This article presents the results of the development and implementation of a mentorship program, now in its sixth year, designed to support the professional development of teaching skills for faculty and contract instructors. The program is unique in that it is a combination of a variety of other approaches such as formal and informal mentoring as…

This case study explores the lived experience of three faculty from different disciplines engaged in an experiential undergraduate nursing study abroad (SA) course, which is largely absent from the literature. This research found specific personal and professional transformative effects of multidisciplinary SA experiences for faculty.…

This study aims to investigate teachers' perspectives regarding the emotional consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic and their coping strategies, in the context of their relationship with the principal. The study posed three questions: (1) What emotions and feelings are described by teachers during the COVID-19 pandemic? (2) How do the teachers…

Although informal teacher learning (ITL) has been deemed critical for teachers in various contexts, it remains unknown how different kinds of ITL are associated with teacher self-efficacy, and how these relationships differ between public school teachers and private school teachers. Based on sociocultural theory and reflection theory, this study…

The number of English Language Learners in the United States continues to increase, yet the number of teachers trained to support ELLs does not. The lack of expertise in this area could have a negative impact on academic achievement. Teachers across the nation, including those at Driscoll Middle, a mid-size suburban middle school in the…

Including students with special needs in the general education classroom requires that teachers adapt their approaches to teaching to meet all students' needs. However, general education teachers are not always fully aware how best to serve special populations. This study examines what skills and knowledge special education educators feel that…

This study aims to illuminate how professional interactions among teachers form different types of teacher leadership in schools, which, in turn, shape different levels of teachers' involvement in activities related to their professional learning community (PLC). To investigate certain patterns of teachers' interactions that contribute to the…

We study the relationship between school organizational contexts, teacher turnover, and student achievement in New York City (NYC) middle schools. Using factor analysis, we construct measures of four distinct dimensions of school contexts captured on the annual NYC School Survey. We identify credible estimates by isolating variation in…

According to Richard DuFour (2004), "To create a professional learning community, focus on learning rather than teaching, work collaboratively and hold yourself accountable for results." Professional learning communities provide the structure that must exist within a school in order to become effective. However, to truly prepare…

This study forms a holistic, rich description of the way a professional development experience transformed teachers of mathematics. This professional development targeted teachers from six underachieving schools in a southern state who trained for a week in inquiry techniques of instruction. The method used to study the impact this experience had…

This three-part report describes the development and operations of the faculty mentoring program at Charles County Community College, in Maryland. First, the history and goals of the program are reviewed and the mentoring process is described, indicating that faculty are offered mentors at the beginning of each semester, mentors are paid $100 and…

This paper describes the structured faculty mentoring program at the Pittsburgh Technical Institute (Pennsylvania), which is designed to provide a system of support for new faculty, who encounter many stressful situations on a daily basis, and provide guidance and encouragement. One of the primary goals of the program is to improve the quality of…

Using the latest research instruments, including questionnaires, interviews, factor analysis, and matrix construction, the present restraints on professorial effectiveness and the contributions of departmental and university structures to professorial malaise is examined for the purpose of improving ways that administrators can increase faculty…

Since l984, the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) has been operating the California Mentor Teacher Program (MTP), initiated and supported by the state, to give special help to new or inexperienced teachers and encourage competent teachers to continue teaching. The study reported in these two volumes evaluated program effectiveness and…

An educator-in-residence directed a two-year professional development program to improve college teaching and student learning. The project was administered at Brescia College (Kentucky) and involved three other colleges of comparable size and mission: St. Mary-of-the Woods College and St. Meinrad College in Indiana and St. Catharine College in…