A Cooperative Plan to Establish an Early Childhood Center for the Invention, Demonstration, and Evaluation of Innovative Practices in Early Childhood Education. Final Report.

In 1968 an upstate New York School district, acting on behalf of nine school districts, planned and established an Early Childhood Center. This evaluative report of a 2-year demonstration preschool, modeled on the British Infant School, describes the open classroom arrangement and its effect on the center's children, teachers, and student teachers. A major objective of the program was to create an atmosphere in which teachers could experiment without fear of failure, could learn from one another, and promote their own growth. The Center educated student teachers and aides from State universities and colleges. Dissemination services included workshops, courses, conferences, the establishment of a library (whose resources were available to teachers in nine counties), and monthly meetings for parents. (ST)