Observing and Recording the Behavior of Young Children

In the Sixth Edition of their classic text, the authors reiterate the critical importance of observing and recording the behavior of young children, especially in the current atmosphere of accountability and testing. In addition, because children with special needs are now widely included in a majority of early childhood classrooms, they have completely rewritten a chapter to focus more broadly on observing behaviors that may be viewed as disquieting. Designed to help teachers better understand children’s behavior, the book outlines methods for recordkeeping that provide a realistic picture of each child’s interactions and experiences in the classroom. Numerous examples of teachers’ observations of children from birth to age 8 enrich this work and make it accessible, practical, and enjoyable to read.

With more than 130,000 copies in print, this valuable resource for pre- and inservice educators features:

• Fresh information about how children think and learn, how their language develops, and how their families, their culture, and their environment influence and help to shape them.
• Observations that reflect the increasingly diverse population in contemporary early childhood classrooms.
• The imperative for teachers to widen their lens in order to meet the needs of young children with a range of developmental capacities, abilities, and behaviors.

Dorothy H. Cohen and Virginia Stern, both of whom died before the Fourth Edition, held faculty positions at Bank Street Graduate School of Education. Nancy Balaban is retired from Bank Street Graduate School of Education, where she was director of the Infant and Family Development and Early Intervention Program. Nancy Gropper is retired from Bank Street Graduate School of Education, where she has been associate dean for academic affairs, department chair, and director of Student Teaching Programs in the Early Childhood and Childhood Education Department.

"Responds to new knowledge about how children think, learn, and develop language, and about the influences of families, culture, and other environmental influences."

— Zero to Three (previous edition)

"Like the earlier editions of this book, the sixth edition provides a theoretically sound and pragmatically useful 'how to' for observing and recording young children that simultaneously supports essential understanding and appreciation of how children develop. The sixth edition adds to the remarkable history of this volume with nuggets of updated insights reflecting the changing environments in which our children develop and grow."
—Jon Snyder, executive director, Stanford Center for Opportunity Policy in Education