Early care and education (ECE) services are necessary for a society because of a variety of ethical, economic, and developmental reasons. A well-developed field of practice is needed to ensure young children have access to high quality care and education settings. To promote a thriving profession, many are calling for the field of early care and…

A recent study conducted by the National Staff Development Council (NSDC) has found that teachers who participate in high quality professional learning communities (PLC) are provided with on-going professional development that elicit focus on learning, a collaborative culture, collective inquiry, action orientation, commitment to continuous…

Early childhood education teachers have been challenged with the demands for accountability in literacy and English language development, as well as kindergarten readiness skills of preschool children. Researchers have studied professional learning communities (PLCs) as a framework for professional development and student achievement. However, few…

Closing the achievement gap in reading for struggling students is a goal that most urban schools are striving to achieve in this era of No Child Left Behind. Early intervention remains the best approach for successfully supporting those who struggle in the primary grades, but instruction must be targeted or matched to the assessed needs of the…

Teachers at a Title I elementary school in South Carolina implemented the scripted Reading Mastery© program (RMP) to improve students' comprehension. Comprehension scores did not increase, despite teachers receiving RMP professional development (PD) prior to implementing the program. Administrators were unaware if the teachers were adequately…

This study addressed the gap in practice of instructional literacy, as evidenced by below-proficient literacy status by subgroups of regular education students in Grades 3-5 in an affluent suburban New Jersey public school district. The purpose of this qualitative grounded theory investigation, approached from an interpretive constructivist…

The purpose of this qualitative study was to describe the lived experiences of primary classroom teachers participating in collaborative data-driven decision making. Hermeneutic phenomenology served as the theoretical framework. Data were collected by conducting interviews with thirteen classroom teachers who taught in grades kindergarten through…

The purpose of the case study was to explore the effects of a mentor-coach initiative among second, third, fourth, and fifth grade teachers in an urban junior-secondary school in Antigua and Barbuda. The case study design was appropriate, mainly qualitative, but supported by quantitative data collection methods. Twelve participants shared in two…

This summative program evaluation study investigated the Response to Intervention (RTI) pilot literacy block program that was implemented in first and second grade classrooms in a small southeastern suburban school. All 111 students in the first and second grade were involved in this RTI model during the 2010-2011 school year including special…