As traditional pull-out programs for students who are identified as gifted and talented (GT) decrease in number, classroom differentiation is becoming more essential for general education teachers at the elementary level. Despite the importance of differentiation, teachers are still not implementing it on a regular basis. One strategy that may…

Instructional strategies aimed at improving achievement of low performing student subgroups in need of support were selected by the District Improvement Advisory Committee, so that WCPSS could exit District Improvement status. Impact of each initiative, which often included teacher training and coaching is examined in this implementation report.…

"Supporting Literacy Across the Sunshine State: A Study of Florida Middle School Reading Coaches" examined the effects on student test scores of hiring reading coaches to work with middle school teachers. The program was funded through the statewide "Just Read, Florida!" ("JRF") literacy initiative. The study included…

The current literature on instructional coaching shows that for the coaching relationship to be successful, the instructional coach must exhibit certain attitudes and behaviors to ensure the development of this relationship. These attitudes and behaviors include trustworthiness, respectfulness, credibility, enthusiasm, valuing of continuous…

Today's preschool teachers are educating a diverse population of children, with many from homes where English is not the first language. In light of this growing number of English Language Learners (ELLs) in preschool, researchers have investigated ways to support ELLs' emergent literacy development. One of the ways to support ELLs' emergent…

The Institute for Work, Skills and Training was assigned to evaluate a labor market program aimed at the integration of long-term unemployed individuals aged 50 or older. The integration should have been achieved not only by training and coaching of individuals, but also by building regional networks between labor market stakeholders within a…

Teaching has long been considered an isolated profession with little opportunity for collaboration. A major task for school leaders is to create improvement from within the school. Teachers are a valuable resource and each one possesses expertise in strategies and methodologies that can be a benefit to others. This action research explored the…

This report identifies the concrete practices that set exemplary principals apart from their peers, exploring how they assemble the strongest-possible staff and foster a culture where teachers--and their students--are supported to success. The researchers conducted an in-depth analysis of data sets from two studies conducted by New Leaders from…

Purpose: This paper addresses the importance of a more proactive role of organizational learning (OL) facilitators, learning motivation reinforcer, through a two-part longitudinal study in a case company. The first part of this study aims to investigate and analyze some unexpected challenges in the project action learning-driven (PAL) OL…

This article provides analysis of a site-based professional development model that is grounded in teacher best practices. Developed by the administration and teacher leaders of a racially/ethnically, socioeconomically, linguistically and academically diverse school in the USA, the teacher-centered coaching model described is an example of an…

Purpose: This study examined the efficacy of a professional development program for early childhood educators that facilitated emergent literacy skills in preschoolers. The program, led by a speech-language pathologist, focused on teaching alphabet knowledge, print concepts, sound awareness, and decontextualized oral language within naturally…

Which comprehensive school reform programs have evidence of positive effects on middle and high school achievement? To find out, this review summarizes evidence on comprehensive school reform (CSR) models in grades 6-12. Comprehensive school reform models are programs used schoolwide to improve student achievement. They typically include the…

Leadership for literacy coaching is evolving in both the skills of the literacy coaches and the skills of those they coach. Issues of role clarification, communication with administration, and hesitancy to provide authentic feedback are consistently identified. Trends associated with literacy coaching indicate that they continue on their…

The findings and recommendations of researchers and specialists in thinking-skill learning and teaching have important implications for classroom efforts to improve student thinking. This summary identifies various types of thinking skills and skill components recommended for classroom instruction. The author describes and cites research-derived…

Despite their current popularity, many still view coaching schools for college admissions as somehow vaguely unethical, as a form of "teaching to the test." But "coaching" as an instructional exercise only crosses some ethical line of propriety when instructors have access to and in fact teach the actual items that will appear…