The ELC: An Early Childhood Learning Community at Work

Reviewed by Amy Jo Clark, Part Time Instructor School of Education, Buena Vista University on 11/17/21

Comprehensiveness rating: 5 see less

This text discusses the comprehensive action research undertaken to ensure teaching candidates and eductaors engage in life-long learning to achieve better outcomes in the early childhood classroom. The text describes the goal to increase communication between teacher candidates, cooperating educators, and universities to more closely align best practices in the classroom with academic knowledege of developmentally appropriate practice. A thorough appendix and glossary are included to ensure the reader's full comprehension of the text.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

The action research engaged early childhood educators in improving classroom practices. Observations were made that established the effectiveness within each case sudy. Case studies were developed around integral elements of the early childhood classroom that directly relate to student learning outcomes.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

The text is relevant for current educators and teacher candidates. The information describes ways to enhance learning, as well as evaluate effectiveness, within the classroom using routines, materials, and approaches common to early childhood education. Differentiation of instruction is addressed as well as issues of gender regarding play, emotional expression, and flexibility of roles.

Clarity rating: 5

The information in this text is presented using terms familiar to the early childhood educator. Any terms that may not be familiar are described in the glossary. The teaching challenges described within the case studies represent common areas of concern.

Consistency rating: 5

The consistency of terms and ideas is stable throughout the text.

Modularity rating: 5

The text is well laid out and easily accessible. Information is organized in a way that lends itself as a useful reference for early childhood educators wishing to improve classroom practices.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

The organization of the text was extremely user-friendly. Chapter titles and headings clearly guide the reader to the necessary information.

Interface rating: 5

There are no issues with interface. Navigation is easy to understand.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

No grammatical errors were identified.

Cultural Relevance rating: 4

Extensive discussion of culture was not addressed, however, care was taken to avoid gender norms and to address diverse learners.

Comments

Overall, this text is a valuable resource for early childhood educators wishing to engage in professional development to improve practice and support greater outcomes for students.

Reviewed by Laura Hamilton, Part-Time Instructor, Oregon Coast Community College on 1/12/21

Comprehensiveness rating: 4 see less

The authors start with the problem of alignment between the goals of the standards published by NAEYC and the reality of the workplace. They had a grant for close to $150,000 to work with to build meaningful connections for a range of practitioners. Nearly 95 families gave permission for the everyday work of the classroom in which their children were placed to be filmed and analyzed. Six teams were assembled who worked with selected existing material and problems they'd identified in their classrooms. Support from a varied group of sources including weekly team meetings was pooled over the four 16 week semester that this book stems from.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

Written by experienced teachers, this book offers both deep and thorough material for those new to the profession and also of value to the experienced provider. Much of the material is an interesting reflection of a discrete experience. It may or may not translate easily for those whose situation is unlike this.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

The purpose of this book is to bridge the gap between the clean presentation of theories of child development in college classes and the messy reality of the classroom with many children, multiple and competing needs, and a varied group of co-workers. This gap is decades old and I see little chance of even the required observation practicum filling the space between our aspirations for our profession and the pragmatic experience of the mundane and extreme situations of everyday care for multiple children. The goal of this book is admirable, but it will best be used IN the real setting to remind and coalesce staff around a common intent rather than aid the college side of the problem.

Clarity rating: 4

For beginning students (my cohort), this may be too esoteric. The language is fine and a glossary is included, but the conceptual nature of the content seems more relatable for managers, teachers, and directors. This support change and so would be best suited for agents of change, wherever that decision-making might fall.

Consistency rating: 5

Very consistent and integrated. All the content is tied to the same research project so it all has the same approach and similar interest and vocabulary.

Modularity rating: 4

So far as modules go, this is great. It is easily divided and very limited in length and depth. From my perspective, this would be a tool I'd use with a staff development initiative rather than a college course.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 4

The rich references page is great, and I really appreciated seeing the pre-initiative questionnaire. The whole flows well and allows for the reader to dive into one or two areas of interest/concern. If it was on my personal/professional bookshelf I'd go back to it at various times to focus on one area at a time.

Interface rating: 4

No interface issues other than a minor one in the questionnaire at the end. I really hoped to see segment of the videos referenced. The study relied on 20 minute iMovie videos and they are the basis of the written material. Seeing even a few of these would have given this a more powerful impact.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

As a former composition teacher, I'm known to be hyper-critical about this element. I found zero errors!

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

I feel this is a strong component of this book. Great examples of children from minority communities.

Comments

I like what this book does and it does it well. I'm disappointed that it does not fit for my own uses or for the college classes as we have them configured. I hope it finds its way into the world for which I see it most suitable.