Instructional Leadership Toolkit

Coming Soon! This summer, project staff will begin compiling resources guides that instructional leaders can use with their teaching teams and support personnel to improve professional practices for student emotional, social and cognitive learning . These guides will help leaders use the resources and videos on this website to go deep into the professional learning process. The guides will cover topics that can include:

• Zooming in on Student Intellectual Engagement
• What Works in Dual Language Learning Classrooms
• Soft Engagement in Early Learning: Culture and Management
• Successful Learning for ALL through Day-to-Day Data Collection
• And many more…

And, the guides will contain the following resources:

• Instructional Guidebooks
• PowerPoints with Facilitator Guides
• Additional Resources/Strategies

Teaching and Leading Resources

Teacher Observation Tools & Crosswalks for Early Childhood Educators

Danielson FfT and CLASS Crosswalk

Crosswalk of Danielson FfT, NBPTS, NAEYC and PA Core Competencies

Chicago Public Schools Framework for Teaching Companion Guide Preschool Addendum

New Jersey Teacher Evaluation Support Document: PreK & K

Pennsylvania Early Childhood Examples for the Danielson FfT 

Illinois Danielson Framework with Early Learning Examples

Early Childhood Program Quality Tools

Quality Rating Improvement System (QRIS) Resource Guide

Quality Rating and Improvement System (QRIS) National Learning Network

ExceleRate Illinois (Illinois QRIS system)

Meeting the Needs of Students with Disabilities or At Risk for Developmental Delays

DEC Recommended Practices Webpage (Division for Early Childhood of the Council for Exceptional Children—for students at risk of developmental delays or learning disabiities)

Local District Preschool Inclusion Self-Assessment (The Center for IDEA Early Childhood Data Systems) 

Head Start Early Childhood Learning & Knowledge Center: Children with Disabilities 

Classroom Instruction & Play-Based Learning

Illinois Early Learning Project

TC Reading and Writing Project (video collection)

Developmentally Appropriate Practice (National Association for the Education of Young Children—NAEYC)

Developmentally Appropriate Practices Training (B-3 Continuity Project, Center for the Study of Education Policy, Illinois State University) 

US Play Coalition

Collaboration for Early Childhood (Oak Park and River Forest, IL) 

P-3 Leadership

Leadership to Integrate the Learning Continuum (LINC) Curriculum Modules for P-3 Leaders  (Center for the Study of Education Policy, Illinois State University)

Supporting Principals Using Teacher Effectiveness Data (Center on Great Teachers & Leaders)

National Association of Elementary School Principals (NAESP) PreK-3 Leadership Resources

Dual Language Learners

Dual Language Learners (National Association for the Education of Young Children—NAEYC) 

Head Start Early Childhood Learning & Knowledge Center: Dual Language Learners

Classroom Assessment

Teaching Preschoolers to Self-Assess Their Choices in PreK (Warash & Workman, 2016)

Early Childhood Assessment (Department of Early Education and Care—WGBH Educational Foundation) 

A Guide to Early Childhood Assessment: Infancy to Age Eight (Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction) 

Trauma-Sensitive Classrooms

Helping Traumatized Students Learn