This book describes the practices of principals who develop and maintain purposeful learning communities. It applies and extends nine of the leadership responsibilities identified in research conducted by Marzano, Waters, and McNulty in School Leadership That Works.

This book describes the practices of principals who develop and maintain purposeful learning communities. It applies and extends nine of the leadership responsibilities identified in research conducted by Marzano, Waters, and McNulty in School Leadership That Works.

How can we build a strong literacy foundation for children? This book appreciates that learning and language development start with the play episodes, oral language practices, wordplay activities, print encounters, reading events, and writing experiences that children engage in during the early years of life. Filled with rich language activities, The Cornerstones to Early Literacy shows teachers how to create active learning experiences that are essential to building early literacy. This comprehensive handbook is organized around the following topics: Play Experiences - Understanding the early stages of learning and all aspects of the play-literacy connection ; Oral Language - Supporting opportunities for child talk with suggested conversation starters and events that involve personal timelines and storytelling ; Language Awareness and Word Play - Creating a balanced approach to language learning using games and activities that involve literature, music, choral speaking, sound games, and more ; Print Encounters - Discovering, reproducing, and creating all forms of environmental print ; Reading Events - Integrating read-aloud and shared book experiences with proven strategies for supporting and observing young readers ; Writing Experiences - Identifying early writing characteristics and techniques for moving children along in their writing.

"Twenty-eight eminent essayists remind our nations parents, educators, school board members and politicians that our democracy is in jeopardy and that our nation's system of free universal public education is also under attack. If that attack succeeds, American democracy itself would be further imperiled. That is because American democracy rests on a belief that the power of our government comes from the people, and the diffusion of knowledge and the enlightenment of the people has been a cornerstone of our democracy since the founding of our republic. America's public schools, therefore, have a special mandate"--

The authors draw upon scientific studies, theories, site visits, nd their own extensive experiences to describe approaches to social and emotional learning for all levels.

Model Cornerstone Assessments (MCAs), that were developed for the National Core Arts Standards in Music, are curriculum-embedded measures designed for music students to apply relevant knowledge and skills while demonstrating learning in the standards that define the artistic processes. They are meant to engage students in tasks authentic to a school’s curriculum and honor the intent of the Music Performance Standards. They are created as models to allow for usefulness in a variety of curricular contexts and demographics. The intent of each MCA is to provide research-based assessment tasks that is specifically focused on the expected learning for the performance standards with rubrics that has been tested for scoring consistency. Following substantial development and piloting in schools across the United States, this book provides a thorough background of the MCAs and the confidence measures administered to guide implementation by teachers, administrators, and the educational community.