They are never too young to develop research skills

The International Baccalaureate’s Primary Years Programme (PYP) described in the framework document “Making the PYP happen” (2007) promotes learning through guided inquiry. It is an educational programme spanning the years from ages 3 to 12. This paper will introduce the audience to a very brief overview of the five essential elements of the PYP and demonstrate how Information Literacy skills, arguably one of the main charges for school librarians, are embedded within the programme. Mention is made of constructivism to place inquiry and information literacy within this context. Understanding the programme will help the school librarian in developing a programme of authentic learning in the library for the students through collaborative planning with the class teacher or grade level teams.

How Did that Happen? Teachers’ Explanations for Low Test Scores

Context Educators often engage with student performance data to make important instructional decisions, yet limited research has analyzed how educators make sense of student performance data. In addition, scholars suggest that teachers recognize a relationship between their instruction and student performance data, but this is a relatively untested assumption. Focus of Study We investigated if and how teachers referenced instruction as a contributing factor for why students performed in particular ways on assessments. We also studied other explanations that teachers offered for student performance data. Research Design Our research team conducted a qualitative case study of six grade-level teams of teachers who met biweekly to make meaning of student performance data. Using data collected from 44 hours of observation of teacher team meetings, 16 individual interviews, and six group interviews with participating teachers, we analyzed the ways in which and the extent to which teachers referenced instruction as a contributing factor to student performance data. Findings: Teachers connected student performance data to their instruction approximately 15% of the time. Teachers more frequently connected student performance data to student characteristics. Notably, student behavior accounted for 32% of all teacher explanations for student performance. We offer five distinct categories of teachers’ explanations of student performance and the extent to which teachers invoked each category. Conclusions The findings in this study build on research on teachers’ attributions for assessment data. In contrast to other studies, our findings suggest that teachers invoked student characteristics in distinct ways when explaining student performance. At times, teachers were knowledgeable about student characteristics, which offered verifiable insights into the “problem” of low achievement. At other times, teachers voiced negative viewpoints of students that served to blame students for their poor performance. We suggest that the practice of data-driven decision making offers an opportunity to bolster educators’ informed judgment and undermine negative, unverifiable claims about children.

Team Building in Educational Settings

American schools make rather wide use of teams. Multidisciplinary teams (MDTs), teacher assistance teams, student assistance teams, teaching teams, department teams, grade-level teams, and schoolwide teams are common. Further, teams are thought to be a key catalyst for the implementation of school reform. This article will first review the research on team building in educational settings. Then step-by-step instructions on how to conduct team building will be presented.

Advancing equity in accountability and organizational cultures of data use

Purpose Data use cultures in schools determine data use practices. Such cultures can be muted by powerful macro accountability and organizational learning cultures. Further, strong equity-oriented data use cultures are challenging to establish. The purpose of this paper is to engage these cultural tensions. Design/methodology/approach The data discourse and decisions of four grade-level teams in two elementary schools in one district were studied through observation of 62 grade-level meetings over the course of a year. The observations focused on “data talk,” defined as the structure and content of team conversations about interim student performance data. Findings Distinct macro cultures of accountability and organizational learning existed in the two schools. The teams’ own data use cultures partly explained the absence of a focus on equity, and none of the teams used student performance data to make instructional decisions in support of the district’s equity aims. Leadership missed opportunities to cultivate an equity-focused data use culture. Practical implications School leaders who advocate that equity importantly guides data use routines, and can anticipate how cultures of accountability or organizational learning “show up” in data use conversations, will be better prepared to redirect teachers’ interpretations of data and clarify expectations of equity reform initiatives. Originality/value This study is novel in its concept of “data talk,” which provided a holistic but nuanced account of data use practices in grade-level meetings.

How School Leaders Might Promote Higher Levels of Collective Teacher Efficacy at the Level of School and Team

<p>Leaders search for effective leadership practices to ensure success. A quantitative study was conducted to determine what behaviors a leader could use to improve collective teacher efficacy at the level of the entire faculty and at the level of grade level teams. This article focuses on using the inverse relationship between transformational leadership and collective teacher efficacy to strengthen efficacy of teachers of English Language Learners. The Collective Efficacy Scale (Goddard, 2001) was modified to measure the perceptions of teachers at both levels; entire faculty’s collective efficacy and the collective efficacy of their team. Thus, this article also provides leaders with important information regarding teaming within schools. The significant difference found between collective teacher efficacy at the level of school and team, provides important information for leaders to consider as they support professional learning teams. Success for all would be promoted as leaders increase efficacy within teams by employing the concepts of developing leadership teams and purposeful learning communities (Hill &amp; Lundquist, 2008).</p>

Rural Research Brief by Larry G. Enochs: Vertical Teaming: K-12 Teachers Engaged in Scientific Research in Rural Settings

Improving the knowledge and skills of practicing K-12 science teachers is our challenge. By doing so, teachers bring a renewed understanding and excitement for science to classrooms and can pass along their enhanced skills and growing expertise to their K-12 students. yet, many K-12 teachers, particularly those in rural areas, find themselves isolated from other scientists and science educators and often have scares resources for experiments and other classroom activities. . . . .This study explores the outcomes of a form of experiential professional development in science education for rural educators that involved teachers working in multi-grade level teams on field based practice science projects with scientists.

Using Item Analyses and Instructional Conversations to Improve Mathematics Achievement

The significant gains in student achievement in an urban elementary school when teachers worked together to develop, administer, and review assessment items. In grade-level teams, teachers completed item analyses and engaged in instructional conversations about students' needed instruction. Readers of this article will learn how to plan for, write, and assess student assessments to guide teaching and student learning.