What are today's best practices in early literacy instruction--and what should schools and programs focus on in the future? More than 20 of the biggest names in early literacy research give you balanced, insightful answers, using the landmark NELP

Bringing together prominent scholars, this book shows how 21st-century research and theory can inform everyday instructional practices in early childhood classrooms (PreK-3). Coverage includes foundational topics such as alphabet learning, phonological awareness, oral language development, and learning to write, as well as cutting-edge topics such as digital literacy, informational texts, and response to intervention. Every chapter features guiding questions; an overview of ideas and findings on the topic at hand; specific suggestions for improving instruction, assessment, and/or the classroom environment; and an engrossing example of the practices in action.

Caribbean Childhoods: From Research to Action is an annual publication produced by the Children s Issues Coalition at the University of the West Indies, Mona. The series seeks to provide an avenue for the dissemination of research and experiences on children s health, development, behaviour and education, and to provide a forum for the discussion of these issues.

What are some of the long held bellefs in early childhood education that need to be challenged? What can postmodern perspectives offer to early childhood educators? How can early childhood educators deal with the complex issues that arise in the lives of young children? This book examines critical issues in early childhood education across a broad range of contexts. The issues explored are critical not only in terms of being fundamental to early childhood education, but also in that they present ideas and use frameworks which are not traditional to the field. The topics under review include questioning the developmental basis of early childhood education and the notion of what constitutes child-centred curricula, and extends into a discussion of the complex nature of teacher's work in early childhood contexts which require new ways of reconceptualising the field and the role of the teacher in the lives of children.; The chapters explore contemporary issues using methodologies that are increasingly being favoured by teacher educators, parents and community members who find that developmental perspectives do not satisfactorily explain and assist us in our interactions with young children and their families in the 21st century.

The field of early literacy has seen significant recent advances in theory, research, and practice. These volumes bring together leading authorities to report on current findings, integrate insights from different disciplinary perspectives, and explore ways to provide children with the strongest possible literacy foundations in the first 6 years of life. The Handbook first addresses broad questions about the nature of emergent literacy, summarizing current knowledge on cognitive pathways, biological underpinnings, and the importance of cultural contexts. Chapters in subsequent sections examine various strands of knowledge and skills that emerge as children become literate, as well as the role played by experiences with peers and families. Particular attention is devoted to the challenges involved in making schools work for all children, including members of linguistic and ethnic minority groups and children living in poverty. Finally, approaches to instruction, assessment, and early intervention are described, and up-to-date research on their effectiveness is presented.

This book shares the author’s transformative journey as a literacy teacher/researcher examining her experience as a White, middle-class female. Kuby argues that it is not enough for teachers to implement curricula and pedagogical strategies designed to foster inclusiveness. Instead, teachers must look inward, questioning their personal histories, biases, and beliefs in order to develop better self-awareness. In this book, Kuby reflects on how her self-interrogation shaped her interactions with 5- and 6-year-olds and influenced her critical literacy teaching. “If we wish to create an enlightened citizenry, critical literacy needs to begin on the very first day of the first year of schooling.” —Jerome C. Harste, professor emeritus, Indiana University “What Candace shows us is that critical literacy is for all children and that critical literacies are ways of being that cut across time and space and move beyond the four walls of the classroom and beyond the ‘regular’ school year.” —From the Foreword by Vivian M. Vasquez, American University, Washington DC “In this very thought-provoking book, Candace Kuby uses both her own struggle with White privilege, and that of her students, to demonstrate the importance of cultivating critical consciousness through and in literacy even with those who are very young. Equity and justice for all can only be attained by practicing critical pedagogy for and with all children.” —Gaile Cannella, School of Social Transformation, Arizona State University

The National Assessment of Educational Progress reveals that 37 percent of U.S. fourth graders fail to achieve basic levels of reading achievement. In 1997, the U.S. Congress asked that a review of research be conducted to determine what could be done to improve reading and writing achievement. The resulting "Report of the National Reading Panel: Teaching Children to Read" (NICHD, 2000) has been influential in helping to guide reading-education policy and practice in the United States. However, that report did not examine the implications of instructional practices used with children from birth through age 5. To address this gap in the knowledge base, the National Early Literacy Panel (NELP) was convened. The panel was asked to apply a similar methodological review process to that used by the National Reading Panel (NRP) to issues of instructional practices for young children so that parents and teachers could better support their emerging literacy skills. The NELP report represents a systematic and extensive synthesis of the published research literature concerning children's early literacy skills. It provides educators and policymakers with important information about the early skills that are implicated in later literacy learning, as well as information about the type of instruction that can enhance these skills. The results also identify areas in which additional research is needed. The meta-analyses conducted by the panel showed that a wide range of interventions had a positive impact on children's early literacy learning.