Students need "critical data literacy" skills to help make sense of the multitude of information available to them, especially as it relates to high-stakes issues of social justice. The authors describe two curriculum modules they developed--one on income equality, one on immigration--that help students learn to analyze data in order to…

The Advancing Culturally-Relevant Computing Project is a collaboration between researchers and practitioners in Hawai'i focused on preparing elementary teachers to meaningfully incorporate culturally relevant Computer Science (CS) into their classrooms. This paper introduces a hybrid instructional design framework designed to facilitate the…

This article explores the design and development of a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) on inclusive teaching. Released in the Fall of 2023, the MOOC is particularly unique because of its intentional use of ethnically diverse voices and multimodal content to include art, music, spoken word, and storytelling. Modules range from Self and Empathy to…

Responsive professional development is about watching learners closely, interpreting observations to make nuanced decisions, and taking action to support learners at particular moments. What might they be ready to do next? What instructional moves will best provide "just enough" support? In other words, what is the next wise action?…

The Region 12 Comprehensive Center conducted a national scan of formative assessment supports provided by state education agencies. The report presents common themes in formative assessment support, a series of supports by content and grade area as well as by modality of professional learning, and illustrative examples. It also examines…

As professional learning director in California's Palo Alto Unified School District, Kelly Bikle attended a California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress Institute (CAASPP) workshop with a district team composed of our assessment coordinator, a special education inclusion specialist, and several teachers. The goal was to learn about…

Educators interact with more than 4 million infants and toddlers each week in the United States and can provide positive, nurturing experiences that enhance development. Tragically, the infant-toddler workforce in the United States often lacks the support and resources necessary to support their work. These urgent needs require comprehensive…

Social studies teachers often find themselves in search of professional development that transforms lessons from facts, figures, and boldfaced vocabulary to lessons that develop the sophisticated thinking skills students need to make sense of the social issues of one's everyday world. Furthermore, teachers want their own learning to be similar to…

Our paper describes the design and development of a set of online professional development modules to support academic staff in improving and enhancing their teaching. We show how we created a learning design to allow staff to quickly and easily develop their teaching in line with University performance expectations whilst also providing staff…

As one of only six states receiving a federal Striving Readers Comprehensive Literacy grant, Pennsylvania has designed and implemented an innovative program that focuses on improved instruction and interventions to ensure every student is literate and graduates from high school ready for college and a career. This report describes Pennsylvania's…

In October 2010, the University of Southern California School of Social Work entered the online education environment with the launch of the first national web-based MSW program. After an initial enrollment of 80 students, in just 3 years this state-of-the-art MSW, offered in a technology-advanced synchronous and asynchronous format, has generated…

Teachers involved in the implementation of a curriculum innovation can be prepared for this task through a professional development program. In this paper, we describe essential characteristics (identified empirically and theoretically) for such a professional development program that promotes the acquisition of competences by these teachers. The…

As more young children enter school settings to attend early childhood programs, early childhood teachers and school psychologists have been charged with supporting a growing number of young children with chronic problem behaviors that put them at risk for the development of emotional/behavioral disorders (EBDs). There is a need for effective,…

We conducted a series of summer workshops on bioinformatics to increase educators' knowledge of this new field of inquiry with the assumption that their knowledge will, in turn, impact student achievement. The workshops incorporated experiential learning and self-reflection (Loucks-Horsley et al. 1998). Educators demonstrated significant increases…

Research Experiences for Teachers (RET), funded by the National Science Foundation, offer teachers an opportunity to participate in current, hands-on scientific research in laboratories across the United States. These experiences provide an avenue for teachers to understand the process of research and gain insight on emerging technologies with the…