Center News

05/15/12

Ed Week Comments on Dean Pianta’s Op Ed

Stephen Sawchuk, blog writer for Ed Week, recently commented on the opinion piece Dean Pianta wrote for the Chronicle of Higher Education. ... read more

05/14/12

Emerging Scholar Chris Hafen Highlighted

Hafen is currently featured on the Emerging Scholar Spotlight of the Society for Research on Adolescence. ... read more

05/09/12

CASTL’s NCQTL Team Adds Some TLC in Head Start Programs

Researchers in the are exploring ways to bring more TLC into Head Start programs across the nation. In this case, however, the TLC is a Teacher Learning Community. TLCs, as they ar

05/08/12

District Administrators and CASTL Researchers Consult

May 8, 2012—Yesterday and today, the Center for Advanced Study of Teaching and Learning is hosting a small group of school district administrators and higher education stakeholders from various ... read more.

05/07/12

NCQTL-CASTL hosts Regional Field Specialists

Ten regional field specialists from the National Center on Quality Teaching and Learning and program manager Ruby Linsao met in Charlottesville last week for training and planning.

04/20/12

Preschoolers’ Reading Skills Benefit from 1 Modest Change by Teachers

April 20, 2012—A small change in how teachers and parents read aloud to preschoolers may provide a big boost to their reading skills later on, a new study found.

That small change involves making specific references to print ... read more.

04/16/12

Visiting Educators from Norway Bring International Perspective on Classroom Evaluation

This week, the Center for Advanced Teaching and Learning is hosting two visiting teachers from Stavanger, Norway: Frode Josang and Knud Jen. Both educators work at the Lenden School and Resource Center ... read more

04/05/12

At-Risk Kids Have Fun Exercising Fine Motor Skills

Instructor Stephanie Maggio had not anticipated that the first graders in her group had never seen Legos® before. The few children who had seen Play-doh modeling compound

04/02/12

Topnotch Preschool Teachers Share Expertise at CASTL

Two expert preschool teachers, one from New York and one from Chicago, were filmed last week for the Effective Classroom Interactions online course project.

03/18/12

A Biology Teacher on the Value of MyTeachingPartner

A Biology Teacher on the Value of MyTeachingPartner

03/12/12

Dutch Researcher Spends Sabbatical at CASTL

Helma Koomen is interested in the interrelationship between the CLASS instrument and the Individualized Classroom Assessment Scoring System and how the two can be used as starting points for intervention ... read more

03/05/12

CASTL Researchers and Students Present Intervention Research at SREE Conference

University of Virginia faculty, research scientists, and graduate students associated with CASTL will be heading to Washington DC this week for the spring 2012 SREE conference. ... read more

More News

New Version of the CLASS™ for Observing Infant Settings

Researchers at the Center for Advanced Study of Teaching & Learning recently completed a pilot study on a version of the Classroom Assessment Scoring System™ designed for observing infant care settings. The measurement tool provides a much-needed means for objectively describing the quality of interactions between caregivers and infants and the extent to which caregivers enable infants to learn about their environment.

The “CLASS-Infant” has been under development for the past two years under the leadership of Jennifer LoCasale-Crouch and Kristen Jamison. This version of the CLASS is based on an extensive review of the literature on infant development and effective teaching practices, as well as national guidelines, existing observation instruments, and expert review.

This version of the CLASS tool measures only one domain, focusing on verbal and physical interactions between infants and caregivers, including during periods of routine care. Dimensions included in the CLASS-Infant include Relational Climate, Teacher Sensitivity, Facilitated Exploration, and Early Language Support.

For more information, contact Jennifer LoCasale-Crouch at jl3d@virginia.edu