How should teachers spend their STEM-focused professional learning time? To answer this question, Heather Hill, Kathleen Lynch, Kathryn Gonzalez, and Cynthia Pollard analyzed a recent wave of rigorous new studies of STEM instructional improvement programs. They found that programs work best when focused on building knowledge teachers can use…

This paper demonstrates how the features and affordances of open learning have been developed in new and productive ways to provide school-based continuing professional development for teachers in Zambia. It presents and critically reviews data from 200 teachers who have taken part in phase 1 of the Zambian Education School-based Training (ZEST)…

In a neoliberal political context, educational reform is seen as largely dependent on the individual teacher and his or her ability to continue developing and improving his or her practice with the ultimate goal of improving student outcomes. Professional development (PD) is therefore reliant on teachers to embrace new models of practice, to…

Subject knowledge enhancement (SKE) courses are one option open in England to graduates with a science background whose first degree content is judged to be insufficient to train to become chemistry or physics teachers. Previous articles in "School Science Review" have discussed the structure of one type of extended SKE course offered at…

There are multiple explanations for why many children do not have access to well-prepared pre-K teachers. The five programs profiled in this report show that it is possible to give pre-K teachers rich, research-based training that prepares them to work with young children. However, there is a scarcity of opportunities focused on the developmental…

The teacher quality gap is even more severe for English language learners than it is for low-income students and students of color, because a "highly qualified" teacher of ELLs must have special skills and abilities, write Gándara and Santibañez in this article. The authors examine how well prepared today's teachers are to provide…

The Economic Actions in Education training module (EAE) teaches how to handle, use and judge external standardized tests in schools. The EAE programme was implemented in teacher training at the University of Kiel, because teachers are increasingly under external scrutiny and are being held accountable for student and school achievements. The EAE…

Why does professional learning for educators have such a mixed history? Why is it so hard to find solid research evidence of professional development programs that actually improve student learning outcomes? Part of the answer, writes Thomas R. Guskey, is that professional learning experiences for educators are rarely well planned. Consequently,…

To address shortfalls in the preparation and achievement of U.S. students in STEM fields (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics), instruction in these areas must begin in the elementary grades, as early as kindergarten (American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education, 2007; Natural Academy of Sciences, 2007; National Research…

The authors drew upon Remillard and Bryans' categorization of curriculum use in observating two middle-grade teachers' integration of Standards-based curriculum materials produced by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. Each teacher participated in a two-year professional development program focused on increasing content knowledge and…

Training and technical assistance programs for autism spectrum disorders (ASD) have emerged in many states as educators, administrators, and institutions of higher education attempt to address the increasing needs for enhancing the knowledge and skills of educators and disseminating the ever-growing knowledge of educational practices. This report…

Recently, there have been increased calls for enhancing preschool children's mathematics knowledge along with increasing calls for preparing preschool teachers to meet the demands of new preschool mathematics curricula. This article describes the professional development program Starting Right: Mathematics in Preschools. Focusing on four episodes…

Professional development--formal in-service training to upgrade the content knowledge and pedagogical skills of teachers--is widely viewed as an important means of improving teaching and learning. While many interventions "include" professional development, professional development was the central intervention of the two recent research and…

This article reports on a subset of findings that emerged from the Alberta Student Assessment Study in relation to the preservice and in-service development of teacher knowledge of, expertise in, and beliefs underpinning their assessment practices. Findings indicate that, although there has been a lot of attention given to improving assessment,…

This study examines professional development activities provided for mathematics and science teachers in the National Science Foundation's Math and Science Partnership Program by analyzing a cross-sectional sample of over 2000 professional development (PD) activities in the program. Data were gathered from secondary source documents and surveys to…