P.S. 52 Sheepshead Bay School in Brooklyn, New York, serves more than 850 students from pre-kindergarten to fifth grade from diverse socioeconomic backgrounds. After scores on the 2014 New York State English language arts assessment were unsatisfactory, first-year principal Rafael Alvarez searched for a way to improve academic outcomes for his…

Physical inactivity is a key determinant of health across the lifespan. A lack of activity increases the risk of heart disease, colon and breast cancer, diabetes mellitus, hypertension, osteoporosis, anxiety and depression and others diseases. Emerging literature has suggested that in terms of mortality, the global population health burden of…

Can mentoring and coaching really improve professional practice? How can research and inquiry improve mentoring and coaching practice? "Mentoring and Coaching in Schools" explores the ways in which mentoring and coaching can be used as a dynamic collaborative process for effective professional learning. It demonstrates how the use of practitioner…

This article summarizes current research on effective professional development and offers a checklist for school leaders to use when designing learning opportunities for teachers. Effective professional development engages teachers in learning opportunities that are supportive, job-embedded, instructionally-focused, collaborative, and ongoing.…

Portfolio assessment is a valid and reliable method to assess experiential learning. Developing a fully online portfolio assessment program is neither easy nor inexpensive. The institution seeking to take its portfolio assessment program online must make a commitment to its students by offering the technologies most suited to meet students' needs.…

We report on an investigation into the design, development, implementation, and evaluation of an informational and instructional Website in order to generate guidelines for instructional designers of read/write Web environments. We describe the process of design and development research, the problem addressed, the theory-based solution, and the…

The Guidelines for Good Practice of the European Association for Language Testing and Assessment (EALTA) stress the importance of collaboration between all parties involved in the process of developing instruments, activities and programmes for testing and assessment. Collaboration is considered to be as important as validity and reliability,…

This bestselling book has been used in schools across the country to establish efficient and cost-effective systems of Tier II positive behavior support. The Behavior Education Program (BEP) was developed for the approximately 10-15% of students who fail to meet schoolwide disciplinary expectations but do not yet require intensive, individualized…

The quality of job outcomes achieved by youth with disabilities who are transitioning into employment varies widely across the country. Special education teachers, youth with disabilities, families, community rehabilitation program (CRP) staff providing employment services, and others involved in assisting transitioning youth can benefit from a…

This comprehensive text helps prepare pre-service and in-service teachers to build and sustain family, school, and community partnerships that are vital to student success. Focusing on grades preK-8, and with a particular emphasis on diverse families and learners, this book helps teachers to overcome barriers, create action plans, and sustain…

This book contains strategies for effective literacy coaching of teachers in districts and schools. Whether it's your job to start a literacy coaching initiative or to be an effective literacy coach to your colleagues, this guide has all the steps and strategies you need: (1) Roles and responsibilities of literacy coaches; (2) Keys to building…

Christine Greenhow, J. D. Walker, Dan Donnelly, and Brad Cohen describe the implementation and evaluation of the University of Minnesota's Fair Use Analysis (FUA) tool, an interactive online application intended to educate users and foster defensible fair use practice in accordance with copyright law by guiding users through a robust,…

This article explores the realities of grading and report cards within the context of standards-based physical education (SBPE). Specific objectives are to (1) identify standards for conducting quality assessments, (2) examine grading issues and concerns, (3) present guidelines for grading in SBPE programs, and (4) exemplify grading and reporting…

This brief is intended to provide State Education Agency (SEA) and Local Education Agency (LEA) educators with a brief overview of key components of GraduateFIRST, a Georgia program targeting issues impacting school completion for students with disabilities. Georgia's GraduateFIRST program has redefined the state's approach to raising graduation…

Since implementing NCLB (No Child Left Behind), raising of test scores and making AYP (Adequate Yearly Progress) have been paramount in the schools and the search has been on to find "THE" answer in the schools' quest to attain these goals. When hunting for appropriate methods to reach these objectives, needs assessments are often…