Ronald G Gallimore

Seventy-three Latino middle school students participated in a longitudinal study of the preschool antecedents of their mathematics achievement. Path analysis indicated that family resources (parents' educational level, occupation, and income) predicted home literacy activities, which predicted combined early Spanish literacy and English language proficiencies at kindergarten entry, which predicted elementary mathematics achievement, which in turn predicted middle school mathematics performance. These results and qualitative analyses with a subsample of 30 randomly selected families suggest that literacy and numeracy proficiency go hand in hand, and to close the Latino mathematics achievement gap a combined effort of preschool and early elementary literacy and numeracy interventions programs are needed to supplement efforts in middle and high school.

When he departed for the Trojan War, Odysseus, King of Ithaka, left his wife and infant son Telemachos in the care of Mentor, who once had been the companion of stately Odysseus, and Odysseus, going on the ships, had turned over the household to the old man, to keep it well, and so all should obey him.

The term “best practice” is widely used throughout education despite the lack of evidence or consensus for what practices are “best.” The pervasive use of this term promotes superficial selection and use of teaching methods, discourages continuous improvement of teaching, and prioritizes activity over achievement. Rather than highlighting “best practices,” teaching requires a research and development process for accumulating and sharing knowledge related to specific learning goals and particular students. Such improvement activity is more likely to foster advancements in teaching and learning than short-lived attempts to imitate loosely defined exemplars. Contact author to request a copy of the article or visit the ASCD website at: http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/may15/vol72/num08/%C2%A3Best-Practice%C2%A3%E2%80%94The-Enemy-of-Better-Teaching.aspx

The term “best practice” is widely used throughout education despite the lack of evidence or consensus for what practices are “best.” The pervasive use of this term promotes superficial selection and use of teaching methods, discourages continuous improvement of teaching, and prioritizes activity over achievement. Rather than highlighting “best practices,” teaching requires a research and development process for accumulating and sharing knowledge related to specific learning goals and particular students. Such improvement activity is more likely to foster advancements in teaching and learning than short-lived attempts to imitate loosely defined exemplars. Contact author to request a copy of the article or visit the ASCD website at: http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/may15/vol72/num08/%C2%A3Best-Practice%C2%A3%E2%80%94The-Enemy-of-Better-Teaching.aspx

This paper compares field observers' perceptions of role performance with culture members' reports of what their roles are. Children's and field observers' judgments concerning child caretaking in Honolulu, Hawaii, were compared. The results show (1) statistically significant concordance between the two sets of reports;(2) fairly low (50%) agreement on who cares for the child; and (3) fairly high (80%) agreement on children's reports of being a caretaker.

This paper compares field observers' perceptions of role performance with culture members' reports of what their roles are. Children's and field observers' judgments concerning child caretaking in Honolulu, Hawaii, were compared. The results show (1) statistically significant concordance between the two sets of reports;(2) fairly low (50%) agreement on who cares for the child; and (3) fairly high (80%) agreement on children's reports of being a caretaker.

Observing teaching with a practiced, professional eye can yield valuable insights into the specific learning opportunities that students are (or are not) provided. However, recent policy initiatives have emphasized using formulaic rubrics and checklists to rate teacher behaviors and evaluate their use of particular instructional moves. Rather than investing so much time and money in such an approach, which is designed to evaluate teachers’ performance, school systems should focus on helping educators observe teaching in more sophisticated ways and make such focused observation a regular part of their professional routines.

The term “best practice” is widely used throughout education despite the lack of evidence or consensus for what practices are “best.” The pervasive use of this term promotes superficial selection and use of teaching methods, discourages continuous improvement of teaching, and prioritizes activity over achievement. Rather than highlighting “best practices,” teaching requires a research and development process for accumulating and sharing knowledge related to specific learning goals and particular students. Such improvement activity is more likely to foster advancements in teaching and learning than short-lived attempts to imitate loosely defined exemplars. Contact author to request a copy of the article or visit the ASCD website at: http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/may15/vol72/num08/%C2%A3Best-Practice%C2%A3%E2%80%94The-Enemy-of-Better-Teaching.aspx

Abstract: This report reviews the major lines of investigation of the Kamehameha Early Education Program (KEEP) for the period 1971-75. A brief introductory section describes the selection of initial research strategies, identification of problems, issues in research design (such as internal versus external validity) and problems pertaining to the process of translating theoretical research into classroom practice. A major portion of the report focuses on a discussion of KEEP's four major lines of research: student industriousness, linguistics ...

... and skill students acquire for working collabo-ratively and the kinds of tasks they are assigned (Good, Mulryan, & ... Mathematics Teaching in the United States Today (and Tomorrow ... of 34% of problems per US lesson were applications, a smaller percentage than in Japan and the ...

Integrating Vygotsky's concepts with modern behavioral science to produce a theory of teaching. This perspective casts teaching as productive interactions occur in goal-directed activity jointly undertaken by apprentices and experts. These involve contributions and discoveries by learners, as the assistance of an “expert” collaborator. Instruction in such collaborative efforts is contingent on the apprentice’s own activities and related to what he or she is currently trying to do. The assisting expert provides information relevant to furthering the apprentice’s goal-directed activity. Teaching occurs when that information is provided in a way that is immediately responsive and proportionate to the apprentice’s varying information needs.

