Despite the growing popularity of Madeline Hunter's Program for Effective Teaching staff development model, there is little evidence that student achievement increases after such a program has been implemented. A recent study of South Carolina achievement test data corroborates this assertion. Coaching length and quality may be key factors in…

Charges that the Mandeville and Rivers article in the same "Educational Leadership" issue is seriously flawed for failing to address whether teachers actually used Hunter's Program for Effective Teaching techniques as intended. Only careful observation of the 25 participating teachers with two years' experience using the ideas could…

Commends Mandeville and Rivers' article in the same "Educational Leadership" issue for demonstrating familiarity with the Hunter staff development model and acknowledging the importance of proper implementation strategies. Presents evidence showing that abbreviated training periods and insufficient coaching are to blame for the model's…

The Questions to Upgrade and Encourage Student Thinking (QUEST) program is designed to improve student reading comprehension by improving teacher questioning skills. (Author/MLF)

A group of professional staff developers committed individually to different movements cooperated to unite five varied programs: Instructional Theory into Practice (ITIP), thinking skills, cooperative learning, teaching styles and strategies, and reading and writing in the content areas. The group rediscovered the big ideas shaping curriculum,…

Teachers in an elementary school decide not to match students with teachers. Instead, the teachers learn a variety of styles. (Author)

Reviewing staff development research, this article focuses on delivery systems and how they affect teacher change and improvement as well as the process of teacher change. Recommendations are made for staff development. (MD)

Describes a Long Island, New York, school district's staff development project designed to improve student learning and thinking strategies by applying interactive and constructive learning theory. The three-year project focused on bettering reading instruction across the curriculum and used teacher-selected materials and demonstration lessons to…

The new kinds of teaching required to implement curriculum reforms like the California Curriculum Frameworks are incompletely defined and impossible to learn in quick-fix workshops. Teachers need to have "instructional conversations" with students that engage their interest, focus on a definite subject, and encourage full participation…

Criticizes Madeline Hunter's teaching model emphasizing a perceived mechanistic and simplistic approach. Also stresses the ways the author feels the model negates the teaching of thinking skills. Attacks the scientific approach of Hunter's model, its philosophic perspective, and the training process. (MD)

Distinguishing between teaching "styles" and teaching "strategies" is important in effective implementation of staff development programs. New strategies--specific techniques for enhancing learning--can provide teachers with (1) new visions of their content areas, their students, and themselves and (2) opportunities for creativity and autonomy in…