Professional development is an important part of creating a culture of continuous school improvement to maximize student learning. Rarely do we measure the impact of professional development on teacher learning, implementation and student outcomes. This study describes a professional development strategy for elementary teachers to promote…

For more than a century, teachers in Tennessee's Loudon County School District have come together before the start of the school year for a professional development day. For the first time this year, professional learning in the district will be based at each individual school -- a result of the district's use of a new rubric, which states that…

"Math Expressions" is a curriculum for students in prekindergarten through sixth grade that aims to build students' conceptual understanding of mathematics and to develop fluency in mathematical problem solving and computation. The curriculum encourages student learning of mathematics through real-world situations, visual supports such…

Discusses a solid waste recycling workshop for students and teachers sponsored by the Southwest Connecticut Regional Operating Committee (SWEROC), a consortium of 19 towns and cities organized to help implement a regional recycling program. The SWEROC workshop utilized games and team activities to teach students about recycling and the…

This report presents data from one elementary school's (Hartford, CT region) second year (1996-97) implementation of a mathematics reform action research project by the professional development team. Teachers from grades 2-5 systematically implemented an ancillary problem solving curriculum in their classrooms after receiving training by a…

The decision by the Connecticut State Board of Education to endorse use of calculators on the state's new eighth-grade mastery test was followed by the purchase of calculators for the students. The role of calculators in society and the curriculum is discussed, as well as testing goals. (MNS)

Describes school effectiveness characteristics and student characteristics in schools that made an improvement in academic achievement of Black students. The characteristics were orderly environment, clear school mission, high expectations, opportunity to learn, and frequent monitoring. (YP)

The purpose of this guide is to provide information about instructional techniques, course offerings, evaluation methods, and science budgets relating to science programs in Connecticut schools. The information in the report is divided into the following nine sections: a philosophy for the teaching of science, instructional patterns, science…

This publication focuses on diversity and presents a general model of elementary school guidance programs that is responsive to the need for diverse programs. Five elementary school guidance programs are described. These were arbitrarily selected from communities represented on the Advisory Committee on Elementary School Guidance Services in…

This study investigated teacher efficacy in the context of diversity, focusing on: whether elementary school teachers' feelings of efficacy would differ according to their students' language backgrounds; whether the teachers' feelings of efficacy in teaching standard English speaking students would relate to their feelings of efficacy in teaching…

Psychometrically linking a state criterion-referenced test (CRT) and a norm-referenced test (NRT) to yield NRT information through the CRT was studied with samples of 1,500 to 3,000 elementary school students per subject and grade level in Connecticut. A CRT/NRT link can create a focused and coherent assessment system. (SLD)

For past two decades, there has been a growing national concern about teacher quality. This presentation discusses Connecticut's Beginning Educator Support and Training Program (BEST) and emulation of its assessment component by a medium sized department of education. The support component of BEST requires that all school districts provide…

This handbook is part of a series of three, corresponding to the three grades (4, 6, and 8) at which Mastery Tests are administered. This publication was written as a resource for teachers developing mathematics programs for students in grades 7 and 8. The Mastery Test in Mathematics at Grade 8 assesses student performance for 36 instructional…

The report describes Creative Resources Enriching Student Talents (C.R.E.S.T.), a Title IVC project designed to encourage individual creative growth in gifted/talented children by stimulating them to solve problems within the areas of academics and the creative arts; the program is used in elementary schools in Lebanon, a rural Connecticut…

This is one of a series of curriculum guides designed to assist bilingual teachers to provide a coordinated program of studies for students in the Connecticut Migratory Children's Program and for any other students whose native language is Spanish. It is felt that an effort should be made to discover the skill level at which a child is…