Teachers' assessment practices greatly influence student learning. However, the level of assessment literacy among teachers is inadequate relative to classroom assessment standards and expectations. Assessment literacy includes interpreting results of various assessments, creating assessments that are aligned to learning targets, using assessment…

The current mixed method study examined a Teacher Leadership Program (TLP) to determine to what extent participating teachers had changes in content knowledge (CK), practices, leadership skills, and leadership knowledge. The purpose was to determine if this program could be utilized to suggest a sustainable model for improving science education by…

Leadership development for faculty often is designed as training for administration, but faculty demonstrate leadership in the classroom, in their departments, college-wide, and beyond. To fully realize and leverage this leadership potential, colleges must design opportunities for faculty to hone their knowledge and skills as active participants…

The Instructional Leadership Corps (ILC) is a California collaborative teacher professional learning project in which expert teachers organize local professional development to spark iterative changes in practice. Launched in 2014, ILC is a joint effort of the California Teachers Association (CTA), the National Board Resource Center (NBRC), and…

The Instructional Leadership Corps (ILC) is an innovative professional learning project in which teacher leaders in California collaborate to lead sustainable professional development to support implementation of new student standards within their districts. Over more than 4 years, the ILC has served over 100,000 teachers. The responses of these…

This article presents findings from a study about the perceived impact of a job-embedded graduate program designed to prepare teacher leaders within the context of university-district-school partnerships. Study participants completed a 30-item survey about impact of the program on instructional practices, collaboration with peers, participation in…

In the last 5 years, industries have begun to recognize a growing gap in the production of college graduates in areas of STEM. Researchers in various industries believe this gap will create a significant loss of competitive edge in the STEM fields, which will leave the United States pursuing STEM graduates from foreign countries and may ultimately…

Teacher retention has become a major issue facing policy makers as our nation's school-age population continues to grow while the teaching workforce continues to decline because of attrition and an aging workforce. Common reasons cited by teachers for leaving the profession can also be linked to burnout. This study examined burnout levels in a…

Teacher mentoring has its unique challenges that are often associated with the teachers' content specialties. For this reason, the involvement and support of school leaders is essential to teachers' mentoring success. Regardless of content specialty, all teachers face challenges that should be considered when organizing and implementing mentoring.…

Policymakers, educators, and researchers all agree that teacher quality is critical to student learning. High quality teachers are needed to meet the unprecedented demands on schools and prepare students to be successful in the 21st century. In order to meet this challenge, ongoing efforts are needed to improve teacher learning and student…

Policymakers, educators, and researchers all agree that teacher quality is critical to student learning. High quality teachers are needed to meet the unprecedented demands on schools and prepare students to be successful in the 21st century. In order to meet this challenge, ongoing efforts are needed to improve teacher learning and student…

Framed by sociocultural learning perspectives, this study examines whether embedded learning opportunities for teachers are more supportive of reflective practice than traditional professional development. All schools in this study implemented a comprehensive school reform program. The designs of the programs introduced embedded learning…

In the study reported here, I explored the notion of teacher leadership as described by individuals participating in a district-wide school reform initiative, the Accelerating Student Achievement Project. Through the district-wide project, teacher leaders were identified at each of the middle and high schools to further develop the schools'…

Since the early 1980s, policy makers and educational leaders have pinned high hopes on mentoring as a vehicle for reforming teaching and teacher education (Feiman-Nemser, 1996). A review of literature written throughout the evolution of mentoring illustrated that researchers focused most of their attention on a relatively narrow aspect of…

This article explores the social and professional dynamics "when teachers face teachers" seeking to impact colleagues' instructional practices to improve student learning. Specifically, it examines a group of 40 teachers leading staff development sessions at their schools in an effort to bring more literacy strategies into the pedagogies of…