Standards-based grading has been used in many Illinois public elementary schools for years, offering educators a different way of assessing and communicating to parents about their student achievement and performance on the grade level state standards. Educators faced many benefits and challenges using a standards-based grading system identified.…

The study developed multiple independent scales of early childhood teacher experiences (ECTES). ECTES was co-constructed with preschool, kindergarten, and first grade teachers in a large urban school district. Demographic, ECTES, and teaching practices data were collected from 584 teachers. Factor analyses documented three teacher experience…

Purpose: Understanding students' home literacy environments can help speech-language pathologists, teachers, and other educators partner with families to promote language and literacy learning. This study focused on gaining insight into the views of parents of elementary-age students with intellectual and developmental disabilities who had complex…

This qualitative study examined families' experiences supporting young children's (ages 3-8) remote learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. Twenty-three participants completed open-ended questions in an online survey and three of those participants shared further in an online, recorded focus-group interview. Parents revealed young children's…

Parent-teacher conferences are a means of communicating a child's academic and social growth to parents by the teacher. This form of conference is commonplace in the school setting. Traditionally, these conferences often take place without the primary stakeholder, the student, being present. Student-led conferences offer a positive alternative,…

In the midst of the pandemic, we implemented and investigated short-term interventions to support K-3 reading. Specifically, we studied a text messaging program that provided caregivers with tips on supporting K-3 reading. Additionally, we studied combining the text messaging program for caregivers with one-on-one remote tutoring for their…

Packed with ideas for both new and veteran teachers of K-8 students, this book touches on a variety of topics that are especially relevant to the first week of school. The author provides critical information that includes arranging and navigating the classroom, setting basic expectations, communicating routines, and understanding your students'…

Early childhood (n = 10) and first-grade teachers' (n = 10) views concerning portfolio usage were investigated in the current research. After collecting the data, six themes were constituted regarding the teachers' opinions about portfolio use concerning "portfolio conception," "advantages, disadvantages and challenges of…

Family and community members often look at children's writing from a deficit point of view--seeing only what's "wrong" with it, what needs "fixing." Teachers can take a proactive role as family and community member educators, communicating to them how writing develops in young children and how they can play a positive role in this development.…

A large and growing number of students from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds in the US and around the world have the potential to develop bilingualism and biliteracy if supported in their immediate environment. At the forefront in focusing exclusively on biliteracy development in early childhood across a variety of languages, this…