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This thesis explores the relationship between assessment techniques and reporting procedures in early childhood settings. Discrepancies between curriculum being presented and skills and progress being reported are examined. The curriculum used in this study is Portland Public Schools' Piaget Curriculum, which stresses active, scientific problem solving for children 4 to 6 years old. A variety of assessment, observation, recording and reporting tools are suggested, implemented and critiqued. Creation of a portfolio to store and showcase these items is suggested and explained. The important role of parents and families in the assessment process is studied. Strategies for involving parents at all stages of implementation are included and field tested. The result is a unique, lively, complete look at the teacher's efforts to use authentic assessment strategies which honestly match the curriculum unfolding in the classroom.

Thesis (MPA.) -- University of Limpopo, 2013 / The present study is about stakeholder participation in Early Childhood Development in Polokwane Circuit, Limpopo Province. The main aim of the study was to investigate poor stakeholder participation in ECD programme. The objectives were to evaluate the extent of stakeholders participation in ECD programmers, to assess the attitude of stakeholders towards ECD programmes, and to determine the impact of lack of resources on ECD projects and to suggest probable solutions to problems facing ECD programmes. Structured interview questionnaires and literature were used to collect data. The study concluded that some stakeholders namely parents and educators fully participate in ECD programmes while officials in the Department of Education are not fully participative.

This study explores the question of what might be a model of effective leadership for pedagogical change in early childhood education in Aotearoa/New Zealand. Drawing on a framework of gateways for personalising learning constructed by Hargreaves (2004a) and Engestrom's (1999) Activity theory, a case study of a professional development programme is analysed. Entrypoints or gateways for teachers in three early childhood centres to the professional development programme are identified, as are gateways for sustained involvement and continued learning opportunities. The study uses unstructured interviews with a narrative inquiry approach to hear the teachers' stories and the findings of the study are presented in a narrative style in order to capture these voices. The major findings from the study indicate that professional development is a complex interweaving of voices and intentions. There are three key elements of the ongoing personalising learning as a result of involvement in the professional development programme: distributed leadership, teacher voice, and community. The context of early childhood provided unique definitions of the gateways and common elements were found in identifying the entrypoints and features of sustained involvement. The study implies that effective leadership is distributed across the community and the sustaining features of the professional development programme need to be elements of any provision of professional development intent on personalising learning for pedagogical change.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2006. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2006. / The entire dissertation/thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file (which also appears in the research.pdf); a non-technical general description, or public abstract, appears in the public.pdf file. Title from title screen of research.pdf file viewed on (March 5, 2007) Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

This dissertation examines the evolution of Britain’s and Canada’s early childhood education and child care (ECEC) sectors, especially the growing number of policy initiatives adopted in both countries over the past thirty years. I contend that policy coalitions in both countries have been able to promote gradual but nevertheless important policy changes by grafting new purposes onto inherited institutions. The result of these incremental changes has been ECEC systems that often appear incoherent and disjointed. The dissertation also explores how Canada and Great Britain have increasingly followed distinct trajectories. In particular, I demonstrate that while a growing proportion of ECEC services are provided by the commercial sector in Britain, Canada has instead increasingly relied on the non-profit sector to deliver such services. I contend in this dissertation that differences between the two cases are the result of distinct policy coalitions that have emerged in both countries. I make the case that the character of these coalitions and their capacity to promote, institutionalize, protect and further their policy preferences are the result of, first, the sequence of policy development and, second, the territorial organization of the welfare state in both countries. In short, as a result of the federal nature of Canada, Canadian child care activists were able to ensure the early institutionalization of a regulatory framework that constrained the expansion of for-profit services. By the time Britain adopted a national framework, in the late 1980s and early 1990s, on the other hand, the for-profit sector had already established a strong presence. Covering more than one hundred twenty five years of policy development in both countries, this dissertation draws both on extensive archival research and on interviews with policy-makers and ECEC activists.

This dissertation examines the evolution of Britain’s and Canada’s early childhood education and child care (ECEC) sectors, especially the growing number of policy initiatives adopted in both countries over the past thirty years. I contend that policy coalitions in both countries have been able to promote gradual but nevertheless important policy changes by grafting new purposes onto inherited institutions. The result of these incremental changes has been ECEC systems that often appear incoherent and disjointed. The dissertation also explores how Canada and Great Britain have increasingly followed distinct trajectories. In particular, I demonstrate that while a growing proportion of ECEC services are provided by the commercial sector in Britain, Canada has instead increasingly relied on the non-profit sector to deliver such services. I contend in this dissertation that differences between the two cases are the result of distinct policy coalitions that have emerged in both countries. I make the case that the character of these coalitions and their capacity to promote, institutionalize, protect and further their policy preferences are the result of, first, the sequence of policy development and, second, the territorial organization of the welfare state in both countries. In short, as a result of the federal nature of Canada, Canadian child care activists were able to ensure the early institutionalization of a regulatory framework that constrained the expansion of for-profit services. By the time Britain adopted a national framework, in the late 1980s and early 1990s, on the other hand, the for-profit sector had already established a strong presence. Covering more than one hundred twenty five years of policy development in both countries, this dissertation draws both on extensive archival research and on interviews with policy-makers and ECEC activists.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Lehigh University, 2009. / Adviser: Christine L. Cole.

Thesis (M.A.)--Humboldt State University, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 85-97). Also available via Humboldt Digital Scholar.