Projects
Current Projects
Center for Advanced Study of Teaching and Learning (CASTL)
The overall focus of CASTL, and all of the projects that fall under its umbrella, is the interaction between teachers and children, and the quality of learning that takes place. CASTL’s aim is to improve educational outcomes through the empirical study of teaching, teacher quality, and classroom experience from preschool through high school, with particular emphasis on the challenges posed by poverty, social or cultural isolation, or lack of community resources.
MyTeachingPartner (MTP)
MyTeachingPartner provides pre-k teachers with a year-long curriculum; tools for becoming better observers of their own teaching practice; a rich collection of multimedia resources; and personalized professional development, including an expert consultant.
CLASSObservation
The CLassroom Assessment Scoring System is a tool for observing and measuring the quality of interactions between students and teachers. It measures social and instructional exchanges, and serves as a resource to help teachers improve the quality of these interactions, which have an impact on students’ later academic achievements and social competencies.
National Center for Research on Early Childhood Education (NCRECE)
The NCRECE professional development study aims to measure the impact of focused professional development on new teachers’ practice. NCRECE participants are teachers at the beginning of their teaching careers, and they are provided resources such as training in the CLASS system and full access to the MyTeachingPartner suite of tools.
MyTeachingPartner Secondary (MTP-S)
MTP-S provides to secondary-level teachers the same rich resources that the original MTP gave to pre-k teachers. Participants are provided with a site that contains an in-depth video library of best practices; information on quality teaching, such as an introduction to the CLASS; and access to an expert consultant.
MyTeachingPartner Math/Science
MTP Math/Science provides elementary-level teachers with a year-long curriculum of research-based, hands-on math and science activities designed to require students to really interact with content matter. The project also provides examples of high-quality teaching and expert support.
Upcoming / Proposed Projects
Online CLASS Training
The Online CLASS Training site will provide educators and researchers who are interested in becoming reliable on the CLASS instrument an opportunity to begin their training before participating in a “live” training. The site will be highly interactive and is intended to allow participants to come to training sessions ready to begin work at a more sophisticated level.
MyLabPartner
MyLabPartner is a study designed to assess the impact of high-quality, interactive science activities on students’ conceptual knowledge of scientific concepts. Participating teachers will be provided with a set of 12 activities that will allow students to use equipment and simulations to challenge their understanding of the physical world.
Observational Assessment of Student Interactions in School (OASIS)
OASIS is a CLASS-like system for observing, describing, and measuring interactions at the child level. These interactions will be tied to current and later outcomes in education.