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Professional development, which results in sustained transformative change, requires that teachers engage in critical reflection regarding teaching practices. In this study, a group of five bilingual and generalist early childhood teachers engaged in a journey in which they elected to try to reconstruct their beliefs and practices about teaching and learning. In response to a school district's needs, these teachers were enrolled as a cohort in an early childhood graduate program that served as part of their professional development endeavor. The teachers used reflection and ongoing dialogue that bridged theory and practice as they raised questions about their daily practices in relation to theoretical perspectives. We provide a glimpse of these teachers' ongoing transformative journeys and provide suggestions for early childhood teachers to engage in sustained professional development.

Given increasing numbers of young culturally and/or linguistically diverse (CLD) children across the United States, it is crucial to prepare early childhood teachers to create high-quality environments that facilitate the development of all children. The Early Childhood Ecology Scale-Revised (ECES-R) has been developed as a reflective tool to help early childhood teacher candidates examine their beliefs concerning classroom ecology. Using cultural responsivity and classroom management theories as the theoretical framework, the authors posit that the ECES-R identifies five dimensions that promote a high-quality, culturally responsive classroom ecology. These include the sociocognitive, sociocultural, sociolinguistic, socioemotional, and sociophysical dimensions. Evidence for reliability and validity was established. Factor analysis supported the five proposed dimensions, with the identification of an additional dimension: sociocomfort. (Contains 1 table.)