Curriculum and Teaching Program
Research and Centers
Reading and Writing Project
Website: http://rwproject.tc.columbia.edu/
The Teachers College Reading and Writing Project is a staff development organization that works in intimate and long-lasting ways with communities of educators in the New York City metropolitan area and also provides more limited assistance to educators in schools from all over the United States. Currently the Project serves over 100 schools.
For two decades, the Project has supported educators establishing reading and writing workshops in which teachers act as mentors and coaches to children. Project staff and teachers become co-researchers, observing what children do in writing and reading, theorizing about what their behaviors mean, and planning teaching moves to help them learn. To nurture this school-based work, Project staff meet at the College with educators from Project-schools: Each week over 100 teachers gather in study groups focusing on becoming teacher-leaders in workshop teaching, and each month over 100 principals gather focusing on the problems, challenges, and opportunities of being a school leader in literacy education.
The Project's school-based consulting, study groups, and think-tanks are complemented by an array of other professional education opportunities at the College. Throughout the year, thousands of teachers attend sixty full-day Project-run conferences providing information and insight about how to structure and sustain high quality literacy education. Every summer, three thousand teachers attend one of several week-long Project Institutes which include keynote addresses, small groups study, and interactive discussion groups.
The Project was founded and is directed by Lucy McCormick Calkins, Professor of Education.
Rita Gold Early Childhood Center
Website: http://www.tc.edu/ritagold
The Rita Gold Early Childhood Center serves to support and promote the growth and development of infants, toddlers, preschoolers and their families through four inter-related practices: supportive early care and education for very young children; transdisciplinary professional preparation for students; ongoing research to improve practice and inform theory in early development, care and education for young children and families; and outreach within and beyond the Teachers College community. Located at the College, the Center provides inclusive and culturally responsive care within mixed-age groups for children ages 6 weeks through 5 years and their families who are affiliated with Columbia University. Founded in 1982 as the Center for Infants and Parents, the Center's growth and development has been supported over the years through the gifts of many kind and generous donors. We are grateful to Rita and Herbert Gold for their support of our most recent expansion.
The Rita Gold Center is a resource for students across the College who are engaged in observation, teaching, and research with young children and families. Supervised practica focusing on educational and developmental issues for infants, toddlers and preschoolers are offered on site at the Center.
Isabel M. Belinkie, M.S., is the on-site coordinator.