In this paper, we investigate the potential and conditions for using curriculum adaptation to support reform of science teaching and learning. With each wave of reform in science education, curriculum has played a central role and the contemporary wave focused on implementation of the principles and vision of the "Framework for K-12 Science…

Over the last two years, the author has talked with thousands of educators about the Common Core State Standards, and she has realized that one of the biggest risks they currently face is full-speed implementation without an understanding of the changes that the standards require. When a new reform initiative comes around, the instinct of teachers…

This article supports the notion of high quality clinical teacher preparation models and lays out an argument for investing in professional education that is organized around more coherent systems for cultivating clinical practice. This article outlines the creation and implementation of a clinically-based teacher preparation program. Project…

Never before in human history has it been more important for a person to be geographically literate. But the unsettling reality is that many teachers and most students are not yet geographically literate. Currently, American students are not even provided opportunities to learn enough geography to understand the very basic aspects of the world in…

Stepping into a school library today reveals the dramatic changes in educational games since the author's elementary school days. Many current school libraries now boast computer- and video-based games, as well as geocaching, big games, or large-scale scavenger hunts that pit teams against each other in timed races to find clues about a…

Paul Black, Mark Wilson, and Shih-Ying Yao in "Road Maps for Learning: A Guide to the Navigation of Learning Progressions" provide a number of important ideas to consider regarding the development of assessments and curriculum materials to support development of core ideas. One major idea that the author found most valuable is the focus on student…

Even evidence-based instructional methods may not be sufficient for closing achievement gaps. If teachers are not maximizing instructional time, achievement gaps are likely to widen over time; therefore, instruction need not only be effective but efficient as well. The purposes of this article are to (a) provide practitioners with a broad…

This article features Oscar F. Smith Middle School, a challenging school in Chesapeake, Virginia. When Principal Linda Scott exclaims, "Oscar F. Smith Middle School is "hot"!" to visitors, she is not referring to the inside temperature of the bustling school of grades 6-8 located in the historic South Norfolk borough of…

Emergent technologies offer opportunities to understand concepts in deeper, often different, and more meaningful ways. However, this growth in understanding will occur only if teachers learn to use these technologies in effective ways. The federal initiative Preparing Tomorrow's Teachers to Use Technology (PT3) was launched in 1999 to address this…

Project-based learning is one of the main successful student-centered pedagogies broadly used in computing science courses. However, this approach can be insufficient when dealing with practical subjects that implicitly require many deliverables and a great deal of feedback and organizational resources. In this paper, a worked e-portfolio is…

School-based response to intervention (RTI) teams must gather, organize, chart, and interpret essential instructional information to make effective adjustments to meet the academic needs of struggling learners. Quantified data such as student proficiency scores, rate of progress trends, and achievement gap results provide the foundation for making…

Teachers often engage in curricular planning by critiquing and adapting existing curriculum materials to contextualize lessons and compensate for their deficiencies. Designing instruction for students is shaped by teachers' ability to apply a variety of personal resources, including their pedagogical content knowledge (PCK). This study…

The call for reform of teacher preparation programs by Arne Duncan (2009), U.S. Secretary of Education, has the potential to be the catalyst for a re-emergence of co-teaching in higher education. Duncan argues for the need to implement innovative preservice teacher education strategies that will result in an increase in K-12 student achievement.…

Consistent with the theme of this issue, we describe the details of one continuing effort to build knowledge for teacher education. We argue that building a useful knowledge base requires attention to the processes used to generate, record, and vet knowledge. By using 4 features of knowledge-building systems we identified in the introductory…

This paper evaluates the development of a personalised learning approach within a professional distance learning course. The issues arising are of relevance to academics engaged in course development, with an emphasis on fostering independent learning. The course focuses on enabling student teachers to develop their generic skills, attributes and…