Since professional learning is about shifting adult mindsets and behavior, it is work that frequently challenges assumptions, expectations, beliefs, instructional practices, and long-standing habits. To have meaningful and productive conversations about evaluation and data, educators must be equipped with effective practices and tools that allow…

Continuous improvement is being embraced in California as the path for improving student outcomes. In 2018-19, Policy Analysis for California Education (PACE) researchers undertook a third year of study of the "CORE Districts"' continuous improvement work. This brief summarizes the main lessons presented in four reports stemming from…

The time is now for integrating discussions of inclusive practice with professional development and school leadership, moving away from the normative view of inclusion as situated within special education and teacher preparation programmes. This study describes a triad professional development model that included an integrated professional…

The traditional model of teacher preparation, which focuses on content and methods courses in a college or university, can create a gap between university faculty and school practitioners. This article describes a series of clinical practice workshops as a viable means to bridge the gap between a university and its partner middle schools in the…

This article chronicles the work of the California State University Digital Ambassador Program (DA), a Faculty Learning Community (FLC), which brought together 13 faculty members across the state to create ongoing, targeted spaces of support for colleagues and educational partners to learn about innovative technological and pedagogical practices…

In California, as in many other states across the nation, implementing the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) has been a complex endeavor impacting every public school educator. Not surprisingly, California districts have encountered bumps along the way in their efforts to provide much-needed support to all K-12 teachers as they continue to learn…

In schools around the country, Gen Xers, Millennials, Baby Boomers, and even a Veteran or two are working side by side. While anyone holding a job in this shaky economy is grateful, gratitude does not make generational clashes less difficult. Adding to the mix, many Baby Boomers initially poised for a mass exodus by 2010 are holding on for dear…

The past few decades have seen middle school teachers in the United States hit especially hard by contradictory messages about the use and importance of technology in support of their standards-based mathematics teaching. This paper considers this dichotomy with respect to the California Mathematics Education Technology Site (CMETS), a…

Objective: The authors investigated professional development needs of faculty in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the University of California (UC) Davis, while also exploring any existing differences according to gender and academic rank. Methods: An online survey was sent to 75 faculty members, and 41 responses (17 women,…

The National Commission on Writing for America's Families, Schools, and Colleges (2006) specifies that writing-across-the-curriculum programs (including post-secondary coursework) should be well supported. The National Writing Project (NWP) is a group that understands this issue, believing that teachers must be comfortable and confident with…

This study describes how staff qualifications, decisions on staffing procedures, and professional development opportunities support the recruitment and retention of quality staff members. Four high-functioning programs were identified. Qualitative procedures and instruments were designed to capture staff and parents' academic perspectives about…

Because of increasing student enrollment, a new school was formed in a small low-income Southern California school district. Teachers could choose to transfer to the new school or remain at the existing school. Over five years, quantitative analyses of demographic data showed little differences between the two schools across the years except for a…

"NSDC Policy Points" is a newsletter published by the National Staff Development Council (NSDC). This issue of "NSDC Policy Points" features schools that practice effective professional development. Included in this newsletter are: (1) Surprise, Arizona: Coaches support classroom improvements; (2) Loveland, Colorado:…

A case is made that professional development activities in science, when designed as generic programs, can limit pathways individual teachers may take or even select to meet their specific professional development needs. Teacher professional development programs in science have consistently been designed to address system wide needs. These needs…

This study was designed to assess the impact of "Mathematics Pathways and Pitfalls" ("MPP") on the mathematics that second-, fourth-, and sixth-grade students learn. The specific research questions that were addressed are: (a) What is the impact of "MPP" on students' knowledge of the mathematics topics addressed,…