This "impact story" details how the Region 7 Comprehensive Center supported the Mississippi Department of Education in improving its Professional Growth System and building statewide capacity to support its effective use.

Designing effective learning experiences that prioritize student-centered outcomes requires a solid foundation in course design fundamentals rooted in pedagogical principles. In this workshop, participants collaborate to create a learning activity that incorporates recognition of prerequisite skills and learning outcomes aligned with both…

Undergraduate research is a high-impact practice (HIP), but it can be difficult to implement well. Faculty generally lack training for effectively mentoring students. A semi-autonomous faculty organization at Utah Valley University has maintained a faculty development program, the Mentoring Undergraduate Research Academy (MURA), and other…

Each year, educators engage in hours of professional learning to enhance their practice. Those hours are limited, both by contract and the imperative of keeping teachers in classrooms as much as possible. It is essential that this professional learning time is well-spent and pays dividends toward the goal of all public education: ensuring that…

This paper describes the Idaho Reading Coach Academy, which is part of the Idaho State Department of Education's (ISDE) K-3 literacy project, Striving to Meet Achievement in Reading Together (SMART). SMART is a multiyear cohort project that developed a statewide network of reading coaches who could provide direct support to participants. ISDE…

Peer review of teaching (PRT) programs have the capacity to address the practice imperative of evaluating and enhancing teaching practice, and the ethical imperative of safeguarding and promoting educator wellbeing, which is intrinsically linked to student wellbeing. This article outlines the practice-led development of an institution-wide,…

While the demands of teaching continue to escalate, teacher development has changed relatively little over time, leaving many of today's teachers feeling underprepared, overwhelmed, or demoralized with few opportunities to make real change. Teacher leadership holds promise for both addressing challenges within schools and empowering teachers.…

This chapter describes the conceptualization and interactions of the Portfolio Group, a knowledge community of teachers and teacher educators with over a twenty-year history of collaboration. Formed in 1998, its story formed the model for the concept of the Faculty Academy. An overview of the Portfolio Group's members and collaborative activities…

Book groups are gatherings of readers who aspire to remain lifelong learners. Educators who read and enjoy quality fiction and non-fiction contribute with confidence to the rich, literate environment of classrooms. The National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) expresses, through rich policy statements and other published works, the vital…

The original Fred Friendly Seminar was a Socratic dialog intended for expert debate on issues of ethics and public policy. I wanted to apply the format to inter-faculty learning on issues of international relations and foreign policy, so I proposed a type of hybrid scenario, combining the detail and self-reflection of a traditional seminar with…

This article provides a summary of the steps that were taken to launch a new center for teaching and learning (CTL) during the COVID-19 pandemic. Analysis of these steps explain how the inaugural director leveraged the pivot to emergency remote teaching to capitalize on faculty interest for educational development and increase collaboration…

A tiger in the arctic. Sunflowers in a coral reef. Would they thrive -- or even survive -- in those ecosystems? Probably not, despite being strong and resilient species. Similarly, even well-designed, evidence-based professional learning must occur in a supportive, rather than endangering, ecosystem to take root and thrive. Ecosystems that support…

The purpose of this article is to provide recommendations as to how teacher content knowledge can be improved to enhance the efficacy of RT programs for secondary PE students. We offer four recommendations including 1) Embed RT for adolescents content knowledge within physical education teacher education (PETE) programs, 2) Professional…

When our students told us they wanted our faculty and staff to practice the leadership competencies that we were outlining in our university's leadership competency model, we decided to take on the challenge. Based on principles of effective leadership development, the College of Business and Office of Human Resources created and continue to…

This historical study chronicles the creation, development, and termination of the Midwestern Conference on School Vocal and Instrumental Music, hosted by the University of Michigan between 1946 and 2005. Beginning as a band music reading session led by William Revelli in 1936, the conference developed into a premier professional workshop by the…