Research and Resources

• U.S. Department of Education - Office of Early Learning
• Learn21 Pre-K to Kindergarten Resources
• West Virginia Early Childhood Training Connections and Resources
• Resource link from WV Early Care and Education - WVDHHR
• National Association for the Education of Young Children
• National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER)
• NAEYC Position Statements
• Pre-Kindergarten Collaborations in the Four REL Appalachia States, Regional Education Lab Report 2011
• Challenging Common Myths About Young English Language Learners

Research News

• Prekindergarten participation rates in West Virginia
  April 2012 - This REL Appalachia Technical Brief updates the 2009 REL Appalachia report West Virginia's progress toward universal prekindergarten (Cavalluzzo et al. 2009), which covered school years 2002/03-2006/07. This brief updates the findings through 2010/11-April 2012.
• Technology and Young Children
  2012 joint position statement of the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) and the Fred Rogers Center, on "Technology and Interactive Media as Tools in Early Childhood Programs Serving Children From Birth through Age 8."
• FirstSchool Design Guide
  FirstSchool, a PreK-3rd partnership housed at FPG Child Development Institute at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, published the FirstSchool Design Guide. The Guide is intended to help communities develop optimal indoor and outdoor learning environments for children ages 3 to 8. The guide offers the rationale for the FirstSchool approach, the evidence base for their principles, examples of how those principles can be expressed and supported in the physical environment, technical considerations, and design specifications.
• NIEER - Providing Preschool Education for All 4-Year-Olds: Lessons from Six State Journeys
  by Debra J. Ackerman, W. Steven Barnett, Laura E. Hawkinson, Kirsty Brown and Elizabeth A. McGonigle (2009)
  Over the last decade, state-funded preschool education programs have grown and now enroll more than one million children. However, preschool access in most states is limited to at-risk children. Three states currently offer "preschool for all" - Florida, Georgia and Oklahoma. Three other states are slated to have preschool for all by the next five years - Illinois, New York and West Virginia. This policy brief examines the journeys of these six states in achieving a plan for preschool for all.
• Technology Allows Soldier to Monitor Child's Education From Afar
  Posted: January 08, 2009
• Defining Kindergaten Readiness
  REL-A, 2010 - REL Appalachia Reference Desk summary that helps to describe various definitions of Kindergarten "readiness." It reviews some of the definitions proposed in the literature on early childhood development, and contains some information on how the other Appalachian states are defining kindergarten readiness.
• The Promise of Preschool - Why We Need Early Education for All
  W. Steven Barnett and Ellen Frede - American Educator, Spring 2010
• West Virginia's Progress Toward Universal Pre-Kindergarten
  April 2009 - The report examines rates of participation in West Virginia’s universal, voluntary pre-kindergarten program from 2002/03 to 2006/07. It describes the share of seats provided by collaborative partners and public school systems and analyzes participation rates by demographic and socioeconomic subgroup and county characteristics.