Early Childhood Education & School Readiness

EC E-Learning: A National Review of Early Childhood Education Distance Learning Programs
This report provides a description of the distance learning programs available to early childhood educators. (2007)

Transitioning to Kindergarten: A Toolkit for Early Childhood Educators
PowerPoint Presentation | Toolkit
This toolkit provides early childhood educators with a comprehensive, flexible, easy-to-use set of resources to enhance the transition to kindergarten for all children. The toolkit provides many opportunities for educators to document critical information about a child's progress in reading readiness, as well as qualitative information about a child's early literacy, cognitive, social, linguistic and physical development. This resource has a mix of charts and one-pagers to be filled out by teachers and parents and passed on to a child's kindergarten teacher, as well as guidelines for collecting valuable examples of drawing and other work samples throughout the year. (2006)

Current Data on the Salaries and Benefits of the U.S. Early Childhood Education Workforce, 2004 Edition
This compendium of the most recent available early childhood education workforce data includes information on average center-based salaries in all 50 states compiled by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics; detailed information from state and local surveys of centers and family child care providers conducted by the Center for the Child Care Workforce and others since 1996; and references to other state and local surveys not updated since the early 1990s. Some information on directors' salaries is included. (2004)

Helping Your Child Series
This series of booklets, co-published with the U.S. Department of Education, includes practical suggestions and activities parents can use at home with their children to help them succeed in school. The booklets are ideal for distributing at parent-teacher conferences, open houses, back-to-school nights, and other events that attract a lot of parents. Single copy $1; 65 cents each for orders of 10 or more with further discounts available to affiliates ordering in bulk.

• Helping Your Child Become a Reader (2003; reprinted Oct. 2008)
• Helping Your Preschool Child (2003). Available in English and Spanish
• Cómo ayudar a su hijo durante los primeros años de la adolescencia (Helping Your Adolescent Child) (2003). Only available in Spanish.
• Comó ayudar a su hijo a tener éxito en la escuela (Helping Your Child Succeed in School) (2003). Only available in Spanish.

The following booklets are not available for download, but may be ordered by sending a check payable to American Federation of Teachers to: AFT Order Department, 555 New Jersey Ave. N.W., Washington, DC 20001. Shipping and handling costs are included.

• Cómo ayudar a sus hijos a usar la biblioteca (Helping Your Child Use the Library) (1993). 27 pages. Item no. 39-0355.
• Helping Your Child Learn Responsible Behavior (1993). 44 pages. Item no. 39-0352.
• Helping Your Child Learn Science (1992). 58 pages. Item no. 39-0354.

Where We Stand: Early Childhood Education
This booklet contains the resolution on early childhood education passed at the 2002 AFT convention. Also included are a question-and-answer section, background information, and background reading. (June 2003)

Inside the Pre-K Classroom: A Study of Staffing and Stability in State-Funded Prekindergarten Programs
This study by the Center for the Child Care Workforce, documents the current state of staff qualifications, stability, turnover and compensation in state-funded prekindergarten programs. It also identifies conditions under which pre-k initiatives promote a more skilled and stable, and better compensated early care and education workforce. (2002)

Early Childhood Education: Building a Strong Foundation for the Future
This policy brief provides an overview of the importance of early childhood education (ECE) and why the AFT is engaged in an effort to make it universally accessible. It presents criteria for a high-quality ECE system and surveys the current ECE landscape nationwide in terms of quality and access. Finally, the brief makes recommendations for achieving a high-quality ECE system. (July 2002)

At the Starting Line: Early Childhood Education Programs in the 50 States
High-quality early childhood education programs provide young children with experiences that promote healthy cognitive and social development and the basis for thriving in school. The lack of quality programs in the United States is evident in the significant percentage of children starting kindergarten without the necessary skills to do well in school. This new report provides baseline data about states' early childhood education programs. (December 2000)