The principalship has experienced many changes over the years influenced by reform efforts, economic changes, and social challenges (Goodwin et al., 2005). As a result, challenges experienced by public school principals have impacted recruitment and retention efforts of qualified candidates. The Interstate School Leaders Licensure Consortium…

Teacher quality is the single most important lever schools have for raising student achievement. A substantial body of research indicates that new teachers are less able than their more experienced colleagues to help students fulfill their academic potential. Yet in many school districts--particularly those in urban settings--as many as half of…

This applied dissertation evaluated the effectiveness of literacy coaching in a central Florida district as perceived by teachers working in the district's middle schools. The study investigated teacher's perceptions of literacy coaches, the literacy coaches' perceptions of their roles within the schools, and the literacy coaches' impact on…

Parents can provide interaction that is crucial to student learning. Helping teachers connect students' home and school lives and assisting parents in understanding possible roles in student learning can contribute to student achievement. A one-year funded project focused on: (1) helping teachers involve parents in the literacy achievement of…

This article describes the evolving stages of the establishment and development of a professional development school partnership. Whereas many such articles center on outcomes only, this one describes the developmental stages necessary to support a strong professional development partnership that allows for distributed learning for all parties…

This study compared effectiveness of "business as usual" to that of 4 professional development (PD) programs that targeted teachers of at-risk preschool children. A 2 x 2 design was used to cross mentoring and progress monitoring conditions among the 4 PD programs. Specifically, some teachers received both in-classroom mentoring and…

The purpose of this article is to describe the development and 10-year implementation of the effective behavior and instructional support model in a midsized northwestern Oregon school district. The district experienced a sustained reduction in students' discipline referral rates, an increase in the percentage of students on track for early…

The purpose of this study was to examine the professional impact of the National Board Certification from the perspective of teachers who have achieved National Board Certification, which is granted through the National Board of Professional Teaching Standards. This phenomenological study involved interviews with 10 National Board Certified…

This article uses the framework of technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK; Mishra & Koehler, 2006) to analyze findings across projects from the U.S. Department of Education's Preparing Tomorrow's Teachers to Use Technology (PT3) initiative. Approaches such as mentoring methods course faculty, teachers, and creating technology-rich…

The No Child Let Behind Act of 2001 created the Reading First program to help ensure that all students could read at or above grade level by the end of grade 3. The program promotes practices recommended by the National Reading Panel for early reading instruction, highlighting five essential components of reading instruction. The program invested…

While "Dancing With the Stars" often shares the background of the dancers and shows some of the preparation that goes into the dances, it does not always give viewers the background of the dances being danced. Many people are never knowledgeable about where dances came from or how they began. In this article, the author provides some…

This article reports findings to promote the best practices of a transformative teaching and learning environment, from a case study of a yearlong full-immersion secondary-level professional development school. The results support the idea that interns have a significant stake, an active professional community commitment, and a heightened…

The study reported on in this paper is set in the context of a national programme of professional development for primary teachers in the Republic of Ireland which has been in operation since 1999 and finished in 2008. The paper explores the acquisition and interpretation by teachers of the elements of the reform. The authors consider the extent…

This article documents the collaborative research and development of an apprenticeship model of learning for the arts. It focuses on teachers working in partnership with artists and other creative practitioners. The model is rooted in theories of social learning and cognitive apprenticeship. It was developed and tested through collaborative…

Paraprofessionals represent a growing segment of district employees seeking professional licensure. National preparation programs through the American Federation of Teachers, national testing programs, and state initiated portfolio programs offer a variety of options for meeting the stipulations set under No Child Left Behind (NCLB) legislation…