This article seeks to deepen the understanding of the revised Essential 4 by describing the key aspects and examples of the Second Edition of the National Association for Professional Development Schools (NAPDS) Nine Essentials. The key concepts that are brought forth in the revised Essential 4 include "Reflective Practice;"…

Cooperative Extension professionals are using webinar technologies to accommodate time constraints, travel distances, and limited budgets as well as to reach a broader audience. Although checklists and planning worksheets are readily available, there is a lack of resources to intentionally utilize reflective teaching practice and measure…

This article describes the process of action research and what pre-service teachers learned by utilizing this practice in a pre-K classroom under the supervision of university faculty and practicing teachers. By learning about action research within the professional development school setting, the pre-service teachers were able to utilize this…

Research practice partnerships (RPP) intend to blur the lines of traditional teacher and researcher roles. Teachers who participate in RPPs gain experiences in research activities such as identifying problems of practice, designing research methods and data collection tools, collecting and analyzing data. They learn to be critical consumers of…

Faculty in an Educator Preparation Provider developed a system of instruction and assessment of professional dispositions that spans the teacher candidate's academic career. The system includes a quantifiable rubric to measure professional dispositions, with actionable behavior indicators for candidates and their supervisors to follow. This system…

I am a public elementary teacher currently serving as a school-based supervisor for a Professional Development School (PDS) undergraduate elementary-teacher-education program in Madison, Wisconsin, where our charge is to leverage the intersecting contexts of school, university, and community to prepare skilled and caring teachers for urban…

This article develops criteria for the selection, professional development, and assessment of cooperating teachers through four "notions." These notions suggest that cooperating teachers might (1) possess knowledge of educational theory and practice; (2) understand the importance of context in education; (3) understand narrative's role…

This article describes the experiences of two graduate faculty members from Indiana University who facilitated two workshops sponsored by Ball State University at Highlander Research and Education Center, one in May of 2013, and another in May of 2014. We describe the history of Participation Training, the program we used to plan and conduct…

Peace education provides for the development of knowledge, skills, and dispositions appropriate to effective peacebuilding. Therefore, the development of curriculum in degree programs which builds bridges by which students in conflict resolution/peace studies classrooms may cross over to the field of conflict transformation and peacebuilding may…

This article explores the discursive work done by different notions of professional development in adult education. In particular we outline the ways in which the discourses of technical expertise, competence and reflective practice are deployed to mobilise professional practices and identities in particular ways and position certain practices and…

Learning to become a teacher is a developmental process, part of which is learning to become a reflective practitioner. The authors have implemented a structured approach to developing the habits of critical reflection, the purpose of which is to guide their university students (who are pre-service teachers) to progress through the stages of…

Many believe that the key to translating research into successful practice lies in providing teachers with continuous professional development and ongoing coaching support. In this article, we provide an overview of the relevant coaching literature and describe 4 critical features of an evidence-based preschool literacy coaching model: the coach…

Each year, new professional educators enter their classrooms full of energy and ready to engage their students in the quest for knowledge and academic success. Yet they soon encounter challenges and obstacles that often discourage and end many promising teachers' careers. To illustrate some of the challenges facing early career teachers, a…

In 2001, the Australian Science Teachers Association's (ASTA's) Golden Jubilee year, a special commemorative combined issue of the then "Australian Science Teachers' Journal" (ASTJ) and "Investigating" (Australian Primary and Junior Science Journal), charted ASTA's beginnings and growth, from a "loose affiliation of four…

This paper takes the form of a discussion document. A number of ideas surrounding the topics of continuing professional development (CPD), performance management (PM) and effective classrooms in secondary schools are outlined. The paper draws on some of the recent literature in these areas and refers to some current trials within a UK-based…