Emergent writing--the process where young children begin to experiment with written language--is an important contributor to the development of literacy skills. One way for teachers to support the development of writing skills in preschool-aged children is by integrating the Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS) as a framework to foster…

Public support for and government investments in early childhood education (ECE) are at an all-time high. Research has identified early childhood as a critical period for brain development, work that has spurred interest in expanding ECE programs across the United States. But not all programs produce positive effects at the end of the preschool…

Helping teachers become more effective in the classroom is a high priority for school leaders and policymakers. This Study Highlights presents key findings from a study that examined a promising strategy for improving teachers' effectiveness: providing individualized coaching using videos of teachers' instruction for reflection, practice, and…

As states consider non-academic measures of school quality for their accountability plans under the Every Student Succeeds Act, few are choosing to focus on the school climate in which students learn. That's not a surprise, given concerns about the validity and usefulness of existing climate surveys. However, the authors argue, a recent study…

Young children's daily interactions with teachers are critical to the development of their social, cognitive, and self-regulatory skills (Hamre, 2014). But not all young children have access to the types of interactions that matter -- interactions that are warm, supportive, cognitively engaging, and rich in core academic areas such as literacy,…

In the paper, Elliot Regenstein discusses how early childhood education (ECE) uses social and emotional learning (SEL). He believes K-12 schools should analyze how ECE incorporates SEL into their curriculum. In the best ECE programs, SEL is an integral part of the teaching strategy and an area in which performance is carefully measured. At the…

In this article, the author describes collaborative work with four teachers through the Lansing School District's participation in a multiyear project to implement and study the effects of the My Teaching Partner-Secondary 1:1 Video Coaching model. The model is a collaborative, individualized coaching program that focuses on effective…

This report summarizes the first year of the prekindergarten partnership between AISD, United Way for Greater Austin, and participating child development centers that served 417 students. Classrooms and students displayed high quality of instruction and academic performance, and teacher professional development opportunities are summarized.

The purpose of this paper is to: (1) examine the research base on three types of assessments currently collected in some states and by some institutions of higher education (IHE); and (2) consider the degree to which these assessments can be used to evaluate the effectiveness of programs preparing teachers to work with students with disabilities.…