Why does professional learning for educators have such a mixed history? Why is it so hard to find solid research evidence of professional development programs that actually improve student learning outcomes? Part of the answer, writes Thomas R. Guskey, is that professional learning experiences for educators are rarely well planned. Consequently,…

Article stresses the importance of developing inservice programs at the local school level to better meet the needs of the individual school and personnel involved. (RW)

Describes a program of instructional development for teaching assistants used in the Department of Speech Communication at the University of Washington. Program objectives and implementation procedures are included. (JMF)

Considers what teacher centers actually are, what they do, what they are supposed to do, and how they are formed. Discusses three types of centers, their organizational structure and function, and the theory underlying them. (Editor/RK)

This report contains reviews of relevant Australian literature and of inservice teacher education programs in Australia and in other countries. The first part of this report describes the origin and objectives of the Western Australian In-Service Teacher Education Project. In the report's second section, trends in the definition of inservice…

This executive summary of a report on the Ways to Improve Schools and Education (WISE) Project study of local school-business collaboration focuses upon the private sector voluntary efforts to help schools become more effective through staff development/inservice education. Topics covered in the report include: (1) rationale for the project; (2)…

The report describes the organizational phase of a project designed to create program models and supporting literature for exploratory industrial career development programs for grades seven to ten. The project was undertaken by Oregon State University in cooperation with the Oregon State Department of Education and involved the formation of a…

Part of a larger study on the experience of teaching in the steel mill learning environment was an inquiry focused on professional development. Teachers and coordinators were all members of the Teachers Action Research Group for Educational Technology (TARGET), a group of adult educators interested in improving learning and teaching in career…

Reports on the development of a comprehensive education program "Step by Step: A Program for Children and Families" in Eastern and Central Europe and the former Soviet Union. Designed for young children from birth to age eight and their families, this program attempts to share U.S. teaching methods that promote democratic principles…

Recognizing that content area teachers are sufficiently different from reading teachers to warrant special attention in reading inservice activities, this book is intended for inservice leaders to help content area teachers improve their teaching of reading and understanding content-related material. The book contains numerous suggestions for…

This model of teacher supervision was designed to improve instruction in the Aspinwall Elementary School in the Fox Chapel School District, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The project sought to accomplish three things: improve the achievement level of underachieving students, increase teacher instructional effectiveness, and change the teachers'…

This handbook provides an experience-based career education (EBCE) program director with guidelines and a structure for planning and conducting staff development activities with a minimum of assistance from outside the district. General principles are discussed to offer guidelines to present a staff development program to meet needs. A discussion…

Designed to help educators of health and medical personnel to increase their own skills so as to make learning easier for their students, this handbook contains information and activities to help teachers define the professional tasks that will provide the basis for determining educational objectives, plan a curriculum, and construct tests and…

Mindful of the need for quality professional development and its characteristics, large numbers of educators are self-selecting to participate in workplace/community learning (WCL) experiences. Viewed as an alternative to less desirable forms of traditional professional development, WCL displays characteristics of high-quality professional…

The Michigan Council on Vocational Education conducted a comprehensive review of all secondary-level vocational education (VE) programs for adult criminal offenders. The review focused on the programs that were delivered through the Michigan Department of Corrections (MDOC) in fiscal years 1994 and 1995. Data were collected from the following:…