There is broad consensus that children's development occurs in a complex context, a mix of interpenetrated ecological and cultural factors that challenge even the most sophisticated and richly funded research design, provides the basis and justification for mixed-methods investigations (Greene and
Caracelli 1997). We no longer have to argue, as Bronfenbrenner did a generation ago, that context matters. Nor do we have to argue that social research requires both qualitative and quantitative designs and methods. As Riggin observes, "The need to argue for the interdependence of qualitative and quantitative methods is over" (1997, 87). Our investigations and those of others contributing to this volume demonstrate that developmental pathways are more likely to be illuminated if we use a combination of empirical methods.

John Wooden’s men's basketball teams earned 10 NCAA titles in 12 years, reeled off an 88-game win streak, and won 38 straight tournament games. He was named NCAA coach of the year six times, and men's college coach of the 20th century by both the Naismith Hall of Fame and ESPN. Wooden believed that teaching and coaching can be improved, and that dedicated teachers and coaches should never stop trying to get better. During every year of his career, he identified an area of his teaching he thought needed improvement. Based on his research each off-season, he developed and tried out various instructional adjustments, took notes during practices, and refined his practice lessons until he was satisfied that players were progressing. He thought anyone who is "through learning, is through." But does any of this apply to today's coaches? Should an athletic administrator insist and help coaches work on continuously improving their teaching? Some might argue times have c...

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Abstract Ethnographic measures of sibling caretaking were correlated with attentiveness to a peer tutor. Boys from families who assigned childcare tasks to male siblings were more likely to be attentive in a dyadic peer-tutoring session. General classroom attentiveness was also highly correlated with attentiveness to a peer tutor and to male sibcare. Girl tutee attentiveness and female sibcare were not correlated. Families who assign major childcare tasks to boys apparently foster behaviors that generalize to the classroom. The transfer ...

Commitment to ongoing learning is a hallmark of effective sport coaches. Available literature indicates: (a) coach learning inquiries have become more common but mostly conceptual not empirical; (b) the few available empirical studies provide only brief snapshots of ongoing learning efforts and seldom track learning impact; and (c) ongoing learning for sport coaches should be coach- driven and contextually-situated. To help close the gap between conceptual advice and empirical evidence, this paper shares our collective reflections on a unique, 10-year ongoing learning effort initiated and sustained by an American high school basketball coach in a suburban Midwestern community. This story is compelling, not only because of its sustained longitudinal nature, but because of the peer teaching role played by the iconic American basketball coach John Wooden. The story we tell is based on our conversations and interviews with the high school coach, media documents, systematic observation of the coach’s prac- tice videos seven years apart, and perspectives from his school administrators and one of his former players. Ermeling’s four-feature reflective practice typol- ogy is used to frame the coach’s ongoing learning effort, and connect the story back to the coach development literature.

Delay rather than disability is commonly used to describe young children who perform poorly on developmental tests or who otherwise display a slower-than-expected rate of development when a more specific diagnosis is absent. Two longitudinal studies documented that early signs of developmental delays signal the likelihood of continuing cognitive delays. As the cognitive delays continued from preschool into late childhood, parents made many proactive and positive adaptations, observations challenging the assumption of inevitable family pathology. From a policy perspective, our findings of cognitive stability, and of continuing need for special education services throughout school, may seem discouraging. However, we argue that these findings should not be construed as indicating a “failure” of early intervention. We underscore the variability in personal social outcomes, and note that these outcomes were unrelated to cognitive status. Another interpretation is that the children were appropriately identified early on (e.g., that the delays signaled long term problems that required ongoing educational intervention). We find it encouraging that the term, developmental delay, while still not a precise diagnostic category, now provides opportunities for intervention from birth to 8 years of age. We also find encouraging the fact that the majority of our families are doing well. The divorce rate in both samples was well below the average for California. In addition, while few children “caught up,” most families have been able to construct and maintain a daily routine of life that balances the needs of the child with those of other family members. We acknowledge that the generalizations from our findings are tempered by the selective nature of our samples, but we argue that the functional accommodations comprising family life are not limited to families of children with delays, but rather are inherent in every culture. While there may be differences in specifics, the kinds of adaptive problems faced by families with children with delays occur in all families with children.

Implementation is a challenging phase of education reform. In many locales, the rush is on to quickly implement the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). In some districts, textbooks and curriculum materials were delivered only days before school began. Many offered only minimal professional development to help teachers understand what kind of student learning the new standards aim for, and to develop new forms of instruction to support that learning. Despite these circumstances, teachers were still expected to teach the CCSS, and get students ready for new, more demanding assessments coming soon. In too many cases, there is little appreciation that the final, decisive implementation step is teachers planning, trying out, and revising new lessons. Week by week, in small incremental steps, change comes. Often progress is uneven, slower than anticipated, and runs afoul of “hurry-up” pressures that kill reforms before they are ever fully implemented. Evidence is mounting that incremental improvement is the best way to get lasting results –– in medicine, teaching, and industry. Even with robust support for incremental progress, it will take years of collaboration by teachers and administrators for the full benefits of CCSS to be realized. Red flags are up.

The purpose of this article is to offer a tool both for identifying the qualities of effective coaches and for facilitating the professional development of youth sport coaches. We have labeled this tool the Pyramid of Teaching Success in Sport (PofTSS) to reflect the widely held position that effective coaching is dependent upon teaching success. The PofTSS draws on multiple sources: (a) the authors' experiences across diverse careers in sport psychology, educational psychology, collegiate and professional sport, coaching, business performance and occupational stress, (b) four decades of coaching research, and (c) first- hand experience studying, playing for, and working with legendary sport coach John Wooden. The PofTSS, which includes 15 blocks and 10 pieces of mortar, focuses coaches on improvement of their teaching skills. This emphasis on self-improvement rather than measuring oneself against the performances of others is consistent with current views on how best to develop human potential across domains.