This article offers insights into the challenges and complexities of accredited national professional learning programmes that are collaboratively designed, led, and delivered. The article is framed within theoretical perspectives concerning large-scale system change, highlighting the importance of inter-professional relationships and joint work…

Rural schools face unique challenges providing high-quality professional development opportunities due to barriers such as geographic isolation and limited resources. This article provides information on three coaching models, eCoaching, iCoaching, and teacher dyad coaching. Each model has the potential to leverage technology to ameliorate…

Practitioner research should be sufficiently trustworthy "and" useful. We argue, however, that although criteria of trustworthiness are rather well developed, criteria of usefulness are not. As a result, the long-term impact of practitioner research is rather disappointing because, we contend, it tends to lack practicality. We used…

This article addresses a major and continuing problem in teacher education in the United States and internationally: the ability of programs to prepare teachers to teach successfully and stay over time in historically marginalized communities. After discussion of the factors that have led to the failure of programs to accomplish this goal, several…

A recently launched professional development initiative in Arkansas, called Array, is designed to proactively identify early care and education (ECE) programs that could benefit from social-emotional-focused (SE-focused) professional development and support, and to offer assistance tailored to a program's particular needs. Because Array is…

Micro-credentials (MCs) are a rapidly expanding element of modern teacher professional learning. In this brief, we provide a concise review of what is currently known about MCs: how they work, their strengths, their shortcomings, and what we still need to learn. For districts and states that are considering introducing MCs, this brief is designed…

Over the past two and a half decades, digital technologies and virtual education have moved quickly to the top of the K-12 public education reform agenda. Proponents, including business leaders, school reform organizations, foundations, and for-profit and nonprofit service providers, argue that virtual technology will revolutionize teaching and…

This article reports findings from a two-year independent evaluation of the "Little Scientists" program; a program providing science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) professional development for early childhood educators across Australia. This article reports on the qualitative data gathered with educators to illustrate…

This partly descriptive, partly critically reflective, argumentative article analyses the Norwegian kindergarten teacher education program through the three concepts that are mentioned in its national guidelines: research-based, profession-oriented, and practice-related education. An inseparable correlation between these at the level of higher…

Effective mentor-mentee pairings tend to increase mentees' efficacy and motivation, bolster commitment, enhance instructional quality, and positively enhance student achievement. In response to situations in which school-provided mentoring is not possible or where music mentees receive a school-assigned, non-music mentor, an increasing number of…

For nearly 15 years, Child360 (formerly Los Angeles Universal Preschool) has offered coaching services to early childhood education providers who serve children up to age 5 in public centers and family based childcare homes. These coaching services give educators the support they need to ensure their programs are places where children are happy…

This chapter proposes a theoretical model of the impact of lesson study. Outcomes addressed include teacher outcomes (e.g., knowledge and beliefs), professional learning norms and routines, instructional routines and tools, and student learning outcomes. Four theoretical perspectives are used to examine lesson study impact: knowledge integration…

The Global Society of Online Literacy Educators (GSOLE) Basic Online Literacy Instruction (OLI) Certification is open to GSOLE members and is designed to help online literacy instructors, tutors, and writing program administrators learn foundational principles, theories, and practices of teaching and tutoring writing online and apply those to the…

Brazil is the largest and most influential country in South America with a population of about 211 million. The reality is a country with a wide gap between rich and poor. Many of its issues of (in)equity are related to a complex mix of factors, such as its large population, ethnic and cultural diversity, class and income disparity, late slavery…

Background: Current policy discourses emphasise the importance of evidence in education, including evidencing the impact of teacher professional learning on student outcomes. Randomised controlled trial (RCT) designs are promoted to measure 'impact'. Recent debates about this reflect longer standing methodological disputes. Advocates of…