Making schools learning places for teachers as well as students is a timeless and appealing vision. The growing number of professional learning communities is a hopeful sign that profound change is on the way. This is the challenge learning communities face: Schools and districts need implementation models flexible enough to adapt to local…

Using the Reflective Dialogue Journal process, principal leadership candidates at Dominican University gain critical support and a partner to share ideas and test theories on a regular and as-needed basis. After two years of implementation with 60 principal interns from public, charter, and private/parochial schools, there are more than 1,500…

This article focuses on how educators could design professional development to empower the learning of individuals to serve the growth of an organization that was all about student success. The leadership team at Mapleton Expeditionary School for the Arts (MESA) in Thornton, Colorado, responded to this with its version of a teaching and learning…

A video club is a group of teachers who meet on a regular basis to view and discuss video segments from their classrooms. In a video club, the group establishes the goals, then tapes and selects the video segments for viewing. A video club is a fairly simple way to use technology for teacher learning. Video captures classroom interactions that…

The Burlington School District has experienced a sharp increase in the number English language learners (ELLs) in its schools over the past several years, as have many schools across the country. As is typical in U.S. schools, Burlington offered newly arriving students pullout instruction to meet their linguistic and academic needs. Yet even with…

When the standards movement began more than 15 years ago, most educators welcomed the prospect of having clearly articulated student learning goals. The publication of the first set of standards by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics in 1989 was greeted with unprecedented optimism. Standards offered educators a direction for reform…

Data from elementary and secondary principals and teachers identified six recommendations for improving school based professional development: (preparing an articulated mission; planning for professional development at the school and practitioner level; implementing the plan; providing broad support for professional development; building and…