Continuity in Children's Worlds

Children’s experiences when they transition from home to school, from classroom to classroom, and from school to school raise issues of continuity that permeate every aspect of early childhood education. This book uses practitioner stories to investigate beliefs about continuity and discontinuity and how these beliefs are enacted in contexts for young children from birth to age 8. The authors examine a range of continuities and discontinuities, including the experiences children, teachers, and families have with programs; the interactions between families and schools; and the ways in which programs and schools relate to one another. They also raise questions about primary caregiving, cultural responsiveness, assessment practices, and congruity between institutions. Discussions of each story include the authors’ interpretations, references to relevant theory, questions for reflection, and implications for intentional and thoughtful practice.

Book Features:

• Represents the first comprehensive volume to unpack the complex topic of continuity.
• Provides a critical analysis of continuity based on real stories from practitioners and parents.
• Illuminates the work of early childhood educators on the individual, group, organizational, and systems levels.
• Encourages readers to carefully consider their roles as educators of young children.

Melissa M. Jozwiak is assistant professor of early childhood at Texas A&M University, San Antonio. Betsy J. Cahill is the J. Paul Taylor Endowed Professor and Early Childhood Program area director at New Mexico State University. Rachel Theilheimer is professor emerita of teacher education at Borough of Manhattan Community College of the City University of New York.

"This new volume provides a complex take on the affordances and limitations of continuity, coherence, and consistency for young children and their preschools...what the book does best is call on researchers to be more responsive to the realities of early childhood settings, the needs of diverse families, and the well-being of teachers and other practitioners and to ask practitioners to think beyond 'developmentally appropriate practice' and to be flexible in the solutions that work best for themselves, the children they serve, and their communities."

—Harvard Educational Review

"Jozwiak, Cahill, and Theilheimer thoroughly address continuity and discontinuity, an important topic that can be difficult to grasp and successfully define for readers. The authors explore a variety of ways continuity is displayed and provide a balanced view throughout the book regarding its strengths and limitations. Continuity in Children’s Worlds: Choices and Consequences for Early Learning Settings is a must read for anyone within the early childcare community."

—Teachers College Record

“This book offers hope through its rich and abundant examples of teachers, parents, and others who care for young children mindfully taking the time to address issues of continuity in everyday life. Many of us will find ourselves, our commitments, and our dilemmas as caregivers, teachers, allies, advocates, and childhood studies researchers in this volume—I know that I did.”
—From the Foreword by Beth Blue Swadener, professor and associate director, School of Social Transformation, Arizona State University

"The way the authors juxtapose and wonder about these diverse stories provides us with new inroads to reconceptualize the tangle of continuities and discontinuities in our own lives and in our early childhood work. After reading this book, it is not possible to think about these ideas simplistically again."
—Virginia Casper, graduate faculty, Bank Street College of Education

"This examination of continuity/discontinuity gives voice to an important but often unexamined issue in early childhood education. By doing so, these authors provide guidance as to how early educators can support the growth and development of the children and families they work with, the programs they support and develop, and the field they envision all children participating in one day."
—Christopher P. Brown, Early Childhood Program Area, Department of Curriculum and Instruction, The University of Texas at Austin