Patricia W. Wesley

Communities of Practice: Connecting What We Know with What We Do:

This article examines the community of practice model as a framework for integrating educational research and practice. This perspective extends current notions about collaborative inquiry and the role of teacher participation in research aimed at improving educational practices. In addition to defining communities of practice and describing reflective practice and situated learning as the theoretical underpinnings of this approach, the article analyzes applications of this model from the literature and offers suggestions for transforming traditional methods of conducting research on educational practice. The article concludes with a challenge to the field to consider ways to promote dialogue and inquiry to advance our knowledge on this issue.

Making Meaning of School Readiness in Schools and Communities.

Abstract The topic of school readiness dominates national discussion about early education as schools and communities implement recent federal policies. This study involved 20 focus groups with 93 professionals and 25 parents to explore perceptions of readiness. Thematic analysis of transcripts revealed that participants experience several tensions related to their views of readiness: the conflict between personal philosophies of teaching and learning and the expectations set forth by the state; the pressure placed upon children, teachers, and families for children to perform; and the inconsistency of defining kindergarten eligibility by both chronological age and a set of required entry skills. The authors recommend action to: (1) promote strategies that foster school readiness, not just outcomes that define it, (2) increase professional accountability, and (3) promote social and emotional development as a critical foundation of school readiness.

Inclusion in the context of competing values in early childhood education

Abstract Inclusion of preschoolers with disabilities in programs for typically developing children has a strong legal, rational, moral, and empirical basis. Despite this compelling foundation, however, the desirability of inclusion continues to be debated and acceptable options for inclusive placements are often difficult to find. In this paper, we argue that professionals and parents are often placed in a position in which inclusion must be weighed against other compelling values in making decisions about placements for children. We describe three competing values—high-quality programs, specialized services, and family-centered practices—and demonstrate how in many communities these values and inclusion are difficult to achieve simultaneously. We argue that placement in inclusive settings should be a goal for all children with disabilities, but that placements should also be of high quality, sufficiently specialized, and consistent with family priorities. We conclude with a series of recommendations for changes needed if this goal is to be attained.

Communities of Practice: Expanding Professional Roles to Promote Reflection and Shared Inquiry

The field of early intervention continues to experience challenges in connecting theory and practice, reducing professional isolation, and translating principles into action. An examination of the way we perceive and enact professional roles reveals their limited scope in addressing these challenges. This article introduces the concept of expanding roles to include collaborative reflective inquiry within communities of practice as one way to reform professional practices. We suggest that reflection within communities of practice not only extends our own understanding, insight, and command of the situations in which we work, but also holds the potential to advance the field as a whole.

Implementing early childhood inclusion: Barrier and support factors

Abstract This study examined the underlying factor structure of a rating scale designed to assess perceived barriers and supports associated with early childhood inclusion. Participants were 201 administrators and direct service providers from the early intervention, early childhood, and special education fields and 287 parents (primarily mothers) of young children with disabilities (birth through 5 years) who received early intervention services. A four-factor solution for barriers that accounted for 41% of the total variance emerged from an exploratory factor analysis. Because one of the factors was found to have low internal consistency, a three-factor solution was used in subsequent analyses. The three factors consisted of barriers associated with early childhood program quality, community resources, and coordinating and integrating services for children with disabilities and their families. Items reflecting supports for early childhood inclusion produced a single supports factor. A confirmatory factor analysis revealed a barriers factor structure for parents that was consistent with that obtained for professionals. Background variables contributed to explaining ratings of barriers and supports among parents who differed with respect to race, education, employment status, and experience with inclusion, lending further support for the validity of the factor structure.

Quality of early childhood programs in inclusive and noninclusive settings

This study assessed factors that contributed to global program quality in early childhood settings. The sample consisted of 180 community-based child care centers from 12 geographically and economically diverse regions in North Carolina. The Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale (ECERS) total mean score was used as the primary measure of global program quality. The study found that 62 (34%) of the early childhood programs reported enrolling at least one child with disabilities. The study also found that inclusive early childhood programs scored significantly higher on the ECERS overall than did noninclusive programs. Results of an Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) indicated three other predictors of global program quality: teacher education, professional experience, and teacher self-ratings of knowledge and skill.

Improving Quality in Early Childhood Environments Through On-Site Consultation

The implementation of early childhood inclusion has been challenged by the lack of adequate staff development and high-quality community programs. Although consultation is a viable option for providing teachers with new knowledge, skills, and support to facilitate inclusion, few models use as their foundation assessing and improving global program quality. This article presents one model for preparing community-based consultants to work on-site alongside the staff of early care and education programs to improve the quality of their early childhood environments. We provide measures of global quality in the participating community-based programs, including infant-toddler, early childhood, and family childcare home settings, to determine the quality of care that children were receiving before and after consultation.

The Identity Crisis in Early Childhood Special Education: A Call for Professional Role Clarification.

Professional roles and responsibilities in early childhood special education (ECSE) are rapidly expanding to encompass increasingly complex functions related to work with young children with disabilities and their families in a variety of community contexts. Traditional frameworks for conceptualizing the roles of professionals in ECSE and/or early intervention have focused almost exclusively on the direct service component of the early childhood special educators job. Furthermore, existing conceptualizations have not addressed how professionals can balance multiple roles to avoid role conflict and role overload. Implications of expanding roles for personnel preparation and practice are discussed.

Providing On-Site Consultation to Promote Quality in Integrated Child Care Programs

Recent legislation has supported the right of young children with special needs to receive the specialized services they need within the most natural setting possible. For an increasing number of families, this setting is the child care center. As the need for community programs to integrate young children with disabilities increases, so does the staffs need for new ideas and skills to prepare them for inclusion. The Infant-Toddler Care Project was developed to provide child care programs with on-site consultation that reinforced and emphasized aspects of quality care for all children and provided knowledge and skills to support the inclusion of infants and toddlers with disabilities.

Evidence-Based Practice: What Does It Really Mean for the Early Childhood Field?

important decisions about how services and supports should be provided to young children and their families. Practitioners need valid evidence to help them address the needs and priorities of children and families and to resolve specific practice dilemmas. Researchers rely on evidence to formulate their research questions and to interpret their findings. Policy makers must consider evidence on the effectiveness of specific interventions and programs to make sound policy decisions and to allocate scarce resources.