In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic caused a mandatory shift from in-person instruction to online learning for many young children. Teachers needed to adjust to virtual teaching, children were isolated from their peers, and parents played a bigger role in learning during the pandemic. In 2021, the shift back to in-person learning occurred. Research has…

A Head Start program in Southeast Georgia, teachers were struggling to provide appropriate services to students with special needs (SWSN) in inclusive settings. The purpose of this study was to explore Head Start teacher descriptions of their roles and the barriers that inhibit implementation of inclusive education for SWSN. McKenzie and…

In the US state of Georgia, teachers licensed to teach children from birth through Kindergarten (B-K, ages 0-5) or pre-Kindergarten (pre-K) to Grade 5 (p-5, ages 4-10) can teach pre-K and K in the public school system. Concerns have been raised about the unequal job opportunities for B-K candidates in the public school system because of the…

Background: Active classroom engagement is at the heart of children's learning. The definition of active classroom engagement has broadened over time to incorporate aspects of social emotional learning (SEL). SEL -- a developmental process that supports student acquisition of skills to build healthy peer relationships and regulate emotions…

Coaching is a popular mechanism for supporting teachers' improved use of teaching strategies. However, relatively little is known about which coaching processes are used or how those are implemented, especially in emerging formats like online asynchronous coaching. We used a multiple-case study design to examine coaching logs from an asynchronous…

Work climate is a broad term that encompasses all facets of the work environment, other than training and education, that support or detract from employees' ability to succeed. In this brief, the authors use a sample of center-based child care classrooms in Georgia to examine how different aspects that affect work climate (e.g., wages, employee…

This study investigated the assessment literacy required for K-12 educators to interpret score reports from a K-12 English language proficiency assessment. The assessment in concern is ACCESS for ELLs, which is an annual summative assessment that is delivered to nearly 2 million English learners (ELs) across 39 US states and territories. This…

For three weeks each June, the authors' PDS hosts a summer program called the Academy for Future Teachers (AFT), serving high school students interested in a teaching career. Partners across the PDS convene to support high-school AFT participants, including master teachers (P-12 teachers from local school districts and university faculty) and PDS…

The Center for the Study of Child Care Employment (CSCCE), in partnership with the National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER), has produced a series of materials that explore state policy efforts to move toward compensation parity between pre-K and K-3 teachers. This report forms the third part of the series, examining a small set of…

Early childhood centers and classrooms perpetually dance between being a "center" or a "school." To many educators, the word "school" usually presumes K-12 students. It often means the school is part of a larger entity, like a district or a school board. To parents, school might connote importance or deference to a…

During a time of historic COVID-related federal investment in child care and early education, states are working to leverage this opportunity to provide significant relief and recovery to providers and families. This fact sheet highlights the actions that select states have implemented to make the most of this critical time and opportunity. As…

Pre-K teachers in Metro Georgia have little to no training in working with English language learner/dual language learner (ELL/DLL) students, nor do they know how to instruct these students to meet Pre-K preliteracy criteria. As Pre-K classrooms contain increasing numbers of ELL/DLL students, the purpose of this qualitative case study was to…

Family engagement is now recognized by early childhood educators as a critical component of early care and education (ECE) programs. This recognition stems from a body of research showing the important role of family engagement in children's early learning and development. While classroom quality assessments can help programs identify teaching…

During the 2015-16 academic year, Georgia's Department of Early Care and Learning (DECAL) piloted three professional development models for Georgia's Pre-K teachers. All three models focused on the Instructional Support domain of the Classroom Assessment Scoring System™ (CLASS; Pianta, La Paro, & Hamre, 2008) and used resources developed by…

Teachers' ratings of conflict and closeness as well as observed emotional support are known predictors of children's social functioning. Consistency in emotional support represents an emerging line of research. The goal of the present study is to understand whether the relation between the consistency of teachers' emotional support and children's…