Recently, school districts have relied on professional learning (PL) to help teachers adopt curricula and implement practices aligned with the science of reading and to help students recover from learning interruptions due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Elementary English Language Arts teachers in Cecil County Public Schools are adopting Bookworms…

Teacher preparation programs are essential to ensure pre-service teachers are equipped with the skills and knowledge necessary to teach in the PK-12 learning environment, but are rooted in a traditional paradigm of a compacted curriculum with little room for more content. The addition of Computational Thinking (CT) becomes one more thing to add to…

This process and outcome evaluation investigated the extent to which the middle school English Language Arts (ELA) core curriculum, StudySync, was implemented with fidelity since year one of implementation in the 2019-2020 school year and how well it has addressed the needs of diverse learners in MCPS. Additionally, it examined students' literacy…

The evaluation of the instructional mathematics coaches (IMC) initiative during the 2023-2024 school year focused on the first-year implementation of mathematics coaches in 47 elementary and middle schools. Twelve coaches were assigned to these schools based on specific criteria to provide support to mathematics teachers. This study investigated:…

In pursuit of Academic Excellence, MCPS allocated funds for school year 2022-2023 to ensure every elementary school had a full-time reading specialist to serve as a literacy coach. This evaluation focused on understanding how the reading specialist position supported teachers' increased capacity to implement the MCPS literacy program, including…

This multi-method study evaluated the alignment of the Eureka Math Pre-K-5 curriculum with the district's RFP 4478.1, its effectiveness for students and teachers, and the fidelity of lesson implementation in Pre-K-5 classrooms. Data from staff surveys, student performance, and classroom observations were analyzed. Staff generally agreed that the…

Leaders of Tomorrow is a leadership program developed by the Institute for Educational Leadership (IEL) with a curriculum co-created by immigrant and refugee youth. The goal of Leaders of Tomorrow is to support and mobilize immigrant and refugee youth through opportunities to expand their knowledge, strengthen their skills, access tools and…

It has been twenty-seven years since a small group of faculty at the Community College of Baltimore County, faced with the discovery that two-thirds of students placed in our upper-level basic writing course never passed first year composition, began the development of the Accelerated Learning Program (ALP), one of the earliest corequisite…

We present main effects of treatment and moderating effects of student background on science and engineering outcomes for grades 3-5 children participating in an engineering intervention. Data is from a large-scale randomized-controlled trial of two matched pairs (intervention and comparison) of engineering units. The intervention curriculum…

Classroom and arts educators frequently collaborate in the pursuit of common educational goals. Examples of sophisticated interdisciplinary teaching can be found in nearly every classroom, as when teachers use music to provide context for social movements, dancers to demonstrate various types of movement, or paintings to illustrate proportion.…

State implementation of new standards (revising, adapting, and adopting new standards) is a significant undertaking. Such an effort at the state level requires extensive support, planning, and resources. Implementing new state standards also requires the support of multiple education leaders--governors, legislators, state departments of education,…

As early as preschool, children who struggle with emergent literacy skills can benefit from effective response to intervention. Don't wait until later grades when they've already fallen behind--improve their literacy skills now with this evidence-based Tier 2 RTI curriculum, ready for any pre-K educator to pick up and use right away. Created by…

There is ongoing research into online, distributed, distance learning that has transitioned from mailed video tapes to fully-implemented web-based courses. Less research has been conducted on hybrid courses--those that combine face-to-face sessions with web-based sessions. This paper reports on a case study of a hybrid course that teaches…