The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of professional development on teachers' knowledge of teaching science and sense of efficacy regarding the teaching of science. In addition, the study explores the association between knowledge of teaching science and efficacy regarding the teaching of science. Participants included 28 early…

In January 2007, the Houston Independent School District (HISD) inaugurated the Teacher Performance Pay Model, 2005-2006, becoming the first school district in the nation to implement a performance pay system of this magnitude based on individual teacher effectiveness. Improvements and enhancements of that model became the "Recognize"…

California's Kindergarten Readiness Act of 2010 established transitional kindergarten (TK), the first year of a two-year kindergarten program for students affected by the change in the birthdate cutoff for entry into kindergarten from December 2 to September 1. This final report from the program's evaluation focuses on results from a five-year…

The purpose of this qualitative case study was to examine the disability discourses of ten pre-service teachers enrolled in a one-semester undergraduate social studies and language arts methods course. This undergraduate course drew on a disability studies approach that advocated a social model rather than a traditional medical approach to…

Imaginative and attractive, cutting edge in its conception, this text explicates a model for the integration of language arts and literacy education based on the notion of framing. The act of framing--not frames in themselves--provides a creative and critical approach to English as a subject. "Re-framing Literacy" breaks new ground in the language…

The author reviews research on working memory and short-term memory abilities of deaf individuals, delineating strengths and weaknesses. Among the areas of weakness that are reviewed are sequential recall, processing speed, attention, and memory load. Areas of strengths include free recall, visuospatial recall, imagery, and dual encoding.…

California's Kindergarten Readiness Act of 2010 established transitional kindergarten (TK), the first year of a two-year kindergarten program for students affected by the change in the birthdate cutoff for entry into kindergarten from December 2 to September 1. This fifth short report in a series highlighting findings from the Study of…

The Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA) is committed to providing the highest quality of education to its students. One way to provide a quality education is with an effective curriculum that reflects high standards and expectations. Thus, DoDEA has developed rigorous content standards aligned with national guidelines and standards.…

This paper presents findings from a correlational study of the relationship between teachers' vocabulary instruction practices and pre-kindergarten and kindergarten children's vocabulary. We observed sixteen teachers during three 90-minute language arts blocks, and we assessed the performance of their 244 children on knowledge of target words and…

This paper will review research on working memory and short-term memory abilities of deaf individuals delineating strengths and weaknesses. The areas of memory reviewed include weaknesses such as sequential recall, processing speed, attention, and memory load. Strengths include free recall, visuospatial recall, imagery and dual encoding.…

In 2010, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed the Kindergarten Readiness Act into law, which changed the kindergarten entry age so that children must turn 5 by September instead of December to enroll. The new grade level was put into place to promote school readiness for California's youngest learners. It also established a new grade…

Policy-makers, administrators, researchers, and teachers are increasingly vested in ensuring the quality of preschool instruction, particularly in the areas of language and literacy. This research was conducted to characterize the quality of language and literacy instruction in 135 publicly funded preschool classrooms serving at-risk pupils. As…

Gestures are a significant part of communication and carry particular weight when using artefacts such as computers. This study investigates how gestures and utterances are used as resources in the interaction between children and preschool teachers when creating stories with the computer. The data consists of observations of 17 preschool teachers…

This is the full report, and a separate research brief also was published. Austin Independent School District (AISD) served 5,450 pre-K students in 2009-2010. Approximately 70% of sampled English-speaking pre-K students and 74% of sampled Spanish-speaking pre-K students had faster than the expected growth rate on an assessment of receptive…

Preschoolers are passionate about learning, and a high-quality preschool program offers rich learning experiences in the areas of language and literacy. This engaging book gives teachers and other professionals fresh ideas, inspiration, and practical tools for integrating age-appropriate literacy instruction into the preschool curriculum.…