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Included in this text are more than 50 practical activities designed to help K–12 literacy professionals assess their school's current literacy program, plan changes to facilitate a culture of literacy, collaborate with other staff to promote best practices for literacy instruction, and direct professional development. The text is divided into three sections that outline the coach's role, provide directions for professional development, and describe approaches to develop integrated literacy programs. Topics include analysing a school's literacy culture, evaluating literacy professional development workshops, selecting levelled books and planning effective read-alouds, and creating school literacy teams. Adapted from publisher's website.

Curriculum design, assessment, and instructional practices are drawn on in this text, which describes how teachers can optimise teaching and learning strategies across all grade levels and content areas. The book comprises three parts covering the perspectives from which teachers should teach, how teachers can monitor, diagnose, and assess student learning, and how all students' learning can be supported and facilitated. Topics include: reconciling standards and depth; portfolios to capture growth, effort, and process; using questions to engage and support learning; and helping students become strategic learners. Adapted from publisher's website.

The policy outlined in this document has been designed to provide a framework to ensure that newcomer pupils from all backgrounds are welcomed, supported, and given opportunities to participate in the school curriculum. Newcomer learners are to be supported through a regional framework, and school-level approaches designed to build capacity and skills to support the social and linguistic needs of these students. Key services include diversity coordinators, translating and interpreting facilities, toolkits for school diversity, and professional development. The policy has been developed in light of significant increases in numbers of pupils from different geographical and linguistic backgrounds enrolling in Northern Ireland schools. Full text is available online.

This report provides an evaluation of the ongoing pilot program Early Childhood Education Information and Communication Technology Professional Learning Programme in New Zealand. The program aims to increase teacher ICT capability to improve and develop a community of practice, and in turn enhance students' opportunities for learning. Teachers' confidence in ICT, and their technical pedagogical content knowledge, knowledge of cyber safety issues, and use of ICT has increased since the program's implementation. ICT resources and software need to be better integrated into the curriculum, and teachers need to develop skills to critique software packages and programs. Students are highly capable and confident users of ICT, and transitions and parental involvement have improved with the use of the technology. However, issues of equity of access need to be addressed. Full text is available online.

The ambitions and subsequent attainment of young people from disadvantaged backgrounds is the focus of this report, which seeks to identify factors influencing aspirations and achievement in Great Britain. Between the ages of 11 and 14, adolescents' ambitions shift from idealistic to realistic goals, and are likely to influence attainment later in life. Ambitious, realistic expectations combined with high self-efficacy and availability of information facilitate achievement; parents and community are also influencing factors. Close-knit, isolated, and low-achieving communities can have a negative impact on ambitions, but interventions aimed at changing attitudes and behaviours could improve outcomes for young people. Full text is available online.

The results of an examination into proposed changes to assessment and accountability systems in Great Britain are outlined in this report, which draws on evidence from both practitioners and experts in education assessment. The report explores the purpose of assessment, as well as the forms it can take, and provides recommendations for policy and practice. The assessment system must prioritise students' learning, and greater emphasis must be placed on formative learning. High-level school accountability, including external validation and testing of teachers, is essential. Assessments should be clear and accessible to parents in order to provide information about their child's progress. Assessment should be used to measure national standards and achievement to inform future policy. Full text is available online.