For more than 20 years, United Way of Greater Philadelphia and Southern New Jersey (United Way) has made high-quality early care and education a cornerstone priority of its investment strategy. United Way has also been a longtime champion of school readiness for the youngest children in southeastern Pennsylvania. In 1996, the organization joined…

Classroom management is often noted as one of the most influential factors in determining success for first-year teachers and as the most influential factor in students' academic success (Marzano & Marzano, 2003). However, according to Haycock (2006), nearly half of this country's new teachers leave the classroom within their first five years,…

Six primary classrooms in an elementary professional development school were involved in this research, each characterized by high mobility and a diverse student population from economically disadvantaged families. Questions included the following: First, what approaches are found in a professional development school with diverse learners? Second,…

This article examines how laptop computing technology, teacher professional development, and systematic support resulted in changed teaching practices and increased student achievement in 47 K-12 schools in 11 Florida school districts. The overview of a large-scale study documents the type and magnitude of change in student-centered teaching,…

The ECERS-R and ITERS-R are among two of the most widely used observational measures for describing the characteristics of early childhood education and care. This paper describes a professional development programme currently taking place in seven regions across England, designed to train local government staff in the application of the scales as…

High-quality preschool programs are essential to improving children's outcomes in reading achievement and leveling language and literacy disparities among students from diverse backgrounds. Grounded in state-of-the-art research evidence, this practice-oriented book demonstrates how preschool professionals can create, evaluate, and sustain…

When a constructivist professional development program was introduced to elementary teachers in a school district, some of the teachers who teach in self-contained classrooms (N=59) elected to participate in a yearlong professional development project. To explore the impact of professional development, a purposive sample of participating teachers…

Reports on the results from a comprehensive review of instructional practices in reading and writing elementary classrooms in Chelsea (Massachusetts) followed by a review of the corrective actions taken via the Boston University/Chelsea Public Schools Partnership and their outcomes. Children's classroom performance in reading and writing is…

Project PRIDE, a regional model for providing educational services to severely/profoundly handicapped school-aged individuals in rural southeastern Kansas, was designed to develop exemplary services in multiple special education cooperatives using a regional resource team approach. Resource team members served as consultants to classroom personnel…

Reflecting contemporary research and widely held beliefs about how children grow, develop, and learn, this publication describes standards for child development programs for preschool and school-age children. The text is divided into three main sections which discuss background material, program components, and the program quality review process.…

These conference proceedings provide summaries of 61 presentations on various aspects of the High/Scope educational approach. In addition to summaries of special presentations on music and movement and on preschool "basics," topics addressed include: (1) High/Scope in the secondary setting; (2) classroom environment; (3) outdoor…