Nurture groups (NGs) are a form of provision for children with social, emotional, behavioural and learning difficulties. Although the first groups were established over 30 years ago, growth in the number of NGs in the UK has been exponential over the past ten years. This study attempts to assess the effectiveness of NGs in promoting positive…

Children's accounts of their participation in sociocultural activity related to number are essential for their teachers in order that they can assist children in building their formal learning in number on informally acquired numerical understandings. Children's participation in sociocultural activity related to number will differ from child to…

The New York State Regents Action Plan dramatically changes educational reform initiatives by requiring districts to sign a written contract specifying criteria for program, performance and fiscal accountability. Districts are required at the end of the school year to provide a written explanation as to whether or not the goals were achieved. On…

Children's communicative competence is essential and predictive of their success in school. However, in England in recent years we have faced particular challenges inculcating this understanding into primary and early years teachers' practice. Furthermore, some studies have raised concerns about children's communicative competence on school entry.…

The "Colorado Children's Budget" presents and analyzes investments and spending trends during the past five state fiscal years on services that benefit children. The "Children's Budget" focuses mainly on state investment and spending, with some analysis of federal investments and spending to provide broader context of state…

This article describes the "Discovery Time" programme, a largely child-directed developmental programme, and discusses it in relation to the sociocultural approach to learning. It considers the effects of the programme on the development of children's oral language and cooperative social skills in a Year 1 classroom. Survey information…

This study was conducted over ten weeks with fifty three 5 to 6 year-old kindergarteners from economically disadvantaged homes learning French as a second language. The read-aloud strategy consisted of two teachers reading storybooks to children and explaining unfamiliar words. The teachers engaged children in meaningful discussions about the…

This executive summary describes results of the "Reading First Impact Study: Interim Report." The report presents preliminary findings from the Reading First Impact Study, a congressionally mandated evaluation of the federal government initiative to help all children read at or above grade level by the end of third grade. The No Child…

In the past, there were no four-year-olds to be found in infant or primary schools. The statutory school age of five had been established in 1870, after a hurried and confused debate in the House of Commons; one hundred years later, it was a regulation still honoured in practice. Throughout the 1960s and 70s, children started school in the term…

This case study describes the Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC), which was formed to explore ways to help children from its rural development program gain access to improved education. Working mainly in rural areas, BRAC focused on improved quality through improved education service delivery, management detail, and finance. While…

Reading was, is, and always must come first in the early school years. Without a firm basis in reading, children are going to have a tough time in school and, later, in the world beyond the elementary school doors. Children need math and all the other wonderful things they are exposed to in school, but without some degree of success in reading,…

The author presents a number of factors that underscore the educational advantages of focusing on a Pre-K-3 school configuration, including the need for less remediation and more productive learning in the upper elementary and secondary grades. He describes a self-contained Pre-K-3 continuum, including universal pre-kindergarten and full-day…

Addressing beginning reading instruction in urban schools, this article proposes that a curriculum gap exists in many K-3 classrooms that operate under the guidelines of the No Child Left Behind Act and Reading First. The authors make a case for the inclusion of systematic and sustained instruction in comprehension, content knowledge, and writing…

This paper presents a strategy for measuring cognitive gains in reading during the early school years. It is argued that accurate estimates of gain scores and their appropriate interpretation requires the use of adaptive tests with multiple criterion referenced points that mark learning milestones. It is further argued that two different measures…

This paper reports on the final phase of a three-part study on the status of instructional supervision within several New York City public schools. In the first parts of the study the researchers found, through extensive use of surveys (questionnaires and interviews), that centralized educational reform had serious consequences for instructional…