Dorothy M. Steele, Ed.D. (1945-2017) was the former Executive Director of the Center for Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity at Stanford University. She was an early childhood educator interested in public schools including teaching practices that are effective for diverse classrooms, alternative assessment processes that inform teaching and learning, and strategies that build inclusive communities of learners in schools. Her work with the Stanford Integrated Schools Project was an attempt to look at these various aspects of schooling in a large urban school district.
Dr. Steele began her work with teachers and children in 1968 in Columbus, OH as the Director/Teacher of one of the city's first Head Start Programs. During the 1970's, she served as the Curriculum Coordinator for the City of Seattle's Children's Programs, an early childhood teacher educator, a parent educator, and, for eight years, the director of a large, university-based child care center.
In 1987, Dr. Steele began her doctoral work in early childhood education and, with her advisor, developed an alternative assessment process for early childhood education, the Work Sampling System that is being used throughout the world. Her dissertation explored the negative impact of standardized tests on Kindergarten teachers' educational decisions for their students.
Dorothy Steele received her AB degree in music from Hiram College, Hiram, OH in 1967; the MA in Early Childhood Education from the Ohio State University in 1971; and an Ed.D. in Early Childhood Education from the University of Michigan in 1994.

Foreword by Linda Darling-Hammond
Acknowledgments
About the Authors
Part I. Getting Started
Chapter 1. Welcome to Readers
Chapter 2. How to Use This Book
Part II. Child-Centered Teaching
Chapter 3. Listening for Students¿ Voices
Chapter 4. Teaching for Understanding
Chapter 5. Focus on Cooperation
Chapter 6. Classroom Autonomy
Part III. Cultivating Diversity as a Resource
Chapter 7. Using Diversity as a Resource for Teaching
Chapter 8. High Expectations and Academic Rigor
Chapter 9. Challenging Curriculum
Part IV. Classroom Relationships
Chapter 10. Teacher Warmth and Availability to Support Learning
Chapter 11. Positive Student Relationships
Part V. Caring Classrooms
Chapter 12. Teacher Skill
Chapter 13. Emotional and Physical Comfort
Chapter 14. Attention to Prosocial Development
Epilogue
Index