This paper describes the need for developing, implementing and sustaining professional development (PD) designed to provide a network of coaching support for teachers, an element of independent online study and a collaborative network of peers. Leaders recognize the importance of school structure but need to further address the impact of…

In this paper, the author aims to share some of the efforts, successes, challenges and lessons learned over approximately two decades of professional development projects both large and small. In retrospect the author contends that efforts toward change, improvement and advancement were always bumping against culture. So, this address attempts to…

This article takes issue with the notion that professional learning communities need to be more focused on teacher expertise through the use of online videos of lessons taught by expert teachers that are aligned with the Common Core State Standards. The authors argue that the use of externally developed, research-based, and standards-aligned…

Those people involved in the professional development school (PDS) effort have arrived at a time in their brief history when PDS partnerships can break the status quo and become contemporary laboratories of innovation for ushering in change and a new era of PK-12 education integrated with teacher education. In this chapter, the author appreciates…

Campuses are often in flux. When school leaders seek immediate solutions for problems, the status quo gives way to the next big thing. The new program brings excitement and hope yet some anxiety as teachers scramble to learn and apply it successfully. In a few short months, however, when things are not working quite as they should, teacher resolve…

In this paper, I report on the work of a practitioner inquiry group that went awry when the sponsor refused to publish and disseminate the participants' final reports, stating that they were of poor quality and did not contribute to the knowledge base. I, the facilitator of the group, disagreed strongly with her. I suggest that the difference…

This article is written from the perspective of a practising headteacher in the context of the "Leadership Programme for Serving Headteachers" (LSPH), now renamed "Head for the Future," and builds on an earlier treatment of the ideological background of LPSH and its construction of self in relation to approaches to educational leadership through…

This article is about locating equity concerns "within" epistemic processes in school mathematics professional development. The professional development literature indicates a focus on subject matter and pedagogical content knowledge without explicit attention to equity concerns as they arise in professional development practice. Though scholars…

Discusses five propositions that support a rationale for increased understanding and use of qualitative methods by performance technologists: there has been a paradigm shift across the social sciences, and qualitative methods make common sense, increase flexibility, lead to increased confidence in results, and are good for professional…

It is intriguing and frustrating that while research evidence on characteristics of effective staff development programs has existed for some time, these features are not commonly in practice. Most of the staff development conducted with K-12 teachers corresponds with the short-term transmission model, with no concern for what is already going on…

Educators must take the time to reflect upon their past efforts and make needed mid-course corrections. Looking for patterns within reform projects and helping teachers see reform as an evolutionary process and not an either/or response will help all educators grow as professionals. Presents examples of inquiry learning integrated with traditional…

Like wildflowers blooming in the cracks of city sidewalks, reflective practice celebrates the organic over the artificial. Inquiry-oriented teaching, rejecting logical-positivist methods, engages teachers in a cycle of thought and action based on professional experience. Teachers subjected to quality control pressures reduce their teaching to the…

Through their own pedagogically oriented inquiry-based learning, teachers become better prepared to support an increasingly diverse student population in their learning.

Reports on a study designed to (a) determine the effects of visually-enhanced, hands-on student instruction as compared with non-visually enhanced hands-on instruction, and (b) test the feasibility of using simple concept map-like structures as a means of determining student conceptual growth in a non-language dependent manner. Concludes that the…

Clarifies the meaning of the Nature of Science (NOS) and scientific inquiry in the context of reform efforts in science education. Delineates several misconceptions promoted (or ignored) by reform efforts. Proposes that without explicit instructional attention to the NOS and scientific inquiry, students will once again learn science subject matter…