The time that you spend with all your staff together is limited, so how can you make the most of it?  It’s crucial to ensure that you’re building strong relationships with staff and creating a structure that best works for your team. After all, you want your team to leave your in-service trainings feeling safe to grow, proud of their collective success, and supported with the tools they need to make an impact.

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – In March of this year, Teachstone announced the launch of its new CLASS^® Observers Fellows Program to maximize children’s learning potential through improved classroom interactions. Nearly 300 applications were submitted, and Teachstone has selected 30 professionals to participate in this prestigious program. Fellows will receive complimentary CLASS^® training along with specialized support from Teachstone.

In today’s episode of Impacting the Classroom, you’ll hear about exciting news coming to the world of quality assessment and improvement. Earlier this year, Teachstone announced an enhancement to its tool, the CLASS® assessment tool— CLASS 2nd Edition, which will be available starting this next school year. 

Today’s guests are two members of the team that helped bring the vision of CLASS 2nd Edition come to life, Grace Funk, Teachstone’s Senior Director of Strategic Initiatives, and Katie Twilley, Director of Product Management: Assessment and CQI. Listen to the episode to learn about CLASS 2nd edition and how it will make a difference for children and educators.

New research from the nonprofit, LENA, suggests that babies born since the pandemic started are talking less and experiencing fewer conversational turns than babies born before COVID. This supports other studies that show that COVID-era babies are experiencing developmental delays and may impact their school readiness as as they get older. So, what does this mean for educators? And, how can we support these infants and toddlers with their language development? 

What does it mean to talk about bias in early education? How do biases affect children, teachers, and leaders, and what do you do when you see individual or systemic bias in action? 

In today’s episode, Marnetta Larrimer had a chance to sit down with Alexa Broderick, founder of The Equity Paradigm, live at the InterAct NOW: CLASS Summit. Listen to the episode to learn how to contend with internalized biases, take actionable steps when you notice biases playing out, and why it’s important for children to see and participate in diverse experiences. 

Teachstone is pleased to announce the new CLASS^® Observer Fellows Program to further its goal of representing underserved communities within the early education environment.

We recently hosted the Baby Talk: Building Relationships with Infants and Toddlers webinar with Becky Danis, Responsive Solutions Developer at Teachstone, and Monica Pujol-Nassif, Senior CLASS^® Specialist. In this webinar, you’ll learn about the importance of brain development and the optimal ways for early childhood educators to interact with infants and toddlers in their care.

Teachstone, developer of the Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS®) included in 23 states' Quality Rating and Improvement Systems (QRIS) and used by Head Start programs nationwide, today released a preview of CLASS 2nd Edition Measurement Suite. Designed specifically for Pre-K–3rd grade learning environments, CLASS helps educators focus, measure and improve classroom interactions—key factors in supporting children’s academic and lifelong success.

A big topic of conversation currently—both in and out of the educational field—is the difference between equality and equity. When equity is not being achieved in schools, some groups of students simply don’t have the same access and opportunity to acquire quality education. And, it’s undeniable that race is a significant factor in who can access opportunities and who ends up marginalized.

How can credentialing be used to recruit, train, and retain early childhood educators, or perhaps even return professionals who have left the field? In today’s episode of Impacting the Classroom, you’ll learn more about the CDA® credentialing process, how it works, and how it can be beneficial for educators and program leaders alike.