Purpose: Having a clear understanding of the types and amounts of classroom literacy learning opportunities is important for contextualizing children's early literacy performance. In this study, we examine the content, context, and management of literacy learning opportunities in a large, geographically diverse sample in the United States. We also…

The Optimizing Learning Opportunities for Students (OLOS) Observation System was developed by the Early Learning Network's assessment team at the University of California, Irvine. OLOS is a user-friendly, web-based tool designed to help teachers understand what is happening in their classrooms and uncover ways to meet the unique learning needs of…

Young children's daily interactions with teachers are critical to the development of their social, cognitive, and self-regulatory skills (Hamre, 2014). But not all young children have access to the types of interactions that matter -- interactions that are warm, supportive, cognitively engaging, and rich in core academic areas such as literacy,…

In corequisite models of instruction, marginally prepared students are placed directly into college-level coursework, taught with a paired support course. Initial research suggests that such models yield significant improvements in the number of students passing credit-level mathematics when compared to previous models of prerequisite remediation.…

In this comparative case study, we critically examined the implementation of art education in two art classes situated within communities of higher and lower socioeconomic status. The findings indicated that art budgets under state regulations were equitable; however, families' and communities' external educational resources were starkly…

At any point during the school year, a teacher may find out the gap between what students know and need to learn is not large at all. In fact, formative assessment data may show a handful of students already have mastered the content for a specific unit of study. While some learners will achieve grade-level standards at the pace outline by a…

The author, as a school administrator, wrote this article to describe an effective collaboration with several universities on research projects that benefit both institutions. The outcomes described here focus on the process involved in such collaborations and the benefits to the school district these collaborations can create. Directed toward…

The author interviewed Dr. Carol Tomlinson, who is a well-known academic scholar in gifted education. The interview focused on Dr. Tomlinson's work on differentiation, how she started, and what her suggestions for teachers are to differentiate instructions for gifted students in general education classrooms.

The purpose of this study was to explore the issue of social class in art education. As mentioned in my theoretical framework underlying this study, Bourdieu (1973/2000) used the term "cultural capital" as forms of knowledge, tastes, and practices to explain the relationship between knowledge and power in the field of education. I…

Did technology make a difference, for good or ill, in students' learning of economics in the three courses described in Dan Berrett's story, first published in the "Chronicle of Higher Education" and reprinted in this issue? That's the question that "Liberal Education" has asked this author to discuss. By…

Virginia Beach City Public Schools had decided to embrace differentiation as its philosophy of instruction. Differentiation was added to the teacher evaluation rubric, and by 2003 Virginia Beach launched full force into a division-wide focus on Carol Ann Tomlinson's model for differentiation. (Tomlinson is the author of several books on the…

Digital content is increasingly present in U.S. K-12 classrooms, with a current push by federal officials to increase the rate at which digital textbooks are adopted. While some teachers' use of electronic resources involves locating activities and lessons from various internet sites, textbook and educational software companies have begun to…

This was a multi-faceted mixed methods study that investigated several aspects associated to class size and the perceived effects on student achievement in Title I elementary schools. The data collection in this study was conducted through two separate phases. The first qualitative phase was a case study that was comprised of teacher interviews…

This qualitative, narrative, phenomenological interview study explored the reasons general education teachers resist teaching in inclusion classrooms. The problem researched was that general education teachers are unwilling to teach in inclusion classrooms in eastern Virginia elementary schools. Twenty participants were interviewed, textual data…

The author details a Perkins Grant-funded project of the Medical Education Center at Northern Virginia Community College that is designed to increase student retention by teaching students to identify and to use their learning style preference(s). (Contains 1 chart.)