The proliferation and strong presence of new media in young children's lives have oriented early childhood research and practice towards the concept of digital literacy, now being an important part of ECE policy and practice worldwide. Children join formal education with a rich repertoire of multimedia, multimodal and digital practices, shaped…

This study uses content analysis to document the representation of the homestay experience, focusing on the portrayal of U.S. host families and exchange students on 16 study abroad programs' websites. Despite the surge of international students coming to the United States for secondary education and the pressing need to recruit host families, not…

This cluster-randomized controlled study examined dual language learners (DLLs) in Norway who received a book-based language intervention program. About 464 DLLs aged 3-5 years in 123 early childhood classrooms participated in the study. The children were acquiring Norwegian as their second language in preschool and spoke a variety of first…

The emotional aspects of children's social relations have generally been marginalised in social science discourse. Children, who participated in the Australian segment of the Children's Understandings of Well-being (CUWB) project used various media to 'voice' the importance for their well-being of emotional relatedness with family, friends,…

Reading comprehension is the ultimate goal of learning to read, as the understanding of text is at the root of the purpose for reading, whether reading for pleasure or reading to learn. At-home reading practices can vary widely family to family -- some families have the knowledge and resources to read effectively with their children, while others…

This study examines the feasibility of adding a proximal outcome survey to a book distribution program. We also examine access to books at home for Grade 3 to 5 students experiencing poverty and relations with reading motivation and reading amount. Finally, we describe students' book preferences by analyzing the difficulty and genres of texts they…

This study addresses a gap in the study-abroad literature, examining both student and host family experiences of two-way cultural transmission. Interviews, participant observation and reflective journals revealed both parties sought authentic cultural experiences, but implicit forms of cultural transmission in homestay rendered preconceived…

The authors of this report explored children's informal learning outside of school and then investigated how this knowledge can enhance teaching and learning practice in the classroom. The authors worked alongside children to develop a conceptual framework of the variations in how Year 5 students learn informally in their everyday lives outside…

The introduction to this Special Topic Collection has two parts. To provide background and context for the articles in the collection, Part 1 tells the story of the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study program at the National Center for Education Statistics. It offers an abridged history of this program and describes the designs of the two national…

This paper is based on a large study of family literacy provision in England, which was carried out between July 2013 and May 2015. It explored the impact of classes on parents' relations with the school and their children, and their ability to support their children's literacy development. The study involved 27 school-based programmes for pupils…

The role of parental involvement in the sense of home-based or school-based programs for supporting children's early literacy development and education in the Greek state school context has not been well established. The "PIECE" (Parental Involvement for the Engagement, Cooperation and Empowerment) program is a novel inclusion program…

Parental involvement in intervention can support intervention efficacy, improve generalization, and increase accessibility. The Preschool Life Skills (PLS) program is designed to teach 13 preschool life skills and prevent problem behavior. The current study explores the utility of the PLS program as delivered by parents. In Experiment 1, 6 parents…

Drawing on in-depth empirical research, we explore a project called The Welcome Dinner (WDP). The WDP aims to bring together 'newly arrived' people and 'established Australians' to meet and 'share stories' over a potluck meal in 'the comfort of their own home'. The purpose is to create meaningful connections, new friendships and social…

Do market-based policies, like school vouchers, that provide an exit option enhance or diminish parental involvement? I examine this question using original survey data from parents participating in the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program, the nation's oldest urban voucher program. Voucher students were matched to a set of public school students…

A comprehensive school physical activity program (CSPAP) is a multi-component whole-school approach designed to assist schools in targeting opportunities for students to be more physically active and help students achieve the recommended 60 minutes of physical activity (PA) each day. A CSPAP consists of five components (1) quality physical…