Early Childhood Education & School Readiness

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. A brochure describing the tookit is also available. (2014)

Mentoring is a key strategy for supporting educators at any stage in their careers—and for improving teacher practice. This guide is an effective, activity-based way to reflect on, practice, and sharpen your skills as a mentor, coach, or technical assistance provider, and it can be adapted to a wide variety of early care and education settings.

$3.00 each for members. $29.95 for non-members at Red Leaf Press (July 2013). Members may send a check payable to the American Federation of Teachers to: AFT Order Department, 555 New Jersey Avenue, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20001. Shipping and handling costs are included. Please include the publication name, and your membership number and local (if applicable). Orders are limited to three books per member.

This report provides a description of the distance learning programs available to early childhood educators. (2007)

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)

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.