This report provides the perspectives of multiple respondent groups -- districts, principals, and math teachers -- on math-focused professional learning (PL) for teachers. The authors explore the factors that district and school leaders consider when selecting math-focused PL. These factors include principal autonomy to select PL; teachers'…

This Wallace "Perspective" delves into what makes for a high-quality, voluntary summer learning program, one that provides children from disadvantaged communities with engaging academics as well as stimulating enrichment activities during the interval between the end of the school year and back-to-school time. Interest in these programs…

The goal of the Intensive Partnership (IP) initiative is to improve student success by transforming how teachers are recruited, developed, assigned, rewarded, and retained. RAND and American Institutes for Research (AIR) have been studying the seven IP sites (including three districts and four charter management organizations--CMOs) since the…

This is the first of three evaluation reports on the effectiveness of a regional train-the-trainer strategy to support classroom implementation of the Next Generation Content Standards and Objectives (NxGen CSOs). This report focuses on six regional Educator Enhancement Academies (EEAs) hosted by the eight regional education service agencies…

The 2012 National Survey of Science and Mathematics Education was designed to provide up-to-date information and to identify trends in the areas of teacher background and experience, curriculum and instruction, and the availability and use of instructional resources. A total of 7,752 science and mathematics teachers in schools across the United…

Equitable science education opportunities are shaped by factors originating inside and outside schools. Resources for science instruction--for example, laboratory equipment and course offerings--have historically been allocated unequally across schools serving different student communities. This paper addresses the equity of instructional resource…

This packet provides the concerned teacher and supervisor with materials for learning how to determine the percentage of time their students are actively engaged on task. The materials include definitions of key terms, a list of situations during which students must be considered unengaged, sample forms to be used in classroom observations of…

This report assesses the effectiveness of the Napa County (California) Instructional Skills Staff Development Program, focusing on its impact on student achievement and student engaged rate in classrooms. The program, providing training for teachers and principals in administrative and instructional skills, is examined for outcomes in two schools,…

Describes a university project to increase academic learning time in two rural Nebraska school districts. Outlines the use of teacher triad observation teams to increase teachers' awareness of time use in their classrooms and to provide teachers with objective information on which to base instructional process decisions. (SV)

The impact of the School Improvement Through Instructional Process (SITIP) program in Maryland schools was evaluated. The program encourages application of research on planned change to implement one or more of four instructional models: (1) Active Teaching--emphasis on direct instruction, review and discussion of homework, individually supervised…

The Center for Educational Policy and Management at the University of Oregon has developed a professional development term for improving teaching skills of secondary school teachers. The content of the program has been drawn from two major categories of instructional research: (1) classroom management and organizational strategies that promote and…