Professional learning for teachers has become a staple in today's education continuous improvement system. Federal programs such as the Race to the Top Early Learning Challenge Program (RTTT), Every Student Succeeds Act of 2015, Elementary and Secondary Education Act and others have supported funds over the years to account for developing…

Preschool classrooms provide a unique context for supporting the development of children with social-communication challenges. This study is an uncontrolled clinical trial of an adapted professional development intervention for preschool teachers (Social Emotional Engagement-Knowledge & Skills-Early Childhood). Social Emotional…

The authors survey the economic education programs and resources produced and supported by the Federal Reserve System: from K-16 professional development opportunities for teachers and professors, to free lesson plans, videos, online learning modules, and readings ready for the classroom. They provide the history, goals, context, and reach of the…

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is one of the United States' leading federal science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) agencies and plays an important role in the landscape of STEM education. In 2015, NASA's Science Mission Directorate (SMD) created the Science Activation (SciAct) program to increase the…

Students in rural schools have the potential to achieve at high levels; however, they need support to develop this potential. Research indicates a particular need in the area of STEM education. This study looks at how to enhance school-wide instruction, collaboration, and assessment related to increased student participation in coding and computer…

Schools in rural communities face many challenges in retaining effective teachers, many of which are beyond school leaders' control: need for educators to serve multiple roles, lower teacher salaries, and large percentages of students from low-income backgrounds. However, cultivating a school culture where teachers are supported to be effective…

This study examines the impact of a federal Teacher Incentive Fund grant award that expanded a partnership between Cross County School District and the National Institute for Excellence in Teaching (NIET) to create systems that support ongoing, continuous improvement for teachers. Through the implementation of the TAP System for Teacher and…

Among all the factors that influence the success of preschool programs, none is more important than the quality of the teaching workforce. The design and delivery of effective approaches to professional development (PD) are central to the support of the early childhood education workforce. In this article, we provide a model outlining the PD…

This article presents an in-depth study supporting the Scientist in the Classroom Partnership (SCP) program as a model of effective professional development (PD) for K-12 teachers. The goal of this study was to determine the core and structural features of the SCP program necessary for effective teacher PD. The SCP partners a classroom teacher…

The purpose of this action research was to understand how reflective, job-embedded early childhood science professional learning and development (PLD) impacted Early Head Start (EHS) teacher learning and their perceptions toward science with toddlers. Limited content knowledge and lack of formal preparation impact teachers' understanding of…

This paper examines the effect of a federally supported school turnaround program in North Carolina elementary and middle schools. Using a regression discontinuity design, we find that the turnaround program did not improve, and may have reduced, average school-level passing rates in math and reading. One potential contributor to that finding…

The DEC Recommended Practices provide guidance to families and professionals about the most effective ways to improve learning outcomes and promote development of young children, birth through age 5, who have, or are at-risk for, developmental delays or disabilities. "Teaming and Collaboration: Building and Sustaining Partnerships" is…

High quality instruction is essential to producing developmental gains for young children and can mitigate risk factors such as family poverty and low parental education. Even in programs with highly qualified teachers, teacher-child interactions often do not provide the level of instructional support that children need to be well-prepared for…

No Child Left Behind, hereafter referred to as NCLB, has given us an age of accountability for America's schools that includes high stakes tests for students at various grade levels. Those tests are used to measure a child's knowledge of standards in each core subject area including math, science, language arts, and social studies. The standards…

This paper examines the effect of school turnaround in North Carolina elementary and middle schools. Using a regression discontinuity design, we find that turnaround led to a drop in average school-level math and reading passing rates and an increased concentration of low-income students in treated schools. We use teacher survey data to examine…