Teachers' efficacy beliefs are critical to improving student learning, but we have yet to fully understand how these beliefs develop. The prevailing model of teachers' efficacy development emerges from cognitive theories, but sociocultural theories may add insights to modeling the impact of teachers' school contexts. This case study takes a…

Since the first Circle of Trust retreat was offered in 2005, the Center for Courage & Renewal (CCR) and other individual facilitators across the United States, Canada, and Australia have continued to offer many cross-professional retreats, as they have proven extremely popular. They are designed for people from any profession who want to…

The aims of this study were to examine the extent and nature of educational psychologist (EP) work related to children in care in five local authority educational psychology services in the south-west region. The study involved an initial internet-based questionnaire for the 107 EPs in these services (86% response rate), followed up by in-depth…

To support new teachers during the challenging transition to the profession, schools and districts across the country often establish induction supports such as professional development, mentorship, and coaching. This report describes the findings of a research study designed to examine how the Chicago implementation of the New Teacher Center…

This article explores the potential for critical discourse analysis to provide insight into the language principals use to describe the adult relationships within schools. Unpacking the discourses of leadership may shed some light on how language strategically shapes the thoughts and actions of principals. In particular, the invoking of "family"…

Introduction: We describe an example of simulation-based interprofessional continuing education, the multidisciplinary obstetric simulated emergency scenarios (MOSES) course, which was designed to enhance nontechnical skills among obstetric teams and, hence, improve patient safety. Participants' perceptions of MOSES courses, their learning, and…

Although professional learning communities are often promoted as unique learning opportunities, little is known about how they get started and how they are sustained. For this reason, group members are often unprepared, and then frustrated, by inevitable group tensions. With this in mind, Karl Weick's [(1979). "The social psychology of…

Over recent decades there has been pressure on schools and teachers, in England, to transform teachers' working practice by advocating an improved role for teaching assistants. In reforming the workforce, the government also intended to support schools in building the momentum for change, whilst raising standards of pupil achievement and enhancing…

Excerpts from interviews with four women mentors in academe illustrate a common, problematic syndrome which involves resistance to assuming the position of master. Each of the women expressed a profound discomfort with the idea of being considered an "expert" and each resisted the role in her own way. Sarah had adopted a stance of…

Examines 10 early childhood services in South Australia, using a model of process-oriented quality. Presents results related to information strategies, communication processes, relationships between family and staff, participation in curriculum, and effectiveness of the model. Discusses staff role in achieving high quality. Asserts that the…

The unique bond between mentors and mentees is a complex dyad with unusual strength and trust. It is a relationship of special importance to African American graduate students, who have cited mentor relationships as vital to their persistence in graduate school. African American graduate students do face great difficulties in finding adequate…

Although the functional relationship between school board and superintendent is a critical connection that stands at the apex of the organizational pyramid in education, little is known about that linkage, other than the tension endemic to the relationship. This study therefore examines how superintendents and school boards interact and inquires…

In this report, the Consortium for Policy Research in Education (CPRE) explores the role of coaching in first-year (Cohort 4) America's Choice schools in grades K-8 as it relates to the implementation of readers and writers workshops, referred throughout this report as the literacy workshops. The authors describe the America's Choice coaching…