High-quality preschool programs are essential to improving children's outcomes in reading achievement and leveling language and literacy disparities among students from diverse backgrounds. Grounded in state-of-the-art research evidence, this practice-oriented book demonstrates how preschool professionals can create, evaluate, and sustain…

The Visiting Professorship for Women (VPW) program was initiated by the National Science Foundation (NSF) in 1982 to address the under representation of women in science. This summary which draws on a study completed in 1993 considers the effects of the VPW program and the nature of the participants. Both strengths and limitations of the existing…

This paper takes a close look at a large county public school in northern Nevada and its implementation of a newly adopted standards-based elementary science program. The study investigates the opinions of elementary classroom teachers about the new hands-on activity-based science program for kindergarten through grade six. The results indicate…

This paper evaluates a professional development training program in Western Australia that focused on the development of skills for self-evaluation and school development sessions in the context of local, school, and system accountability. The evaluation attempted to determine: (1) the relevance and value of the learning experience; (2) skill…

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…

This report documents and evaluates the activities of the Urban Mathematics Collaborative (UMC) project during the 1987-88 school year. UMC seeks to improve mathematics education in inner-city schools and identify new models for the professional development of mathematics teachers by supporting collaboration among mathematics teachers and…

This report documents and evaluates the activities of the Urban Mathematics Collaborative (UMC) project during the 1989-90 school year. UMC seeks to improve mathematics education in inner-city schools and identify new models for the professional development of mathematics teachers by supporting collaboration among mathematics teachers and…

This project had three goals: (1) to seek out the policies and practices currently in place to prepare academic teaching staff to develop, write, and teach in distance education; (2) to identify effective professional preparation and staff development practices for distance education currently in use in Australian postsecondary institutions; and…

In nine chapters, this guide provides planners of professional development programs for school administrators, directors, and supervisors with background information for assistance with the design of local entry-year programs and activities by employing school systems. In chapter 1, the legal basis for entry year programs is examined through a…

This inservice training program for special education placement team members has been implemented in a variety of school districts ranging from a rural town to inner-city school systems of more than 20 schools. Key characteristics of the program reflect the following data-based quality practices cited in D. Cline's (1984) analysis of inservice…

The Dade-Monroe (Florida) Teacher Education Center (TEC) was evaluated. The TEC was founded in 1979 and serves the instructional personnel (teachers, teacher aides, and teacher assistants) in the public schools of Dade and Monroe counties. Program documents were reviewed and structured interviews were held with 7 TEC facilitators, 9 council…

Intended to serve as an introduction to a useful method of composition evaluation, this handbook provides a comprehensive checklist of many relevant topics and issues. The handbook begins with a discussion of the basic concepts of evaluation. The next chapter provides an overview of the components of a writing program as a background and context…

The annual Institute for School Administrators, founded on Maslow's hierarchy of needs and Knowles' theory of adult learning, was initiated in 1979 at the University of California, Berkeley. After identifying participants' needs, a panel of school administrators and university professors develop the annual program. The Institute's general goals…

Calls for reform in science education stress the need for inquiry-based, integrative methods that provide students with opportunities to solve authentic problems. Project INSITE, a four-year professional development effort in Indiana, was designed to help teachers integrate problem-centered science methods in their classrooms. This approach was…

Describes a questionnaire designed to obtain information on faculty members' judgments about their own skills in various activities--teaching, research, writing, service, and administration--and the importance of these activities. The goal of this survey was to identify those activities for which there was the greatest need for faculty…