To improve teaching and learning outcomes, teachers and head teachers need whole-system support to build professionalism and enhance their practice. Roles at the middle tier of education systems, or those professionals working between the school and central level, offer unique capacities to facilitate collaboration, broker knowledge, scale…

The purpose of this qualitative case study was to investigate the induction program differences offered to beginning teachers in rural versus suburban school settings and to identify which induction supports beginning teachers considered most important in achieving classroom success. The six participants included an administrator, mentor, and…

The focus of this basic qualitative research was to gain insight into the experiences of first-generation Hispanic students (FGHS) and faculty mentors to explore in what ways, if any, a faculty-student mentoring program at a four-year university was meeting the needs of FGHS. Reasons for early student departure served as the foundation for this…

University earth science departments seeking to establish meaningful geoscience outreach programs often pursue large-scale, grant-funded programs. Although this type of outreach is highly successful, it is also extremely costly, and grant funding can be difficult to secure. Here, we present the Geoscience Education Outreach Program (GEOP), a…

This paper addresses using social media to promote pre-service science teachers' practices of Socio-Scientific Issue (SSI) based teaching in a science classroom setting. We designed our research in two phases. The first phase examined pre-service science teachers' perceptions about using social media to promote their SSI-based teaching. The…

"Mentoring Immigrant Youth: A Toolkit for Program Coordinators" is a comprehensive resource that is designed to offer program staff important background information, promising program practices and strategies to build and sustain high-quality mentoring relationships for different categories of immigrant youth. Included in this resource are five…

A review of studies selected from the Educational Resource Information Center (ERIC) covering the years 1985 through 2011 revealed three key evaluation components to analyze within a comprehensive teacher evaluation program: (a) designing, planning, and implementing instruction; (b) learning environments; and (c) parent and peer surveys. In this…

Alternative certification programs for primary and secondary school teachers face a difficult challenge: they must develop highly qualified and high quality teachers while adapting to the unique on-the-job training needs of their participants. Research literature indicates that many programs suffer from a lack of cohesion between coursework and…

Mentoring has been used in various fields as a professional development and acculturation tool (Kram, 1991) and is used extensively in higher education (Cunningham, 1999). However, despite numerous studies based on faculty mentoring, those conducted at Christian institutions of higher education have been limited. The study was framed by several…

This study explores the impact of an alternative teacher preparation program development from the "inside out" or through the voices of second career teachers, known as "Career Switchers," at a mid-size state university. The major objective of this study was to probe into their perceptions to inform program development with reporting framed in…

In light of the importance of mentoring as a tool for social integration into the "organization culture," this research examined mentoring in academia among women at the graduate and undergraduate level in three programs at the University of Minnesota. The three programs were designed to recruit, retain, and graduate persons of color at…

This study describes how the contexts of mentoring shape the perspectives and practices of mentors in the Teacher Trainee Program in Los Angeles (California), an effort to recruit candidates to teach in inner city secondary schools by providing on-the-job training to college graduates, and in the Graduate Intern Program in Albuquerque (New…

A study of seven diverse professional schools suggests that, although a variety of strategies (e.g., early identification, preprofessional contact, resocialization of faculty and matriculated students, and support services) can produce successful affirmative action for women and minority students, a concise, directed program geared to the school's…

Five exemplary university field experience programs for individuals studying to become teachers were identified and examined in order to develop a model field experience program in teacher education. Programs at the following universities were examined: Ball State University (Indiana), Illinois State University, Millersville University…

Designed to assist community college administrators and faculty in enhancing vocational education programs and services, this resource package contains information on successful partnership programs between California Community Colleges (CCC) and public sector entities. Following a brief overview of public sector partnerships, the report presents…