DOUBLE TAP TO ZOOM WITH PHONE OR TABLET LEADERSHIP / CURRICULUM / STRATEGIES Can we reconnect theory and policy with best practice? Early childhood educators know all about how the brain develops and how children learn, yet there is a vast disconnect between what we have learned from research and what we actually do in the classroom. With today’s system of standardized tests and academic learning by rote, young children are losing valuable opportunities to learn through play and discovery. So how did we get to this place? How do we connect what we know with what we do? The Great Disconnect in Early Childhood Education provides a historical overview of how educational policies came into effect and how they are not living up to their well-intended purposes. Using real-life examples, this book explores what is possible if we stop worrying about academic performance objectives and start simply communicating with children. Michael Gramling challenges educators to envision preschools that work for all children and to start making the changes that will move us in a new direction. “This book provides both a compelling historical analysis— this is what went wrong—and a new vision for the future—this is what we can do to make it right. It doesn’t prescribe a how-to fix, but it does demonstrate, through real-life stories, what’s possible.” —Elizabeth Jones, faculty emerita, Pacific Oaks College; author, Emergent Curriculum and The Play’s the Thing MICHAEL GRAMLING has spent nearly two decades working in early childhood education. He is an expert in providing family literacy and positive guidance training and he travels across the country presenting to educators. Gramling has helped develop literacy curricula for Head Start, aided programs in developing their required School Readiness Goals, and observed in classrooms from coast to coast. ISBN 978-1-60554-399-4 COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL $24.95