Cooperative Extension professionals are using webinar technologies to accommodate time constraints, travel distances, and limited budgets as well as to reach a broader audience. Although checklists and planning worksheets are readily available, there is a lack of resources to intentionally utilize reflective teaching practice and measure…

Few formal post-secondary educational programs in the United States focus on youth work, thus youth workers often enter the field with diverse backgrounds and varying levels of experience working with youth. Drawing on mounting evidence that quality youth service requires skilled staff, professional-development opportunities have received…

Preservice teachers spend significant time in schools, observing, tutoring children, and learning to teach. On-site field experiences introduce aspiring teachers to life in schools, and are especially important for teachers who take their first teaching positions in urban schools. However, most preservice teachers spend little time in the…

A professional development programme for music educators was designed and administered to include institutional and personal professional strategies for the enhancement and growth of music teachers' knowledge base and actions. Supervisors and targeted practitioners in a large public school system built an innovative programme, applying current…

This article discusses the evaluation of a unique university-based early professional development (EPD) programme in England that enabled newly and recently qualified teachers to have continued contact with their initial teacher preparation provider. The programme was designed to enhance the induction, EPD and retention of beginning teachers of…

The National Art Education Association (NAEA) is committed to ensuring that all students have access to a high quality, certified visual arts educator in every K-12 public school across the United States, recognizing that effective arts instruction is a core component of 21st-century education. "Professional Standards for Visual Arts…

The authors describe an innovative perspective for the evaluation of professional development programming in science. This perspective focused on a self-critical analysis of the reflective practices developed and used among program participants. This approach ties program quality directly to issues impacting the implementation of curriculum reform…

Discusses the collaborative efforts of a team of elementary school and university educators working within the context of a professional development school (PDS) to foster culturally responsible pedagogy, inspire reflective practice, and enhance student performance. Concludes that the PDS experience increases teacher effectiveness and…

When a constructivist professional development program was introduced to elementary teachers in a school district, some of the teachers who teach in self-contained classrooms (N=59) elected to participate in a yearlong professional development project. To explore the impact of professional development, a purposive sample of participating teachers…

Educational process reflection (EPR) is a professional development model aimed at supporting preschool teachers reflecting on and changing their practice. A particular focus is on interaction between practitioners and children, and between the children themselves. In this article, I first describe the theoretical frameworks that helped shape EPR,…

Applies the principles of development and integration to the maturation of Montessori schools. Suggests that evaluative inquiry be used as the basis for community inquiry and problem solving by Montessori staff so that reflection, questioning, and decision making result in the highest level of Montessori implementation. (KB)

A reflective coaching program was implemented to improve the professional work culture of a school district with morale problems because of labor disputes and strikes. An underlying principle of the program emphasized the role of teachers as the key instructional decision-makers for the classroom. The guiding principle for the teacher-coach…

Discusses mentoring as a professional development strategy to meet the needs of experienced and novice practitioners. Defines mentoring and differentiates it from supervision. Discusses the following aspects of early childhood mentoring programs: (1) goals and assumptions; (2) design and structure, including mentor qualifications and training; (3)…

The concept of the professional development school (PDS) and the commitment to collaboration advocated by educational reformers derives in part from a recognition of the need to more fully incorporate the voices of teachers in teacher education and professional development. The Coolidge Professional Development School (Shrewsbury, Massachusetts)…