Despite the efficacy of assistive technology (AT), many children with disabilities do not have access to AT and are not fully benefiting from inclusive preschool education. The current mixed-methods study examined a multi-faceted professional development (PD) intervention aligned with the CEC's Early Intervention/Early Childhood Special Education…

Multi-age classrooms feature the intentional grouping of students from consecutive grade levels for the purpose of fostering a nurturing classroom atmosphere. While an abundance of research on multi-age education has been produced throughout the past 50 years, only recent efforts have seen researchers turn their attention to the experiences of art…

This practitioner research explores ways children engage in literacy learning through storytelling with the use of touch technology in a VPK (Voluntary Pre-Kindergarten) classroom. With access to diverse touch technology devices but no experience using these technologies, a VPK teacher explored strategies to use the resources to enhance literacy…

Research indicates that vocabulary development--linked to conceptual growth and comprehension--predicts student academic achievement throughout the elementary, middle, and high school grades. Intelligence increases as vocabulary continues to develop. The iSpy program provides high-quality, content-rich classroom books, learning manipulatives, and…

Research Findings: The present study investigates both the proximal processes and contextual influences on children's oral language development in preschool. We examine whether teacher language practices vary across activity settings and program type, which teacher language practices predict children's oral language skills, and potential…

There is a trend to use mobile devices in K-12 classrooms and create 1:1 learning experiences. Current research has focused on creating student collaborative efforts and increasing engagement when learning using the iPad, as well as the user-friendly characteristics and the tremendous number of apps available. There continues to be a need for…

This paper describes a qualitative case study designed to examine the challenges to effective science instruction faced by elementary teachers and examine the influence those challenges have on teachers' science teaching practices. Data were gathered through a questionnaire administered to over 240 teachers in a northern Florida school district…

Momentary time sampling, partial-interval recording, and event coding are observational coding methods commonly used to examine the social and challenging behaviors of children at risk for or with developmental delays or disabilities. Yet there is limited research comparing the accuracy of and relationship between these three coding methods. By…

This paper introduces a new observation system that is designed to investigate students' and teachers' talk during literacy instruction, "Creating Opportunities to Learn from Text" (COLT). Using video-recorded observations of 2nd-3rd grade literacy instruction (N=51 classrooms, 337 students, 151 observations), we found that nine types of…

This article reports on the findings of an empirical study that examined elementary school teachers' views about the English language learners' (ELLs) program placement assessment, and progress assessment. Specifically, the interviews in the study explored teachers' perspectives on the effectiveness of these assessments and the connection between…

There have been numerous studies about the instructional delivery models utilized for meeting the needs of ELLs, and particularly for ELLs with LD, but no specific studies were discovered that identify the instructional delivery models available for ELLs with LD from Latin America. Therefore, the problem that was addressed in this study was to…

Since the spring of 2020, many early childhood education programs (pre-K, K, 1st, and 2nd grades) had to close as governments around the world took serious measures to slow down the transmission of COVID-19. As a result, the pandemic forced many early childhood teachers to start teaching online and continue supporting their students remotely.…

In this article, the authors describe a recent project undertaken at the University of South Florida's (USF) Preschool for Creative Learning. To align with the inquiry approach of their laboratory school, the environment at the Preschool is designed so that children can learn through exploration and individual initiative. The administration and…

Anticipation Guides (AGs) help learners to activate prior knowledge before an instructional unit. As a pre-learning strategy, AGs motivate learners to explore learning materials by challenging, activating, or corroborating their prior knowledge and predictions about a subject. While AGs have mostly been used in reading instruction, in this study,…

The VPK Learning Center Activities included with this guide are aligned with the Language, Communication and Emergent Literacy Domain within the Florida Early Learning and Developmental Standards for Four-Year-Olds (2011). Although the goal was not to create an activity to represent each and every standard and benchmark, most standards are…