Early Childhood Matters documents the rapid development of early years education and care from the late 1990s into the new millennium. It chronicles the unique contribution of the EPPE research to our understanding of the importance of pre-school.

The Effective Pre-school and Primary Education (EPPE) project is the largest European study of the impact of early years education and care on children's developmental outcomes. Through this ground-breaking project a team of internationally-recognised experts provide insights into how home learning environments interact with pre-school and primary school experiences to shape children's progress.

The findings of this fascinating project:

• provide new evidence of the importance of early childhood experiences
• show how these experiences influence children's cognitive, social and behavioural development
• give new insights on the importance of early years education
• will be relevant to a wide audience who are interested in policy development, early years education and care, and 'effectiveness' research
• examine how the combined effects of pre-school, primary school and the family interact to shape children's educational outcomes.

This insightful book is essential reading for all those interested in innovative research methodology and policy development in early childhood education and care. It provides new evidence on good practice in early years settings and will have a wide appeal for students and those engaged in providing accredited courses of study at a range of levels in early childhood.

Early Childhood Matters documents the rapid development of early years education and care from the late 1990s into the new millennium. It chronicles the unique contribution of the EPPE research to our understanding of the importance of pre-school.

The Effective Pre-school and Primary Education (EPPE) project is the largest European study of the impact of early years education and care on children s developmental outcomes. Through this ground-breaking project a team of internationally-recognised experts provide insights into how home learning environments interact with pre-school and primary school experiences to shape children s progress.

The findings of this fascinating project:

• provide new evidence of the importance of early childhood experiences
• show how these experiences influence children s cognitive, social and behavioural development
• give new insights on the importance of early years education
• will be relevant to a wide audience who are interested in policy development, early years education and care, and effectiveness research
• examine how the combined effects of pre-school, primary school and the family interact to shape children s educational outcomes.

This insightful book is essential reading for all those interested in innovative research methodology and policy development in early childhood education and care. It provides new evidence on good practice in early years settings and will have a wide appeal for students and those engaged in providing accredited courses of study at a range of levels in early childhood.

ECERS-E is designed to be used with the Early Childhood Rating Scale-Revised (ECERS-R), an internationally recognized measure of quality in education and care written by Thelma Harms, Richard M. Clifford, and Debby Cryer. It not only complements the ECERS-R but extends the scales to provide additional insights into important aspects of literacy, mathematics, science and environment, as well as practices related to issues of diversity. Given the current focus on emerging literacy and numeracy skills, the ECERS-E provides unique guidance on the kinds of environments that enhance learning in preschool settings. The curriculum domains within the scales bear important relationships to children's (age 3-5) cognitive and social/behavioral developmental outcomes. Using the ECERS-E alongside the ECERS-R gives users a more complete picture of what a high-quality early childhood education program can look like. It can be used by program directors, teaching staff, agency staff, and in teacher training programs. Convenient organization: Literacy Items: Print in the environment Book and literacy areas Adults reading with children Sounds in words Emergent writing/mark making Talking and listening Mathematics Items: Counting and application of counting Reading and representing simple numbers Activities: Shape Activities: Sorting, matching and comparing Science and Environment Items: Natural materials Areas featuring science/science materials Activities: Non living Activities: Living processes Activities: Food preparation Diversity Items: Planning for individual learning needs Gender equality and awareness Race equality and awareness

The ICP (TM) manual guides users on understanding, implementing, and scoring the ICP. How well is your early childhood program implementing quality inclusive practices? Now there's a comprehensive, field-tested observational tool that uncovers the answers. A one-of-a-kind tool for classrooms serving children ages 2-5, the Inclusive Classroom Profile (ICP (TM)) assesses 12 key practices with the strongest research base for supporting the education and development of young children in inclusive programs: *Adaptations of Space, Materials, and Equipment *Adult Involvement in Peer Interactions *Adults' Guidance of Children's Free-Choice Activities and Play *Conflict Resolution *Membership *Relationships between Adults and Children *Support for Communication *Adaptation of Group Activities *Transitions between Activities *Feedback *Family-Professional Partnerships *Monitoring Children's Learning Benefits The in-depth ICP (TM) evaluation process gives you the rich information and insights you need to:*assess your program's current inclusive practices *establish a baseline for measuring future progress *apply recommended inclusive practices for young children *guide quality improvement efforts by linking assessment data with instructional decision-making *tailor professional development to teachers' specific needs