As prekindergarten becomes a more common feature in elementary school, little is known about how early childhood stakeholders are incorporating their child-centered practices into the standards-based accountability reforms that define elementary school. This article addresses this issue by presenting a case study that examined the implementation…

Despite the widespread popularity of the National Association for the Education of Young Children's guidelines on Developmentally Appropriate Practices (DAP), research on the effects of these practices is limited, in this article we review studies assessing the effects of DAP. We find no evidence of consistent effects of DAP for cognitive or…

Addresses issues in the organization and delivery of preprimary instruction: attendance, the basis for program entry, and the effects of alternative curricula and length of school day on student achievement. Limitations of existing studies are described, and the problem of the increasingly academic nature of preprimary curricula is discussed. (RH)