Teacher agency is enacted when teachers attempt to control or influence curriculum in an effort to achieve their desired outcomes. This article presents the results of a longitudinal qualitative case study which explored teacher agency using the Triadic Reciprocity Framework Core Agency Concepts (TRFCAC) model. The current study identified teacher…

The use of a classroom observation tool to monitor differentiation strategies is described, and relevant research findings using the form are reported. The advantages for using this approach to document differentiation are discussed as are the reasons teachers may question its intent. Applications for practice include its use as a self-assessment…

This paper provides a detailed description and evaluation of a three-year professional development project in a large urban setting in the southwestern United States. The impetus for the project was curriculum development focused on integrated scientific inquiry. Project goals included the development of a professional learning community, reformed…

If teachers are to become effective, then their training and experiences must focus around the development of intelligent, discriminating, and adaptive skills for meeting the realities of the contemporary classroom. MITEC is a positive educational step toward making more effective teachers. (Author/RK)

Discusses the negative and positive aspects of teacher autonomy in relation to curriculum development and control. Outlines a process for solving the problem that includes conducting staff development through dialog, delineating mastery curriculum, mapping ideal curriculum, and developing curriculum-based tests. Includes references and a figure.…

The objective of this analysis on use of time in the classroom was to show whether or not students who spend more time in a particular content area also show higher achievement in that content area; the qualified conclusion is that more time yields more learning. (JD)

Curriculum guides can effectively guide practice if the guide writer pays attention to the context in which teachers work and to the language that teachers use in that context. Problems encountered by a curriculum project illustrate what happens in practice when guide writers fail to appreciate teachers' objectives. (RM)

Often too little attention is paid to the implementation of a new curriculum developed with considerable expenditure of both funds and energies. It is suggested that a greater fidelity of use would be achieved by a multilevel approach to implementation spanning several years. (JS)

To produce a curriculum guide that is practical calls for an awareness of the working context of the practitioner and an ability to translate that intuitive awareness into an explicit description which captures the essence of what teaching is. Health education project materials are used to illustrate the translating demands. (RM)

Points out that all good teachers can use kidwatching in the classroom to monitor children's knowledge and growth in literacy. (JL)

Future staff development designs must be consistent with the organizational and environmental realities teachers confront each day. Various existing staff development programs are described and suggestions are made for alternative solutions which incorporate organizational and environmental factors. (JN)

Calls for institutional accountability and curricular coherence suggest that faculty must collaborate more than they have in the recent past to achieve significant and ongoing curricular improvements. In the study reported here, the author and her colleagues asked members of academic departments with a reputation for ongoing curricular renewal to…

This study is an historical survey of philosophical concepts, movements, studies, reports, and practices selected as being significant for an understanding of the efforts to increase the quality of teacher education and the establishment of what has been designated as competency/performance based teacher education (CBTE) programs. Part one…

It is not only possible but immediately imperative that the substance and experiences pertinent to the education of teachers be identified, defined, and organized--with teaching behavior and teaching performance skills used as the focal point--so that teacher education can contribute maximally to teacher effectiveness. Educators must immediately…

Factors which affect communication with teachers via curriculum guides include how authors and readers conceptualize educational practice and teaching and audience characteristics. Although each of the predominant forms of discourse (persuasive, descriptive, theoretical) used to communicate practice prescriptions for teachers is flawed, the three…