ABSTRACT
This chapter talks about the impact of one year of implementing inquiry-based education at Mission Head Start's Valencia Gardens, the urban, publicly funded preschool where the author teach. Inquiry is a process that supports both curriculum and professional development through a qualitative and systematic cycle of reflection and action toward the goal of deeply understanding a subject. When inquiry guides professional development, teachers "develop a personal set of theories about teaching and learning informed explicitly by personal practice and experience. Inquiry is a way to understand quality in early childhood education as more than the sum of its parts, more than individual scores on assessments, and instead as an ongoing iterative process of documentation and reflection in which we hold ourselves accountable for better understanding our children and our teaching. Inquiry becomes an ongoing process that supports curriculum development and professional growth, and uplifts the profession as a whole.
