This paper seeks to connect adolescents' communication within on-line weblogs or blogs to developmental processes. A total of 195 English language blogs written by self-identified 14- to 18-year-olds were selected; three entries from each blog were analysed, resulting in a sample of 585 entries. Blogger demographics, self-presentation, and blog…

The promotion of social and emotional learning (SEL) in schools may help prevent emotional and behavioral problems of students. This study evaluated the effects of a SEL curriculum, "Strong Start," on the social-emotional competence of 26 second grade students, using a quasi-experimental, non-equivalent control group design. Results revealed…

Parents' involvement in their children's education has been shown to have positive results in various aspects of child development such as behaviour, social-emotional development and academic performance. This article focuses on teachers' views of the major problems affecting home-school partnership and possible solutions to improve communication…

In this article, the authors provide an overview of the consequences of war, terrorism, and disaster on children's physical, social, emotional, and cognitive development. Next, they discuss the "resiliency promoting" strategies that adults who work with children may employ prior to and after a catastrophic event. The article concludes with…

Associations between maternal sensitivity to infant distress and nondistress and infant social-emotional adjustment were examined in a subset of dyads from the NICHD Study of Early Child Care (N = 376). Mothers reported on infant temperament at 1 and 6 months postpartum, and maternal sensitivity to distress and nondistress were observed at 6…

This article presents and summarizes recent resources related to pretend play in the early childhood classroom. These include "Contemporary Perspectives on Play in Early Childhood Education" by Olivia N. Sarachoe and Bernard Spodek; "Dramatic Play: Bring It Back" by Tammy Benson; and "The Importance of Being Playful" by Elena Bodrova and Deborah…

Children's sense of a community is essential in elementary schools. This helps gives students a sense of belonging and control over their environment. The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of several strategies from the Toolbox Project and their effect on building community in the classroom. Collin (2003b) discusses his Toolbox…

Using data from an urban public pre-k program, the authors add to and extend the emerging evidence base of the effects of public prekindergarten programs on child school readiness. They also use data collected in treatment classrooms to examine associations between teacher characteristics, fidelity-to-curricula, dosage and child outcomes. Their…

There is an increasing support from international organizations and the research community for stepping beyond infant or child mortality as the most common child level social indicator and progressing towards an international measure of child development. The Early Development Instrument (EDI) is a teacher-completed measure of children's…

The low achievement of students from non-English-speaking households living in low socioeconomic contexts is associated with academic skill gaps evident at kindergarten entry. Yet, few cost-effective, valid instruments are available to assess these students' school readiness. To examine this topic, this longitudinal study followed 1,069 primarily…

Pubertal development is a nonlinear process progressing from prepubescent beginnings through biological, physical, and psychological changes to full sexual maturity. To tether theoretical concepts of puberty with sophisticated longitudinal, analytical models capable of articulating pubertal development more accurately, we used nonlinear…

In this collective case study of caregiver behaviors with their toddlers, two-minute videotaped reading interactions were analyzed using a constant comparative method. Twenty-four caregiver-toddler dyads from a high-risk sample of children prenatally exposed to cocaine were selected from a larger sample because they represented the extremes of…

Family narratives about the past are an important context for the socialization of emotion, but relations between expression of negative emotion and children's emerging competence are conflicting. In this study, 24 middle-class two-parent families narrated a shared negative experience together and we examined the process (initiations and…

Written from the vantage point of both a mother and teacher educator, the author recounts the journey taken by Sarah, her 4-year old daughter, as she is introduced to and explores map making as a means of representing and making sense of familiar and unfamiliar places. Offering Sarah's experience as context, the author offers both a practical and…

In recent years nontraditional professional doctoral programs have been on the rise. Fueled by the demand of the new "knowledge-based" economy, these doctoral programs are becoming increasingly important in training professionals to become experts in their fields. As such, data on the learning outcomes of nontraditional programs becomes…