Background: There is growing recognition in the education sector of the critical role empirical data plays in aiding strategic decision-making and supporting personalised learning. The call for increased and more nuanced data-driven decision-making has been primarily addressed by the institutional use of student learning dashboards and learner…

Mixed methods research studies have the potential to answer increasingly complex questions facing early childhood special education (ECSE) researchers. Despite the value that qualitative methods add to mixed methods research designs, most published mixed methods research in special education are quantitatively-dominant. In this article, we aim to…

In recent years the notion of teachers as researchers in their own educational settings has become more prominent and encouraged in research literature. In the context of early childhood education (ECE), the participatory role of teachers is especially suited given its multidisciplinary and practice-based research space. This paper explores this…

"Research Methods for Studying Young Children" is a volume developed to bring together in one source research techniques that researchers can use to collect data in early childhood education. These studies can then contribute to the knowledge in early childhood education. To conduct valid and reliable studies, researchers need to be…

In this systematic literature review, we examined which caregivers were represented within caregiver-focused studies in three top-tier early childhood special education journals: "Infants & Young Children", "Journal of Early Intervention", and "Topics in Early Childhood Special Education." The purpose of this…

In fall 2019, I had the pleasure of conducting research with my daughter's prekindergarten class. While the research was initially meant to explore the ways the class as a whole responded to and engaged with West African picturebooks and artifacts, it became clear over the course of my three classroom visits that my daughter's responses were…

This paper makes a case for developing a theory of quality ecologies in early childhood education and care, and presents our initial thoughts around how that might be done, including how it might create a space for further thinking, research and discussion. First, the politicised, positivist nature of dominant contemporary interpretations of…

In this paper, I propose "A/autisms" as an organizing concept for considering the complex intersection of Autistic identity, autistic disability, and the contingency of the diagnosis "autism" in educational research. I draw from "Neuroqueer(ing) Noise"--my doctoral research-creation project in an integrated,…

In this paper I draw on my work as a pedagogista to discuss the pedagogical promise of critique, estrangement, and what I call speculative envisioning. I argue that these concepts are themselves modes of engagement, practice, and thinking that are pedagogical and that they can help educators engage with the nondeterministic work of creating…

Public pressure on evaluation has influenced educational projects and national evaluation systems for many decades. This article extends the ongoing discussions in the field, offering a problematising exploration of evaluation as an educational policy phenomenon, thinking with the notion of rhythm in the analysis. Approaching educational…

This article aims to problematize knowledge production as merely an academic researcher endeavour by investigating how research can invite preschool-aged children to activate knowledge "in situ." Informed by Isabelle Stengers' theoretical framework, we developed the research methodology of Research prACTivisms through three propositions:…

The Tennessee State Department of Education (TDOE) was one of 21 states to be awarded a Preschool Development Birth-5 (PDG-5) federal planning grant in the Spring of 2023. This grant provided funding to support research on the current early child care & education (ECCE) system, conduct stakeholder engagement and experimentation to determine a…

Young children's self-regulation (SR) skills are linked to many important outcomes across the lifespan and school stakeholders widely agree that these skills should be prioritized in schools. Despite broad agreement about the importance of these skills, the diverse field of SR research is rife with a lack of clarity in both conceptual definitions…

This article systematically reviews empirical studies involving scientific literacy published in peer-reviewed journals, focusing on the construction of scientific literacy in formal education worldwide, the suggested ways of adopting scientific literacy in the early years, and the current practices and future possibilities for scientific literacy…

To develop a deeper understanding of who Child Care and Early Education (CCEE) educators are--and what influences impact the entry, retention, turnover, and advancement (that is, the workforce dynamics) in this industry--the Building and Sustaining the Child Care and Early Education Workforce (BASE) research team identified and documented existing…