Feeling the exhaustion of multiple disability-related violations occurring in the classroom, staff from the Office of Disability Access at Heneton College have begun to feel isolated and hopeless. When the opportunity for collaborative, college-wide disability-centered training becomes available, it is met with mixed reviews and lots of opinions…

Clearly written agreements between parties serve as crucial components in ensuring the creation, effectiveness, success, and sustainability of any partnership. Professional Development Schools (PDSs) are no exception. Highlighted in Essential 6 of both the original and updated versions of the National Association for Professional Development…

In this chapter, the authors argue that there are five different dimensions of continuing professional development (CPD) crucial to its effectiveness. It should be: (1) systematic; (2) collaborative; (3) innovative; (4) reflective; and (5) digital. For each dimension, they give several concrete examples to illustrate the kind of CPD that they are…

This article describes key aspects of Essential 6 of the Second Edition of the National Association for Professional Development Schools (NAPDS) Nine Essentials--"Clearly Written Agreements." Clearly written agreements between parties serve as crucial components in ensuring the creation, effectiveness, success and sustainability of any…

McCloud offers guidance on fostering a culture of intentionality within the scholarship of teaching, learning, and practice highlighting the role of collaborative partnerships, ongoing assessment, and professional development in advancing this critical agenda.

In 2008, the Carnegie Initiative on the Doctorate (CID) presented research on how to help doctoral students thrive and successfully transition into higher education roles. The CID reported that doctoral students often left programs that were using an expert-apprentice model, where students are expected to strictly follow the methods and style of…

This article reviews the work of two Albertan educators, David Townsend and Pam Adams, in their application of collaborative inquiry to improving school leadership. Collaborative inquiry is essentially a professional practice that has yet not been comprehensively theorized. This article seeks to lay some foundations for a theorization of the…

Educators and researchers often think of program design and program evaluation as separate endeavors, even intentionally creating a firewall between them. But what if designers and evaluators worked together, combining their insights to strengthen both the program and the study of it? In the work of evaluating a statewide professional learning…

This paper introduces an innovative clinical support and supervision project that has its origins in the concern for how senior school leaders are increasingly being expected to manage the escalating demand to care for pupils, families and often the wider community. In response to these pressures we offer a three-stage professional learning model…

Background: Professional Learning Networks (PLNs) of educators represent a promising approach to achieving continuous school improvement. At the same time, a range of studies in this area, including several systematic reviews and meta-analyses, report multiple conceptual and methodological challenges, or, at best, mixed results. Purpose and…

While the concept of being a professional prominently features in teaching standards worldwide, as a profession teachers do not devote much time to the study of what it takes to be one. In schools, the idea of defining, and then supporting, the emotional and psychological development required to be a professional remains on the periphery -- it is…

The integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in special education holds promise for transformative changes in special educational leadership and pedagogical practices. Special education leaders play a pivotal role in leveraging AI to address diverse student needs, enhance instructional delivery, personalize learning experiences, and foster…

Learning Forward's Standards for Professional Learning define and describe professional learning that leads to improved educator practices, leadership, and student outcomes. Standards draw on the latest evidence and research about what works in professional learning to help educators implement every phase of the professional learning process. They…

The purpose of this article is to examine a series of professional dispositions and provide practical examples of purposeful behaviors and tangible decision-making strategies related to the topics of collaboration, respect, reverence for learning, reflection, flexibility, and responsibility. Implications for necessary intentionality both within…

Integrating gifted education into a Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS) provides a systemic approach to addressing the academic and social-emotional needs of high-ability learners (HAL) and twice-exceptional (2E) students. This article examines one state's initiative to align gifted services with the existing MTSS framework through shared…