Clarifies issues surrounding teaching of the alphabet to preschoolers. Considers the meaning of "teaching" and examines links between letter knowledge, phonemic awareness, and learning to read. Presents suggestions for teaching the alphabet within developmentally appropriate practice guidelines, including beginning with the familiar, creating a…

Students are under pressure from teachers, parents, and college admissions counselors to maintain high grade point averages, score well on high-stakes tests, participate in a variety of extracurricular activities, and gain admission to top colleges. In fact, surveys have found that most students identify academic pressure as the main reason for…

Three brief articles by teachers in Foxfire's East Tennessee Teachers' Network discuss developmentally appropriate practices for high school students and young adults, and describe the use of group work in a high school English class and class projects concerned with local history and wetlands ecology. (SV)

Discusses the author's personal background as it affects her views on early childhood education. Describes her 12 beliefs in praise of developmentally appropriate practice. Beliefs include: (1) the theoretical foundation of developmentally appropriate practice is valid; (2) developmentally appropriate practice encourages academic rigor; and (3)…

This report provides a brief literature review describing a variety of best practices in middle school education.

Research suggests that children benefit from preschool programs only when the programs are of high quality. This study sought to ascertain if Texas public prekindergarten teachers and administrators recognized standards for high quality preschool consistent with nationally recognized standards, and to determine if their level of acceptance was…

This study determined the criteria used by administrators to assess effective teaching by early childhood public school teachers and explored the relationship between such evaluative criteria and research- and theory-based indicators of developmentally appropriate practices. Instruments used for evaluation were collected from 17 school districts…

Asserting that widespread Head Start and state universal prekindergarten programs validate the need for a nationalized preschool program, this paper presents an argument for nationalizing Montessori-style preschool education in the United States. The paper maintains that Montessori-style classrooms use developmentally appropriate practices as…

Recent advances in neuroscience have engaged the interest of early childhood educators who believe that the more we know about the brain, the better able we will be to influence learning. This workshop facilitator's guide and set of two videotapes are designed to assist educators, students, caregivers, parents, and those providing services to…

This report provides guidelines for developmentally appropriate school-age child care programming, based in part on standards developed by the National Association for the Education of Young Children. Part 1 outlines and discusses seven principles of developmentally appropriate school-age child care programs, which should strive to: (1) provide…

This report presents the results of a statewide study of kindergarten practices in North Carolina during 1988. The study was initiated due to concern about the developmental appropriateness of kindergartens. A total of 103 randomly selected kindergarten classrooms were observed in an effort to measure the quality of classroom practices. In…

Given what is known about cognitive development, how well prepared are 4-year-old children to succeed in school? This paper addresses the question by describing three areas in cognitive development, highlighting major themes in the research, and suggesting implications for teaching practice and social policy. Classical and contemporary views of…

This study investigated perceptions of teaching and learning among Hong Kong kindergarten teachers. Findings indicated that traditional instruction emphasizing planning, preparation, and external judgment, was perceived as an important indicator for good teaching. Teachers tended to focus on their own actions as teachers rather than their pupils'…

Maintains that graduation exercises are developmentally inappropriate for young children. Discusses developmentally appropriate alternative end-of-the-year activities. (BB)

Policies such as raising of entrance age, readiness screening, and kindergarten retention are intended to solve the problem of inappropriate academic demand by removing younger or unready children from the regular classroom. Research evidence does not support the efficacy of these policies. (RH)