Darling-Hammond, Wilhoit, and Pittenger (2014) addressed the need for states to align their accountability systems with new college- and career-ready learning standards. The authors recommended a new accountability paradigm that focuses on 1) meaningful learning, enabled by 2) professionally skilled and committed educators, and supported by 3)…

As schools become living sites of evidence-based practice, teachers increasingly accumulate large quantities of observations and records. In these times of an overabundance of documentation, there is a need to find the "unit of analysis" that determines the essence of what matters for assessment. In drawing upon cultural-historical…

The Center on Enhancing Early Learning Outcomes (CEELO) and the Center on School Turnaround (CST) collaborated to develop case studies of three selected schools receiving SIG funds that have, with the support of their districts, promoted the use of early childhood programming (PK-3) as a key strategy in their schools' turnaround models. The goal…

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. This commitment is an outgrowth of the state's recognition of the influence teachers have on student growth and achievement. Currently, districts…

Midway through the second decade of this century, the importance of early care and education (ECE) to children's lifelong learning and to the nation's economic well-being is recognized up to the highest levels of government, and in businesses, schools, and living rooms across the country. This understanding represents a dramatic shift from earlier…

Today, the importance of early care and education (ECE) to children's lifelong learning and to the nation's economic well-being is recognized up to the highest levels of government, and in businesses, schools, and living rooms across the country. This understanding represents a dramatic shift from earlier decades, and carries with it heightened…

Teacher preparation in the field of early childhood education (ECE) has historically included a variety of higher education degree programs, in various child-related disciplines, all of which have generally been considered equally acceptable. And too often, these highly diverse degree programs are assumed to produce equivalent results. In…

Midway through the second decade of this century, the importance of early care and education (ECE) to children's lifelong learning and to our nation's economic well-being is recognized up to the highest levels of government, and in businesses, schools, and living rooms across the country. This understanding represents a dramatic shift from earlier…

Today, the importance of early care and education (ECE) to children's lifelong learning and to our nation's economic well being is recognized up to the highest levels of government, and in businesses, schools, and living rooms across the country. This understanding represents a dramatic shift from earlier decades, and carries with it heightened…

Teacher preparation in the field of early childhood education (ECE) has historically included a variety of higher education degree programs, in various child-related disciplines, all of which have generally been considered to produce equivalent results. In contrast, programs to prepare teachers and administrators to work with older children…

The New York State Early Childhood Advisory Council (ECAC) serves the Governor and is charged with ensuring that all of New York's young children are healthy, learning, and thriving in families that are supported by a full complement of services and resources essential for successful development. The council's Workforce Work Group is dedicated to…

In an effort to reexamine the status of early childhood higher education offerings in New York, the New York Early Childhood Advisory Council (ECAC) with its partner members, New York Early Childhood Professional Development Institute and the New York State Association for the Education of Young Children engaged the Center for the Study of Child…

In recent years, New York, like many states, has committed public and private resources toward multiple efforts to improve educational services and to ensure that teacher education degree and certification programs can better prepare their graduates to meet the complex needs of young children of all ages. Critical to responding to this need is the…

Midway through the second decade of this century, the importance of early care and education (ECE) to children's lifelong learning and to our nation's economic well-being is recognized up to the highest levels of government, and in businesses, schools, and living rooms across the country. This understanding represents a dramatic shift from earlier…

Today, the importance of early care and education (ECE) to children's lifelong learning and to our nation's economic well being is recognized up to the highest levels of government, and in businesses, schools, and living rooms across the country. This understanding represents a dramatic shift from earlier decades, and carries with it heightened…