While librarians in schools often face significant budgetary cuts, they can play an important role in supporting learning in literacy and literature. However, little is known about the practices that they may employ to this end. Of particular interest is the role of librarians in schools in supporting struggling readers, as these students may be…

The decline in middle school students' motivation and engagement during young adolescence remains a concern for educators, administrators, and educational researchers. This article draws on the philosophies of providing the appropriate person-environment fit and meeting students' basic psychological needs to enhance teaching and learning. These…

This qualitative case study explored how an infant teacher provided meaningful learning experiences for infants through play and the teacher's educational rationale behind these experiences. Findings were based on multiple sources of data, including classroom observations (natural observation and videotaped observation) for approximately 12 weeks…

Using the water molecule as a metaphor, Marilyn Doerr presents a study of a Montessori high school that combines the elements of Montessori with International Baccalaureate (IB) and other institutions in the surrounding community that enrich the experience of the students. The pedagogy of the high school, she explains, must be based on an…

Using Shulman's theory of teacher knowledge as the theoretical framework and a phenomenological research design, this qualitative study used Seidman's three-interview protocol to understand how 11 kindergarten teachers perceived the CCSS affected their use of developmentally appropriate practices (DAP) and their instructional discretion. This…

Stimulus overselectivity refers to maladaptive narrow attending that is a common learning problem among children with intellectual disabilities and frequently associated with autism. The present study contrasted overselectivity among groups of children with autism, Down syndrome, and typical development. The groups with autism and Down syndrome…

Young adults with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) struggle to assume adult roles. This research assessed the feasibility of using the Adolescent and Young Adult Activity Card Sort (AYA-ACS) with emerging adults with high functioning ASD. Two phases were utilized during this research: (1) comparing the activity participation reported by emerging…

Preemptive censorship occurs when educators avoid particular books because they dislike the ideas or values the books contain or fear the controversy the books may evoke. Although not as blatant as other forms of censorship, preemptive censorship has the unfortunate consequence of restricting children's access to ideas and information. Moreover,…

Ensuring that young children with severe and multiple disabilities are active participants in all aspects of their lives and that they make meaningful progress toward valued life outcomes can be a daunting endeavor for families and early educators. In this chapter, we describe evidence-based strategies that can be harnessed to ensure that each…

This Research-to-Impact brief is the sixth in a series by Chapin Hall's Voices of Youth Count on understanding and addressing youth homelessness. This brief draws exclusively on the in-depth interview (IDI) component from Voices of Youth Count. The 215 young people that were interviewed across five diverse U.S. counties shared stories of…

The collective findings of the six articles in this special issue highlight the importance of ethnic-racial socialization and ethnic identity among international transracial adoptees (ITRAs). A multidimensional developmental phenomenon, ethnic identity intersects with other identities, notably adoptive identity. Family, peers, community, and host…

Every teacher, principal, and school administrator wants their young students to thrive as they move through the transitional kindergarten and kindergarten years and into the early elementary grades. With the implementation of the Common Core State Standards and the Local Control Funding Formula, school districts have new opportunities to…

This analytical report seeks to address the evident gap in the formative assessment of social and emotional education by providing a framework indicating how social and emotional education may be assessed through a whole-school approach, both at individual (learner) and contextual (classroom climate and whole school system) levels, accompanied by…

In "The Absorbent Mind," Montessori (1967) described the early development of children between birth and 3 years of age as proceeding along different tracks. For example, coordination might be developing typically, while language and speech may show delays of disorder and attention and perception may be below average for typical…

Quality physical education (QPE) in primary school optimises children's well-being. However, international research indicates that the preparation of classroom teachers is impeded by systemic barriers, resulting in low-classroom teacher confidence, competence and subsequent interest. This empirical research investigates school principal…