Analyzes the experiences of a student teacher in a small, rural elementary school in northeastern Ohio. Discusses student teaching and stages of professional developmental growth: uncertainty/nervousness, acceptance/confirmation, autonomy, and affirmation. Addresses implications related to supervision and teacher training programs, specifically in…

Current research suggests that teacher development evolves in stages, and that teacher concerns as professionals are central to teacher development. The concerns theory suggests that teacher growth involves a gradual change from concerns about self, to concerns about the task at hand, to concerns about the connections and implications of self,…

How youth programs, particularly those that try to prepare young people for work and higher education, are organized and implemented in the field is reviewed. In many cases, the needs of program practitioners are overlooked by the research community. The focus here is on "second-chance" programs that promote the self-sufficiency of…

Examines the reasons given by professional and paraprofessional librarians for participating in continuing education programs offered by the North Carolina Library Staff Development Program. Use of the Participation Reasons Scale is discussed, and four underlying components for participation are described: (1) personal concerns, (2) patron…