Panayota Mantzicopoulos

States across the nation are currently using various teaching effectiveness (TE) observational measures. Despite wide use of these measures for high-stakes decision making, significant yet unanswered questions about the accuracy of these assessments in documenting TE across content area, grade-level, or time, and with student outcomes beyond scores on standardized achievement tests remain. In this measurement project, researchers will study the psychometric properties of teaching effective...

The primary purpose of this project is to better prepare young children for later science learning. The Nation's Report Card documents that by fourth grade, students from minority and economically disadvantaged backgrounds lag behind white, middle-class students in science achievement. To work on addressing this problem, this research team plans to develop, pilot, and implement a comprehensive instructional program designed to enhance preschool and kindergarten children's early scientific l...