs scale that assesses the level of endorsement of DAP, and were…

The Nongraded Primary Learning Communities Program (NPLCP) was introduced at the beginning of the 1990-91 school year in three Houston Independent School District elementary schools. This evaluation describes the implementation of the NPLCP; examines the effect of the NPLCP on students' standardized achievement test scores; and evaluates teacher…

This practicum sought to provide a model for a local affiliate of the Girl Scouts of the USA, offering a developmentally appropriate curriculum for inner-city kindergarten-age girls at a community recreation center. A hands-on training program was developed and implemented with a group of community volunteers. Program activities were designed to…

This practicum report describes the implementation of a pilot program that used packets of learning materials to incorporate individualized instruction into a traditional curriculum in a kindergarten classroom. Objectives of the program were that 80 percent of students would demonstrate improvement in basic readiness skills, and that 90 percent of…

A practicum project implemented a developmentally appropriate intervention to increase school success for at-risk children in kindergarten through grade 3. Two corollary aims of the project were to determine the causes of at-risk status before retention or school failure occurs, and to involve parents in their children's educational process. An…

A study evaluated the Early Childhood Resources Teacher Training Project (TTP). The purpose of the TTP is to train preschool and early primary grade teachers in developmentally appropriate practices. The evaluation sought to: (1) determine the extent to which teachers undergoing training were able to understand and implement the content of the…

Parents and teachers share concerns about appropriate early childhood educational practices, but often differ on what methods best serve the children. Differences in opinion can result in strained relationships between the home and school, and make fulfilling the basic educational needs of the child more difficult. This study explores the age-old…

This study assessed teachers' opinions about the promotion of immature children to first grade. A total of 224 teachers from private and public elementary schools in Mississippi completed a questionnaire that addressed such issues as the relation between maturity and readiness, repetition of kindergarten, academic and peer pressure, and the…

During the 1988-89 school year, the Portland, Oregon, Board of Education adopted an approach based on developmentally appropriate practices for improving early childhood education in public schools. Part of the plan for implementing the approach focused on a teachers' self-study process. The goals of the self-study project, in which three…

Given the help they want and need, families do spend time with their young children in developmentally appropriate learning activities. Following a successful experience with Family Connections 1, the Rural Excel Program at the Appalachia Educational Laboratory (AEL) developed a second volume of 22 colorful, four-page guides to learning, designed…

This report describes the development of the Primary Teacher Questionnaire (PTQ), a self-report teacher beliefs scale based on the position statement on developmentally appropriate practice in the primary grades published by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC). The development of the PTQ was conducted in three…