Learn how exemplary countries are dealing with the challenges and joys of advancing the development of their youngest citizens. In this book, Sharon Lynn Kagan and her contributors systematically examine how six diverse countries go about envisioning, designing, and implementing their services to young children and their families. The Early Advantage 1 sheds light on new and exciting approaches to early childhood education and care (ECEC) that are contributing to the quality, equity, efficiency, and sustainability of services for young children. Brimming with fresh insights, the text provides concrete examples of successfully implemented strategies and methods that warrant attention from other countries wishing to improve their early childhood services. The 2-year comparative analysis upon which this volume is based was made possible with funding and support from the National Center on Education and the Economy’s (NCEE) Center on International Education Benchmarking. “Kagan and her team describe a field at a very important inflection point, and they provide a framework for pushing on to the next stage.” —From the Foreword by Marc Tucker, National Center on Education and the Economy “Pushes the early childhood field far beyond its traditional focus on services toward understanding systems, culture, governance, and sustainability.” —Hirokazu Yoshikawa, New York University “A must-read for all those seeking to meet the joys and challenges of advancing the development of their youngest citizens.” —Linda Darling-Hammond, Stanford University Contributors: Alfredo Bautista (Singapore), Rebecca Bull (Singapore), Lily Fritz (England), Bridget Healey (Australia), Sharon Lynn Kagan (U.S), Kristiina Kumpulainen (Finland), Eva Landsberg (U.S.), Carrie Lau (Hong Kong), Mugyeong Moon (Republic of Korea), Grace Murkett (England), Tom Peachey (Australia), Nirmala Rao (Hong Kong), Kathy Sylva (England), Collette Tayler (Australia)
In this seminal volume, leading authorities strategize about how to create early childhood systems that transcend politics and economics to serve the needs of all young children. The authors offer different interpretations of the nature of early childhood systems, discuss the elements necessary to support their development, and examine how effectiveness can be assessed. With a combination of cutting-edge scholarship and practical examples of systems-building efforts taking place in the field, this book provides the foundation educators and policymakers need to take important steps toward developing more conceptually integrated approaches to early childhood care, education, and comprehensive services. Book Features: Provides the only up-to-date, comprehensive examination of early childhood systems.Considers new efforts to expand services, improve quality, maximize resources, and reduce inequities in early childhood.Offers a forum for the field to come together to frame a set of cogent recommendations for the future. Contributors: Kimberly Boller, Andrew Brodsky, Charles Bruner, Dean Clifford, Julia Coffman, Jeanine Coleman, Harriet Dichter, Sangree Froelicher, Eugene García, Stacie Goffin, Jodi Hardin, Karen Hill Scott, Janice Gruendel, Marilou Hyson, Amy Kershaw, Lisa G. Klein, Denise Mauzy, Geoffrey Nagle, Karen Ponder, Ann Reale, Sue Russell, Diana Schaack, Helene M. Stebbins, Jennifer M. Stedron, Kate Tarrant, Kathy R. Thornburg, Kathryn Tout, Fasaha Traylor, Jessica Vick Whittaker Sharon Lynn Kagan is the Virginia and Leonard Marx Professor of Early Childhood and Family Policy and Co-Director of the National Center for Children and Families at Teachers College, Columbia University. Kristie Kauerz is the program director for PreK-3rd Education at Harvard Graduate School of Education (HGSE). “A veritable encyclopedia of ideas on early childhood system building.” —Barbara T. Bowman,Irving B. Harris Professor of Child Development, Erikson Institute “The key to successful change is continued development of the frames of reference. Both editors have respected the past, listened to the implementers, and provided a context for moving forward. Like efforts to build systems of child development, which we must now link to growth in specific children we know by name, the book ends with robust examples of the work in progress. Sharon Lynn Kagan and Kristie Kauerz don't just talk about the work, they participate in the creation of change.” —Sherri Killins, Ed.D, Commissioner, Department of Early Education and Care, Massachusetts
Simultaneously, expenditures on human services have soared to record levels, further spurring both concerns and efforts to reform and better integrate a sadly dysfunctional system.
