What happens when teachers are given funding and time to identify and develop targeted and innovative professional learning? This article focuses on lessons learned from grants funded through the California Department of Education that were designed to do just this. As the state and the nation consider the best approaches to professional learning…

Teacher leaders are vital to establishing a collaborative school culture that fosters continuous improvement of teaching and student achievement. Over the last seven years, Learning Forward's support of teacher leaders has focused more on teachers who support their colleagues by serving in one or more of many roles with one of many diverse job…

A school that ensures that all students--regardless of race, creed, color, socioeconomic status, gender, or disabilities--have access to and receive the highest-quality education has achieved a key measure of social justice. Since the most significant factor in whether students learn well is quality teaching, and teaching is enhanced through…

Network learning supported by 21-century technology is reweaving the fabric of how educators acquire and create new knowledge. At the Alaska Educational Innovations Network (AEIN), educators believe this has the potential to change how a profession looks at professional development. They have learned that using technology to support networks…

Transforming an entire district from one that is satisfied with being academically good enough into one keenly focused on improved student performance requires overhaul that reaches from end to end, from building to building, from bottom to top. Leaders in Birdville Independent School District in Fort Worth, Texas, learned that applying five…

A forum sponsored by the RISE Teacher Center illustrates how teachers and policy-makers can work together to effect educational change. (DF)

Key elements in successful collaborative schools include focusing on staff involvement, collaborative school norms, collaborative practices and structures, and the principal's role. The article illustrates successful collaboration in one elementary school, noting it involved creating and sustaining a new culture within the school environment. (SM)

A description and definition of the type of negotiation currently occurring among teachers, administrators, and boards of education for long-range school improvement programs includes guidelines for negotiating and a detailed agenda that can be used as a model for reaching shared agreements. (CB)

A district-level change in staff development helped renew teachers' interest in professional learning--and improve student learning. The Rockwood School District in Eureka, Mo., found a districtwide plan, rather than personal goals, set the tone for change, but involved teachers in planning.

The article examines four basic elements of staff development needed to manage the changes in educational systems today and in the future: multidimensional professional development for all staff, decentralized performance-based systems, understanding and implementing the change process, and the changing role of the staff developer. (SM)

Most schools and districts have created an artificial distinction between working and learning. They operate in a way that suggests teachers work (teach) 180 or so days a year and learn (attend programs) on four or five days each year set aside for professional development. The author states that school leaders must end this distinction between…

The article describes how Susan Derse, principal of a Seattle high school, works with her school to facilitate and encourage change, focusing on her approach to staff development. Ms. Derse uses a collaborative, participatory style of leadership that allows plenty of time for teachers to meet and work together. (SM)

Describes a study that examined how relationships within diverse leadership teams engaged the strengths of all members to make decisions and transform schools. Results indicated that diversity issues affecting team effectiveness were apparent in team composition, agenda topics, and group representation. This paper presents recommendations for…

One fiscally poor elementary school created a place for quality work by staff and maintained the standards for many years through various ongoing teacher development activities. An essential factor in developing the school culture was believing that teachers must be honored, supported, and trusted before they could honor the students. (SM)

Reports current ideas from the general organizational productivity literature to provide a broader context for restructuring schools. The article discusses work culture patterns (involving schoolwide planning, professional development, program development, and school assessment) and describes how to manage productive schools, presenting…