The purpose of this paper is to identify practices and trends in elementary and secondary education literature applicable to early childhood student teacher supervision. The paper begins by reviewing the relevant literature on both historical and current perspectives on early childhood teacher education programs. Then, the goals of student teaching, the characteristics of student teachers, the role of supervisors, and characteristics of effective supervisors are explored. The goals of student teaching include developing reflective individuals and affording students opportunities to implement instructive practices in a classroom and to interact with students. Supervisors should serve as a catalyst, encouraging students to formulate broad perspectives on teaching by reflecting on their student teaching experience, and helping students integrate theoretical frameworks with classroom realities. Several supervision models are outlined. Finally, six recommendations for early childhood supervision practices are suggested: (1) supervisors should emphasize constructivist methods so that student teachers learn to be self-directed in their learning; (2) supervisors should be cognitive coaches and not evaluators in guiding student teachers' learning; (3) supervisors should allow frequent opportunities for collaboration, inquiry, and reflection about the supervisor's own teaching; (4) supervisors must teach student teachers how to reflect on their own teaching; (5) the student teacher's ability to reflect upon and assess his or her own teaching and learning should be an evaluation criterion; and (6) the flexibility that qualitative methods offer for student teacher evaluation makes them appropriate for the diverse nature of early childhood settings. (Contains 32 references.) (ND)