Responding to the current national concern for enhanced commitments to early education, this book examines what states are currently doing, what has proven effective, and what the existing body of knowledge offers educators, policymakers, and others seeking successful approaches to governance. Featuring chapters by prominent, thoughtful scholars and practitioners, this is the first volume to specifically focus on early childhood governance. Reflective and prospective, this seminal contribution is designed to be immediately germane to the burgeoning field of ECE. Readers will find the latest thinking, the most recent experiences, and an honest review of the governance issues facing ECE today and into the future—all in one resource. Contributors: Missy Cochenour, Harriet Dichter, Stacie G. Goffin, Rebecca E. Gomez, Rolf Grafwallner, Kathleen Hebbeler, Susan Hibbard, Sharon Lynn Kagan, Sarah LeMoine, Elliot M. Regenstein, Thomas Rendon, Beth Rous, Diana Schaack, Thomas Schultz, Catherine Scott-Little, Kate Tarrant
In this important new book, Sharon Lynn Kagan and her colleagues focus on the more than 2 million individuals who care for and educate nearly two thirds of the American children under age 5 participating in nonparental care. Providing the most thorough synthesis of current research on the early care and education teaching workforce to date, the authors address frequently asked questions about teacher quality, teacher effectiveness, and the professional development necessary to achieve both. They conclude with a call for bold changes that would transform the early care and education workforce. Relying on empirical data and overviews of dozens of initiatives and programs that address early care and education teachers, the book provides a broad and deep analysis of issues surrounding the early care and education teaching workforce. Book Features: Practical—guided by research, offers common-sense recommendations to better prepare, recruit, retain, and adequately compensate early care and education teachers. Current—synthesizes hundreds of articles and studies to provide the most up-to-date review of the research. Comprehensive—places the issues in a system-based context to examine the entire early care and education teaching workforce in all settings. “This book honors Dr. Julius Richmond’s legacy by using his successful model of social change to comprehensively examine the important early care and education workforce issues facing our nation and to offer ambitious recommendations to address them.” —Sarah M. Greene, President and CEO, National Head Start Association
As America recognizes worsening children's social conditions, it is plagued by escalating costs and troublesome systemic inequities and inefficiencies. Many solutions to these problems are being offered, with most advocating break-the-mold strategies. Undergirding each is a revitalized commitment to inventive ways of people and organizations uniting to form partnerships, to integrate services, to co-ordinate and to collaborate.
First published in 1902, William James's Varieties of Religious Experience is considered a classic in religious studies and the psychology of religion. But how has James's classic study weathered decades of development in psychology and behavioral sciences? Do the assertions about religious experience in the Varieties still ring true in light of neuro-cognitive and neuro-hormonal research, resiliency studies, studies of temperament, and traumatic studies? By extending William James's own research throughout the century since its publication this volume seeks to answer those questions. In doing so, it revolutionizes our understanding of James's own view of psychology and reveals the extraordinary value of James's perspective for religion, psychology, and spirituality today. In doing so, it offers vital insights for pastoral care and faith development at both the individual and congregational level. From the Introduction by James Fowler: Drawing on the authenticity of her own experience, Bridgers carries us into a remarkably clear and well documented account that traces William James's evolution as a psychologist, philosopher, and a deeply engaged inquirer into the dynamics of spiritual development and transformation... This book has a major contribution to make. Bridgers's study illumines the horizons of contemporary research in the study of religious experience, in all its varieties, and in the context of globalization.
This book is a gripping, brutally honest, true story of the author's journey through five psychotic episodes. At the age of 53, she was diagnosed with depression and psychosis. Over the next four years and five hospitalizations, the diagnosis became a schizo-affective disorder. This mental illness is considered a more severe form of schizophrenia. The author interweaves her psychosis with her life-long spiritual journey and looks for the gifts that this illness has brought to her. She believes that her experiences deepened her compassion for other beings and her relationship to the Universe. She gives practical examples of how to engage a person mentally, emotionally, spiritually, and physically. She believes that these aspects of a person, including someone with a mental illness, cannot be separated. The author hopes that those who have a mental illness and their caregivers, family, friends, nurses, counselors, psychologists, and psychiatrists, as well as the general public, may gain new insights into the treatment and nature of mental illness.
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