The Institute for Scientist & Engineer Educators (ISEE) is a national effort to improve STEM education and workforce development by transforming how the next generation of scientists and engineers teach and mentor. Housed at the University of California, Santa Cruz, ISEE is the legacy of the educational side of the Center for Adaptive Optics…

This article is a follow-up to Mary Devin's report on the collaborative efforts required to create the "Kansas Educational Leadership Institute" in 2010. The Kansas Educational Leadership Institute (KELI) moved from planning to implementation on March 30, 2011, as a statewide systematic support system for the recruitment, development,…

In 1978, James Vivian established the Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute, a collaborative program between Yale faculty and New Haven public schools designed to improve teacher effectiveness. The program stemmed from work Vivian had begun while director of a history education project that promoted faculty partnerships with public school teachers.…

Arizona State University's "Sustainability Science for Sustainable Schools program" brings together graduate students, sustainability researchers, high school teachers and students, and school or district administrators in a project designed to address the challenge of becoming a "sustainable school." Funded by the National…

Of all the summer institutes for educators, the Harvard University Project Zero Research Center's "Views on Understanding" institute stands out as one of the few offering extensive exchanges amongst researchers and practitioners from all over the world. "Arrival" captures the experience of one participant while capturing the essences of plenary…

This paper describes the signature role played by accomplished, experienced teachers in professional learning communities, and the importance that these practitioners make their teaching public and shared. In so doing, the authors describe how accomplished practices can be shared between classrooms and between practitioners with varying levels of…

This article describes an effort to create a teacher learning community in which university and local school teachers worked together to improve the teaching of writing at elementary and secondary levels. I describe how a university's National Writing Project (NWP) engaged in developing a cadre of selected teachers to share understandings about…

The Hebron Advanced Placement Institute, a group of teachers spending a week in the summer examining methods and materials for Advanced Placement English, is described. Its mission is to engender excitement for the discipline and to enable its participants to face confidently the challenge of AP instruction. (MLW)

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act of 1997 requires Individualized Education Program teams to consider positive behavior interventions and supports (PBIS) based on functional behavioral assessment for students with disabilities whose behavior impedes their learning or the learning of others. To meet federal mandates, educational…

If one "googles" the term "professional development" on the Web, he/she gets definitions such as "the development of skills both tangential and essential to one's current occupation." Digging a little deeper does not yield a common definition, just distinctions among education, training, and credentialing. Despite the…

Ways in which colleges and high schools can form partnerships and make the most of the benefits for both partners are discussed. The Coalition of Essential Schools, a school/college collaboration, is described. A collaboration at Brooklyn's Adelphi Academy is discussed. (MLW)

Descriptions are offered of in-house leadership development programs for faculty and staff at Arizona State University, Kennesaw State College (Georgia), Seattle Community Colleges (Washington), the University of Kentucky, the University of Nebraska at Lincoln, Western Kentucky University, and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. (MSE)

Teach for America is a national teacher corps of outstanding individuals who commit 2 years to teach in urban and rural areas experiencing persistent teacher shortages. Teach for America selects corps members through an intensive application process, prepares them to enter the classroom in a preservice institute, clusters them in placement sites,…

The components of a professional development model designed to empower school nurses to become leaders in school health services is described. The model was implemented during a 3-day professional development institute that included clinical and leadership components, especially coalition building, with two follow-up sessions in the fall and…

A summer professional development institute introduces middle school teachers to interdisciplinary work and development of local place-based units. Teachers learn to develop a common experience, use tools of inquiry for their own discipline, communicate their findings, and respect both disciplinary and shared interdisciplinary understanding.…