Promoting community in early childhood programs: A comparison of two programs

Abstract

Every interaction within an early childhood program either promotes community or disrupts it. Therefore, excellent early childhood programs have in place a process that pulls the energies and abilities of all the members of the school community together so that everyone-children, educators, parents, and community members-develop well. In particular, healthy interactions between educators and families create the necessary conditions for the early childhood programs: (1) to impact the lifepaths of the families; and, in turn, (2) to engage the families in the work of improving the early childhood programs. In this article, research on the Jewish Early Childhood Education Initiative (JECEI) is presented. JECEI was selected for study because JECEI early childhood programs are characterized by healthy relationships, the capacity to successfully promote children's learning and development, and the engagement of families in the work of school improvement. © 2010 The Author(s).