Presents four ideas to help counselors structure effective programs. Identifies school counseling's major purpose as assisting people in becoming better learners, guardians, and educators. Suggests that counselors accomplish this by being more identifiable, capable, available, and accountable. (ABB)

Describes the development and testing of a conceptual framework linking continuing professional education and performance that was used with a nursing education program. Provides evidence regarding the conflicting findings of previous research, suggesting that the question guiding earlier studies had been improperly framed. (JOW)

Professional growth opportunities in most schools are limited and ineffective. By enabling teachers to participate actively in their own learning, examine current instructional strategies, and determine what they must do to improve, the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards' assessment process and professional development can help…

Used a national probability sample of 1,027 mathematics and science teachers to provide a large-scale empirical comparison of effects of different characteristics of professional development on teachers' learning. Results identify three core features of professional development that have significant positive effects on teachers' self-reported…

Describes a model of implementing multicultural education that uses a four-step process of awareness, knowledge, skills development, and action. Professional education is a key component of this program, which was evaluated in 1995 and 1996. Teacher responses to questionnaires showed the positive impacts of the approach. (SLD)

Evaluation, based on a post-workshop survey, of the effectiveness of a set of workshops to promote curriculum reform is described. Workshops brought benefits beyond simple uptake of modules, with 57% of respondents reporting some change in teaching practice and 72% expressing positive outcomes as a result of workshop attendance. Workshops lasting…

Given the potential consequences of test results, it is important that policy makers, educators, and parents understand the empirical base underlying the use and validity of assessments for measuring the academic progress of English Learners (Abedi, Hofstetter, & Lord, 2004). In order to understand how the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) school…

The Teacher Advancement Program (TAP) was developed in the late 1990s by the Milken Family Foundation as a schoolwide policy to improve schools by raising teacher quality. Under the TAP model, teachers can earn extra pay and responsibilities through promotion to Mentor or Master Teacher and can earn annual performance bonuses based on a…

The article compares three replication studies that explore potential differences between teacher candidates trained in professional development schools and those trained in a traditional program. Data sources included student teaching evaluations (analyzed quantitatively) and portfolio reflections, oral and written (analyzed qualitatively). The…

This paper reports on the approaches undertaken to support the development of teachers' uses of interactive whiteboards in the Primary Schools Whiteboard Expansion project. Mixed methods were used to identify practices and staff perceptions about the extent and impact of professional development through surveys (initially from 528 schools),…

Assessment, particularly formative assessment, is critical to knowing how a student is performing academically and how best to support that student. Teachers, especially new teachers, need ongoing support in developing and using both summative and formative assessments as an integral part of their instructional practice. Written collaboratively by…

A statewide program assessment was established to make positive change in physical education school programs in South Carolina. Reform efforts depend both on balancing accountability for change and teacher support for change (Odden &Anderson, 1986). The purpose of the study was to determine teacher perceptions of the South Carolina Physical…

The author examined the effects of professional development (PD) on literacy instruction using 75,689 lessons from 1,945 classrooms in 112 schools participating in the Study of Instructional Improvement. Stratifying over 94 pretreatment covariates, including prior instruction, the results revealed the importance of PD as a lever for changing…

The mission of the National Academy for Integration of Research, Teaching and Learning (NAIRTL) is to ensure that all higher education students are exposed to cutting edge research in their classrooms, and that students at undergraduate and postgraduate levels are actively engaged in relevant and authentic research in their chosen discipline. To…

In the summer of 1996, the Principals' Center at Texas A&M University established a School Leadership Initiative (SLI) that focused on the 21 principal-performance domains as identified by the National Policy Board for Educational Administration. During the first year of a 3-year leadership initiative, Texas A&M University's SLI Program…