Every interaction within an early childhood
program either promotes community or disrupts it. Therefore,
excellent early childhood programs have in place a
process that pulls the energies and abilities of all the
members of the school community together so that everyone—
children, educators, parents, and community members—
develop well. In particular, healthy interactions
between educators and families create the necessary conditions
for the early childhood programs: (1) to impact the
lifepaths of the families; and, in turn, (2) to engage the
families in the work of improving the early childhood
programs. In this article, research on the Jewish Early
Childhood Education Initiative (JECEI) is presented.
JECEI was selected for study because JECEI early childhood
programs are characterized by healthy relationships,
the capacity to successfully promote children’s learning
and development, and the engagement of families in the
work of school improvement.