This report presents a summary of the findings of fiscal year (FY) 2015 monitoring reviews, fulfilling the reporting requirements found in Sections 641A(f) and 650(c)(2) of the Head Start Act. It highlights the enhancements made to the FY 2015 monitoring review system, summarizes grantee review outcomes, and describes the types of findings most…

This publication is part of the Leading by Exemplar project, a multi-year study conducted by Bellwether Education Partners. In this project, every aspect of the Head Start exemplars' program design and practice was closely examined in an effort to understand each program's "secret sauce." Leading by Exemplar has three goals: (1) to…

This publication is part of the "Leading by Exemplar" project, a multi-year study conducted by Bellwether Education Partners. In this project, every aspect of the Head Start exemplars' program design and practice was closely examined in an effort to understand each program's "secret sauce." Leading by Exemplar has three goals:…

This report presents a summary of the findings of Fiscal Year (FY) 2014 monitoring reviews, fulfilling the reporting requirement, Section 641A(f), of the Head Start Act. It highlights the enhancements made to the FY 2014 monitoring review system, summarizes grantee review outcomes, and describes the types of findings most commonly identified in FY…

This report presents a summary of the findings of Fiscal Year (FY) 2013 monitoring reviews, fulfilling the reporting requirement, Section 641A(f), of the Head Start Act. It highlights the enhancements made to the FY 2013 monitoring review system, summarizes grantee review outcomes, and describes the types of findings most commonly identified in FY…

This report presents a summary of the findings of Fiscal Year (FY) 2012 monitoring reviews, fulfilling the reporting requirement, Section 641A(f), of the Head Start Act. It highlights the enhancements made to the FY 2012 monitoring review system, summarizes grantee review outcomes, and describes the types of findings most commonly identified in FY…

This "Rating a Teacher Observation Tool" identifies five simple questions and provides an easy-to-use scorecard to help policymakers decide whether an observation framework is likely to produce fair and accurate results. The five questions are: (1) Do the criteria and tools cover the classroom performance areas most connected to student outcomes?…

The ultimate outcome of this work is to support students, families, and educators (includes all school members who collectively support students) during the transitions back to school during and following the global pandemic in a manner that prioritizes their health and safety, social and emotional needs, and behavioral and academic growth. This…

Head Start monitoring assesses grantee compliance with requirements governing Head Start programs, including those specified in the Head Start Act (original authorizing legislation in 1965 and its subsequent amendments, most recently in 2007), Head Start Program Performance Standards, and other applicable federal, state, and local regulations.…

Educational leaders have a comprehensive responsibility for how preschools and schools work with children in need of special educational support. The aim of this research is to study how educational leaders (a) explain why children have problems in schools, (b) consider how preschools/schools should help children in need of special support and (c)…

Intended for administrators and policymakers as well as teachers, this digest provides a rationale for an integrated language arts curriculum. The digest first defines integrating the language arts curriculum as providing natural learning situations in which reading, writing, speaking, and listening can be developed together for real purposes and…

A policy of reducing class size seems sensible, but might have costly, far-reaching implications for students, teachers, and public support for schools. The purpose of this research brief is to summarize 100 class size research studies from 1950 to 1985 and to regroup them into 18 areas of concern. The cluster analysis approach was designed to…

This issue brief, based on a meeting of a group of distinguished researchers, educators, and policymakers convened by the National Center for Children in Poverty (NCCP) explores lessons from research and practice about the role of an intentional curriculum and professional development and supports for teachers in closing the achievement gap for…

The paper challenges teachers to creatively use current educational reforms and challenges reformers to consider seven questions concerning the effect of proposed reforms on the emotional atmosphere of schools, student attitudes toward learning, student feelings toward self, teachers' creativity, student needs, and nonmainstream students. (DB)

This book illustrates the experiences of elementary school teachers across one year's time as they participated in a teacher development seminar focused on mathematics, and as a result changed their beliefs, their knowledge, and their practices. It explores these experiences as a means of understanding the learning that takes a teacher from a more…