Howard Goldstein

It is widely recognized that early childhood education plays a significant role in children's development. Multi-tiered System of Supports (MTSS) offers a dynamic and equitable early intervention and prevention approach based on a teaching philosophy that all children should receive the intensity of instruction needed to achieve. Early childhood researchers have developed individual interventions and assessments intended for use in MTSS. The research team developed some components of the int...

This project aims to evaluate the efficacy of Story Friends, a supplemental vocabulary curriculum targeting preschoolers who demonstrate oral language deficits that put them at risk for language and reading disabilities. Expanding a child's range of sophisticated academic vocabulary has the potential to contribute to the prevention of later reading problems. Story Friends can be implemented with high fidelity in preschool classrooms within a Multi-Tiered System of Supports framework. Whole-c...

This project will develop a professional development (PD) model to support teachers in implementing an early literacy Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS) in early childhood classrooms to improve reading outcomes for children who are at risk for reading disabilities. MTSS provides varying levels (tiers) of instruction to students based on assessments that are used in data-based decision making by educators. Early childhood educators are rarely provided instruction in the philosophy and fun...

As Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS) are extended to early childhood education, new issues arise regarding training teachers, identifying at-risk students, providing students with tiered services, monitoring student progress, and adjusting those services as needed. In this project, Florida's Hillsborough County Public Schools (HCPS) examined how MTSS has been implemented in inner-city early childhood settings in order to improve its implementation and prepare for its scale-up.

This project proposed to develop a technology-based curriculum program, Story Friends. The curriculum, which focuses on vocabulary, was intended to supplement a core reading program and be implemented with high levels of fidelity in a variety of preschool settings and instructional programs. Substantial differences in vocabulary skills can exist among children entering preschool. Preschoolers with limited oral language skills are at high risk for reading disabilities. Many early childhood cl...