This applied dissertation describes the evaluation of a parent-coaching program and how test scores were impacted as measured by the New Jersey Assessment of Skills and Knowledge (NJASK). Of the 175 third-grade students in the school district, 25.6% of students, or 44 students, scored less than satisfactory (partially proficient) in language arts…

This article reports on a research project undertaken on behalf of the Standards Unit to research the impact of the Teaching and Learning National Transformation Programme for the Learning and Skills sector. The transformational programme is best described as having three enablers, namely teaching and learning resources to support practitioners,…

Both principals and school districts hire literacy coaches with the clear hope that they will succeed in improving teachers' instruction and, in turn, students' literacy learning. Unintentionally, however, they can overlook putting into place supports that coaches themselves may need to reach these goals. This Literacy Coaching Clearinghouse brief…

The 2008-2009 Annual Reading First Progress Report reflects on the final year of implementation for Round I schools and the third full year of implementation for Round II schools. This report focuses on the effect that Reading First implementation has had on selected schools across Nebraska with a special focus on vulnerable populations: English…

A considerable amount of current research on teaching and teacher education focuses on teacher collaboration. Teacher collaboration is presumed to be a powerful learning environment for teachers' professional development. However, empirical research about how teachers actually learn in collaborative settings is lacking. In this study, learning…

Until recent years, school nursing practice consisted mainly of screenings and first aid. However, the changing health, social, and emotional needs of children in the school setting have brought about an expansion of school nursing services. Now school nurses must not only perform routine first aid and screenings, but they must also carry out…

This article examines one US high school teacher's attempt to become a coach by enacting what I call "a pedagogy of negation". For this teacher, the challenge of becoming a coach is nested within a wider agenda of social and personal transformation. That agenda is symbolized first in words as she constructs "a language of coaching" to inform her…

In this article, the author examines the role the literacy coach at her school has played in supporting the kindergarten through second grade teachers. Using a theoretical framework for classroom communities (Pintaone-Hernandez, 2002), she reflects on how the literacy coach has helped teachers maintain a professional learning community in the wake…

This brief by the Literacy Coaching Clearinghouse addresses issues related to literacy coaching in classrooms where there are English Language Learners (ELLs). Briefly defined, an English Language Learner is a child whose native language is other than English and who is learning English as a second language. Moreover, ELLs are defined as students…

This study examines the role of lesson plan design in helping teacher candidates to meet diverse learning needs. The authors studied student teachers who had been taught to use a differential lesson plan to see if they were differentiating in their planning, assessment, and instruction. They concluded that, indeed, lesson plan design does…

In this article a teacher/researcher and an academic mentor explore the potency, possibilities and tensions of the mentoring relationship from personal perspectives. The concept of mentoring as described in this article uses the model of mentor/mentee relationship as portrayed in Homer's epic narrative the Odyssey. In the examination of the…

In the not too distant past a person's skills, knowledge, understanding and competence were judged largely on the initial education and training that he or she had undertaken, with continuing professional development (CPD) being seen as an optional extra by those who had enthusiasm for it. Gradually CPD has come to be recognized as an important,…

This volume comprises the refereed proceedings of the 2008 ATLAANZ (Association of Tertiary Learning Advisors of Aotearoa/New Zealand) conference, and explores strands of transformations--learning within cultural contexts, service delivery, student literacy and numeracy, graduate students and professional practice. In Chapter 1, Kay Hammond…

In the summer of 2008, the Commonwealth of Virginia was awarded a $1.1 million grant from the U. S. Department of Education. The College Access Challenge Grant Program (CACGP) is coordinated through the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia (SCHEV). The focus of the grant is to increase student access to postsecondary education,…

Twenty-one scholarly papers and fourteen abstracts comprise the content of the ninth annual "Brick and Click Libraries Symposium," held annually at Northwest Missouri State University in Maryville, Missouri. The peer-reviewed proceedings, authored by academic librarians and presented at the symposium, portray the contemporary and future…