The Creative Curriculum comes alive! This videotape-winner of the 1989 Silver Apple Award at the National Educational Film and Video Festival-demonstrates how teachers set the stage for learning by creating a dynamic well-organized environment. It shows children involved in seven of the interest areas in the The Creative Curriculum and explains how they learn in each area. Everyone conducts in-service training workshops for staff and parents or who teaches early childhood education courses will find the video an indispensable tool for explainin appropriate practice.

In recent years, issues affecting children and youth have received increased attention at the national and local levels, with numerous reports detailing challenges and offering solutions. Targeted toward policymakers, practitioners, scholars, and those seeking understanding of ideas for social and educational reform, this book focuses on promising solutions to problems facing today's children and youth in urban and other settings, with special consideration to education and child development programs, policies, and practices. Each chapter, written by a variety of experts in social, educational, and health sciences, summarizes and integrates research in a particular area and discusses implications of the research for program and policy development. The introductory chapter highlights major themes, and the remaining chapters describe conditions and interventions that enhance prospects of children and youth, focusing on home, school, and community contexts. The chapters are: (1) "Introduction and Overview" (Arthur J. Reynolds, Herbert J. Walberg, and Roger P. Weissberg); (2) "Developmental Theory as a Basis for Policy" (Olivia N. Saracho); (3) "Early Childhood Development" (Douglas R. Powell); (4) "Building Relationships for Learning" (Dorothy Rich); (5) "School-Family Partnerships" (Evanthia N. Patrikakou, Roger P. Weissberg, and Michelle I. Rubenstein); (6) "Using Motivational Theory to Guide School Reform" (Carol Midgley and Martin L. Maehr); (7) "Promoting Safe Educational and Community Environments" (David W. Johnson and Roger T. Johnson); (8)"Preventing Drug Abuse" (Gilbert J. Botvin and Kenneth W. Griffin); (9) "Promoting Excellence in American Adolescents" (Toni Falbo and Robert W. Glover); (10) "Promoting Literacy and the Concept of Possibility" (Vivian L. Gadsden, Wanda Brooks, and Jacqueline K. Jackson); (11) "Preparing Youth for the Work Force" (Stephen F. Hamilton); (12) "Psychological and Educational Resilience" (Margaret C. Wang, Geneva D. Haertel, and Herbert J. Walberg). Each chapter contains references. (KB)

Since its beginning in 1965 as a part of the War on Poverty, Head Start's goal has been to boost the school readiness of low-income children. Based on a 'whole child' model, the program provides comprehensive services that include pre-school education; medical, dental, and mental health care; nutrition services; and efforts to help parents foster their child's development. Head Start services are designed to be responsive to each child's and family's ethnic, cultural, and linguistic heritage. The Congressionally-mandated Head Start Impact Study was conducted across 84 nationally representative grantee/delegate agencies. Approximately 5,000 newly entering 3- and 4-year-old children applying for Head Start were randomly assigned to either a Head Start group that had access to Head Start program services or to a non- Head Start group that could enrol in available community non-Head Start services, selected by their parents. Data collection began in fall 2002 and is scheduled to continue through 2006, following children through the spring of their 1st-grade year. The study quantifies the impact of Head Start separately for 3- and 4-year-old children across child cognitive, social-emotional, and health domains as well as ii on parenting practices. This book is essential reading for those in the education field.