Gaye Gronlund MA is an early childhood education consultant from Indianapolis. A former preschool, kindergarten, and primary- school teacher in regular and special education, she now works with schools and programs around the country helping them implement developmentally appropriate curricular practices and authentic assessment procedures. She has a master's degree in human development from Pacific Oaks College, with a specialization in early childhood education and teaching adults. Her portfolio assessment tool, Focused Portfolios, coauthored by Bev Engel, has been adopted by New Mexico's Office of Child Development and is being used extensively by early childhood programs across the country. She has written several articles for NAEYC's journal Young Children on subjects such as "Rigorous Academics in Preschools and Kindergartens? Yes, Let Me Tell You How!," "Portfolios as an Assessment Tool: Is Collection of Work Enough?," "Bringing the DAP Message to Kindergarten and Primary Teachers," and "Coping with Ninja Turtle Play in My Kindergarten Classroom." Her latest book, Making Early Learning Standards Come Alive, was released in April 2006 published by Redleaf Press. She is also the author of Focused Early Learning and the co-author of Focused Observations.