Nancy K. Freeman is a Professor Emerita at the University of South Carolina in Columbia. She was a member of the Early Childhood faculty and the Director of the Child Development and Research Center. She is a former preschool teacher and child care center director and worked closely with the campus child care development center while at the University. Nancy has authored scholarly publications and made conference presentations on topics such as professional ethics, service learning, and the preparation of the child care workforce. She served as chair of South Carolina’s State Advisory Committee on the Regulation of Child Care Facilities for many years and is a past president of the National Association of Early Childhood Teacher Educators (NAECTE). She is a coauthor of 2 books on professional ethics published by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) as well as a regular column on professional ethics published in NAEYC’s widely circulated journal Young Children. In 2012 she was recognized as the NAECTE/Pearson Outstanding Early Childhood Teacher Educator of the Year.

Celia A. Decker retired after 38 years of service in early childhood education. At the time of her retirement, she held the position of professor of early childhood education at Northwestern State University and served as the program coordinator of graduate studies in early childhood education. In addition to coauthoring this text, she is the author of Children: The Early Years and its supplements and coauthor of Parents and Their Children, both published by Goodheart-Willcox Company. She has presented papers at national, regional, and state annual meetings of many professional early childhood associations. She has served as a consultant for Head Start, Even Start, and local school systems.

During her years of teaching as a kindergarten teacher in an inner-city school system and as a college professor, she has received many honors. In 1994, she was selected as the Outstanding Professor at Northwestern State University.

John R. Decker retired after an elementary teaching and administrative career of 37 years. Before entering the field of education, he served as a district scout executive for Kaw Council, Boy Scouts of America, Kansas City, Kansas. His educational career included elementary teaching positions in inner-city schools, in an open education program, and in rural public schools. He also served as assistant professor of education and taught college courses in education and supervised pre-service teachers in a federally supported college-based program. He has frequently given speeches and workshops for professional organizations. He has been recognized for his 30-year membership in Phi Delta Kappa.