The Promise of Pre-K (NCRECE). This item is unavailable.The Promise of Pre-K (NCRECE)

This volume will provide an overview of the research and practice of state-funded pre-k programs with implications for future program development and planning. This book is a product of the National Center for Research on Early Childhood Education (NCRECE) first Annual Leadership Symposium, which was held in Washington, DC in February of 2007. Leaders in the field met with researchers, policy makers and state level officials to share information about the status of pre-kindergarten programs in the United States. This volume captures critical information related to both the nature of preschool education and the challenges of implementing preschool education at the state level. The first section of the book examines state-level concerns related to expanding preschool education. Topics addressed include approaches to assessing young children's school readiness, methods for financing state funded preschool programs, and a comparison of the quality of universal, targeted, and voucher-funded programs. The second section focuses on issues related to the implementation of state-level programs. Authors share research from five states that finance state-level preschool. This book is the first of a closed series of books (5 total) and working papers addressing critical issues in early childhood education.

Robert C. Pianta, Ph.D., is Dean of the Curry School of Education, Director of the Center for Advanced Study in Teaching and Learning and Novartis U.S. Foundation Professor of Education at the University of Virginia, Charlottesville. A former special education teacher, Dr. Pianta is a developmental, school, and clinical child psychologist whose work focuses on assessment and improvement of teacher-student interactions and their role in fostering children's learning and development.

Dr. Pianta is a principal investigator on several major grants including the National Center for Research in Early Childhood Education and the Virginia Education Sciences Training Program, and he has worked closely with the Gates Foundation-funded Measure of Effective Teaching project.

He is the author of more than 250 journal articles, chapters, and books in the areas of early childhood education, teacher performance assessment, professional development, and teacher-child relationships, and he consults regularly with federal agencies, foundations and universities.

Carollee Howes, Ph.D., is the director of the Center for Improving Child Care Quality, Department of Education, and a professor of the Applied Developmental Psychology doctorate program at the University of California, Los Angeles. Dr. Howes is an internationally recognized developmental psychologist focusing on children's social and emotional development. She has served as a principal investigator on a number of seminal studies in early child care and preschool education, including the National Child Care Staffing Study; the Family and Relative Care Study; the Cost, Quality, and Outcomes Study; and the National Study of Child Care in Low Income Families.

Dr. Howes has been active in public policy for children and families in California as well as across the United States. Her research focuses on children's experiences in child care, their concurrent and long-term outcomes from child care experiences, and child care quality and efforts to improve child care quality. Dr. Howes is the editor of Teaching 4- to 8-Year-Olds: Literacy, Math, Multiculturalism, and Classroom Community (Paul H. Brookes Publishing Co., 2003) and the coeditor of The Promise of Pre-K (Paul H. Brookes Publishing Co., 2009) and Foundations for Teaching Excellence: Connecting Early Childhood Quality Rating, Professional Development, and Competency Systems in States (Paul H. Brookes Publishing Co., 2011).

Richard M. Clifford, Ph.D., has training in educational administration with specializations in political science and research. He has taught and has served as a principal in public schools. For more than 25 years, he has studied public policies and advised government officials and practitioners on policies affecting children and families. His work focuses on two major areas: public financing of programs for young children and the provision of appropriate learning environments for preschool and early school-age children. Dr. Clifford is co-author of a widely used series of instruments for evaluating learning environments for children, including the Family Day Care Rating Scale (FDCRS; Teachers College Press, 1989), co-authored with Thelma Harms, and the Infant/Toddler Environment Rating Scale (ITERS; Teachers College Press, 1990) and the Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale0-Revised Edition (ECERS-R; Teachers College Press, 1998), both co-authored with Thelma Harms and Debby Cryer. In 1993-1994, Dr. Clifford helped establish and served as the first director of the Division of Child Development in the North Carolina Department of Human Resources and helped with the design and implementation of the state's Smart Start early childhood initiative. He is a past president of the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC).

Barbara T. Bowman is a pioneer in the field of early childhood education. Throughout her career, she has been an advocate for young children, applying knowledge about child development to her work integrating policy and practice. She is a founder and past president of Erikson Institute and has held local and national leadership positions in public education and professional organizations. She is currently on the faculty of Erikson Institute.