"Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood Education and Care" delves into the dynamic landscape of early childhood education and critically addresses the intersection of theory and practice, offering a range of theoretical frameworks and practical strategies to support the holistic development of children. It explores a diverse array of…

This article provides an overview of the instructional activity implemented to introduce the authors' first-grade students to the concept of measuring, collecting, and recording temperature data as part of a unit on weather. The activities introduced involved approximately one week of instructional time. However, the application of the skill…

Although physical educators may differ on teaching philosophy, individual style or specific drills chosen for instruction, each practitioner should strive to utilize evidence-based practices that have been tested in research whenever possible to facilitate student learning. One area that is important for practitioners to consider is that of motor…

Although it is not their intent, conventional curricula may place some students at a disadvantage in school music classrooms. This article offers a practical planning strategy that music educators can use to confront and resist some of these curricular tendencies in subtle yet important ways. By reimagining long-standing norms related to content,…

With the evolving technologies available to educators and the increased importance of including technologies in the classroom, it is critical for instructors to understand how to successfully utilize these emerging technologies within their curriculum. To ensure they are prepared, further study on the best practices and challenges of…

Rhode Island is committed to ensuring that all educators receive fair, accurate, and meaningful educator evaluations that provide information that can help all teachers improve and refine their practice. Currently, districts in Rhode Island may submit a district-designed model for approval that complies with the Educator Evaluation System…

"The Most Reasonable Answer" is an innovative and comprehensive guide to engaging students in inquiry dialogue--a type of talk used in text-based classroom discussions. During inquiry dialogue, students collectively search for the most reasonable answers to big, controversial questions, and, as a result, enhance their argumentation…

This guide is a list of tools that can be used in continued implementation of strong programming powered by Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) competencies. This curated resource pulls from across the landscape of policy, research and practice, with a description of each tool gathered directly from its website.

Rhode Island educators believe that implementing a fair, accurate, and meaningful educator evaluation and support system will help improve teaching and learning. The primary purpose of the Rhode Island Model Teacher Evaluation and Support System (Rhode Island Model) is to help all teachers improve. Through the Model, the goal is to help create a…

Generalist practice social workers need to master group leadership and facilitation skills, and the best way to achieve this goal is through actual practice. An innovative teaching approach used to engage undergraduate social work majors in developing group facilitation skills is a "hands-on" service-learning experience leading social…

The purpose of this Guidebook is to describe the process and basic requirements for the student learning measures that are used as part of the teacher evaluation and support process. For aspects of the process that have room for flexibility and school/district-level discretion, the different options have been clearly separated and labeled with a…

This text is a clear and current description of the instructional strategies that can be immediately applied across age groups and disability labels. An evidence-based instructional methodology is provided, which has proved to be effective in teaching skills to students and adults with disabilities. Signature topics include: (1) a…

Tactical approaches to teaching are, arguably, still under-utilized in physical education settings, and this may be due to the lack of pertinent assessment materials. The purpose of this article is to present a generic invasion-game unit and to link it to a variety of assessment materials using three tactical components from the Game Performance…

This "skill packet" is a training document that serves as a guide to performing needs assessment in the educational context. It is anticipated that, at the end of the training, participants will be able to: (1) define needs assessment concepts; (2) identify strategies for conducting a needs assessment; (3) describe the strategies and…

Teacher-tested ideas for teaching and evaluating cognitive skills of students in physical education programs are offered. (DF)