HS Dialog: The Research to Practice Journal for the Early Childhood Field

EXTENDED DUE DATE!!!  Submissions now due May 31, 2024!

The HS Dialog Special Issue II 2024, Examining Approaches to the Preparation of Early Childhood Education Professionals for Inclusion, invites submissions focused on the preparation of the early childhood workforce. Changes in federal law (Congressional Research Service [CRS], 2019; Hebbeler, et al.,1991) and societal needs (Burton, e al., 1992), in the 1980s led to an increase in the number of young children, with and without identified disabilities, participating in early childhood programs across the country (U.S. Department of Education, 2020).  However, the historical literature base is increasingly difficult to apply to the increased diversity of educational contexts (Mickelson et al., 2022). Additionally, contemporary contexts of necessitate that preparation adopts a broader view of inclusion that takes into account the diverse and intersectional identities of the children and families served. Further, these contexts call for recruitment of similarly diverse professionals into the field to assure educational success for every group of marginalized learners (Pugach et al., 2020; U.S. Department of HHS and U.S. Department of Education, 2023).

The aim of this special issue is to showcase the contemporary landscape of early childhood preparation and highlight how higher education and community partners currently respond to the varied programmatic, licensure, field, and other contexts observed across the field.