While professional development is a requirement for all educators, many teachers have a negative opinion of PD. Districts have attempted to use professional learning communities and the presence of instructional coaches as an answer to the concerns of irrelevant professional development. This study examined educators' opinions of an opt-in…

Schools of education continue to struggle with how to best meet the needs of practicing teachers enrolled in graduate teacher education programs. The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's School of Education designed a graduate teacher education program with an embedded outdoor education residency component to disrupt practicing teachers'…

Developing competence in multiculturalism and social justice advocacy is a lifelong pursuit. Nevertheless, scholars have rarely considered the role of undergraduate education in preparing future school psychologists to address individual and institutional injustices in schools. This study explored the perspectives of undergraduates enrolled in a…

This article highlights three key features that appeared to add value to young people's experience of a school-linked environmental education initiative built around conservation activities. The three features -- close-up encounters with other species, working with external experts, and a degree of informality -- were identified through a…

The practice of including students with disabilities in art education has existed longer than efforts to increase access to general academic instruction. However, most teacher education programs do not offer sufficient coursework or field experiences in training pre-service art teachers to teach students with disabilities. To examine how…

The decline of biodiversity and natural habitats, and the lack of progress in society's behaviour towards conservation, has prompted research into effective educational programs. Studies have shown that positive emotions towards nature, particularly in relation to the innate human predisposition towards the natural environment, can encourage…

Phenomenological analysis was used to explore Georgia rural school principals' lived experiences of effective school leadership preparedness. Four overarching themes were found: productive/favorable leadership preparation program culture, bridge theory and practice in educational leadership preparation program, multicultural competencies for…

To facilitate transfer of teachers' learning into classroom practice, science and engineering teacher professional development (PD) experiences should increase teachers' content knowledge, disciplinary practices, and pedagogical strategies. As this can be difficult within traditional PD contexts, this study is a qualitative investigation of hybrid…

This collaborative self-study centers on the experiences of four teacher educators facilitating preservice teacher learning in four separate community-based settings. Specifically, we examined the ways these community-based field experiences enhanced and challenged our work as teacher educators. We identified enhancements related to the settings,…

Providing a meaningful education to all learners, including those with disabilities, is the responsibility of all educators. This study utilized a multi-method survey design to examine and compare general and special education teachers' perceived preparedness to teach students with disabilities as well as the experiences each group believes…

The purpose of this study was to examine music student teachers' (MST) perceptions of their student teaching seminar. MSTs immersed in their P -12 placements and the accompanying seminar at three state universities in the Midwest served as focus group participants. Through analysis of focus group interviews and course documents, we focused on…

A growing quantitative literature finds evidence that student teaching placements predict later outcomes of teacher candidates and their students, but there is little large-scale quantitative evidence about the mechanisms for these estimated relationships. We use data from a survey of STEM teachers in Washington State to better understand how…

Although much is known about the benefits of student teaching in developing preservice teachers, less is known about preservice teachers' earlier field experiences at the freshman and sophomore academic levels. This study examined a student-led educational organization that provided an early, whole-school immersive field experience through the…

Teacher professional development (PD) programs ideally evaluate how professional learning experiences empower teachers to be effective change agents in their disciplines and communities. The Khbrat ["experiences" in Arabic] program is a year-long, global teacher PD initiative launched by the Saudi Ministry of Education. The goal is to…

While technology is prevalent in American classrooms, meaningful technology integration remains an issue, indicating a lack of effective professional development. Unlike the typical workshop model, professional learning communities (PLCs) utilize teacher-centered approaches to professional development. Kolb's experiential learning theory,…