Children, Families, Schools, and Communities is introductory text in the field of Child and Family Studies. It provides a lens for understanding the evolving definition of “family” through socially constructed and ecological theory frameworks. It promotes strategies for culturally sustaining and deeply collaborative relationships between families, schools, and communities through the use of home-grown advocacy strategies based on community-driven data. Children, Families, Schools, and Communities is an adapted OER text from Rebecca Laff’s and Wendy Ruiz’s Child, Family, and Community.

This textbook provides students with guidelines for understanding writing tasks as intellectual work using Bloom’s Taxonomy and for treating the writing process as a set of variable activities that move along a trajectory from idea or assignment to a finished product. The book also includes chapters on strengthening reading strategies and on finding, evaluating, and using sources effectively.

This text gives an overview of development, beginning in the mother’s womb through about the age of eight. It starts with a look at perspectives of early childhood, including how children have been viewed historically as well as cross-culturally. Following this chapter, there is a complete overview of the important theorists that have helped to deepen and bring clarity to how children develop. These theories include psychodynamic, behavioral, social cognitive theory, cognitive theory, humanistic, multiple intelligence, growth mindset, and Bloom’s taxonomy. Understanding the implications of each theory is important foundational knowledge for the study of development.

Chapters Three and Four give an overview of the domains of development, followed by an overview of the developing brain. Chapter Five takes a look at the prenatal period, including the birth and postpartum process. Chapter Six describes development in infancy, and Chapter Seven describes the toddler years, including safety considerations that are critical for this period. Chapter Eight looks at the preschool years, including the role of peers, play, and television (and other electronics) in development. Chapter Nine concludes the text with a brief look at the start of what is known as the school-age years, universally recognized as between the ages of five and eight.