Elementary Grades

CSE, through a cooperative agreement with the NSF, is establishing and maintaining the Discovery Research K–12 learning resource network, known as CADRE. The goals are to advance the state of research and evaluation in STEM education and to move forward the goals of the DR-K12 program. CADRE provides support services to grantees from the DR-K12 program, which enhances student and teacher learning of the STEM disciplines through the development, implementation, and study of resources, models, and technologies.

ERO is creating K–3 curriculum activities that will become part of SAE International’s A World in Motion® (AWIM) Program. These activities consist of one six-to-eight-session unit for each grade level. Each unit will include a book geared toward children at that level, written specifically for the project by award-winning children’s book author Stephen Krensky. The integration of these books into the curriculum units will be used to build children’s literacy skills (reading, writing, and speaking).

Building Collaboration for Mental Health Services in California Schools is an initiative funded by the California Department of Education through California’s Mental Health Services Act. This project aims to engage mental health and education professionals in an effective planning process to prepare for implementing California’s Mental Health Services Act (MHSA) in schools.

This project is developing an online course for K-8 mathematics instructional coaches in rural areas and small schools who do not have access to regular district-wide professional development. The course builds participants’ coaching skills through the use of classroom artifacts—including student work, videotapes, and transcripts drawn from the classroom. Additionally, the project exams how online learning and instructional coaching change teachers’ instructional practices and increase student achievement.

This technical assistance center serves 10 local communities working to reduce and prevent youth substance abuse by increasing understanding and practice of evidence-based strategies and collaboration between communities. Methods include monthly trainings, regional facilitation with community leaders, e-newsletters, a Web portal and local community coaching.

Using a Literacy 360 approach that acknowledges that children’s literacy is strengthened when they are surrounded by an abundance of opportunities to practice and reinforce specific skills, the Ready to Learn initiative is producing and distributing educational video programming and curricula for children ages 2–8, their parents and educators.

SmART Schools uses the arts as a core academic subject in the regular school curriculum and strengthens the use of high-quality arts in other academic subjects. This grant allows FSC to expand and enhance the standards-based, whole-school change SmART Schools model in diverse, high-need settings; refine the model’s tools, materials, techniques, and processes so that they are adaptable to various contexts; conduct a rigorous third-party evaluation of the program; and strengthen dissemination efforts so that the model can be replicated throughout the U.S.

This project addresses gaps in the current state assessment system and explores the following questions: Where are the gaps in the assessment system? Who are the students affected by these gaps? What are the appropriate assessment systems for students in the gaps? After answering these questions, the project will develop and pilot an assessment prototype to address the problem and meet student needs.