In all education settings, the challenge of enhancing teaching capability to achieve better learning outcomes is complex and multifaceted. In the context of early grade education in Cambodian schools, this is especially the case. Cambodian education is like the "perfect storm" of challenges. This research addresses the question of…

Why does professional learning for educators have such a mixed history? Why is it so hard to find solid research evidence of professional development programs that actually improve student learning outcomes? Part of the answer, writes Thomas R. Guskey, is that professional learning experiences for educators are rarely well planned. Consequently,…

Four actions are necessary when contracting to do staff development: recognize that a presenter is a consultant first, arrange for a group contracting conversation in order to completely understand the school's needs, work from a standard set of design questions, and work from a standard set of logistics questions. (SM)

Suggestions are offered for developing teaching and learning centers or faculty support programs to improve college teaching. Suggestions include: develop a faculty partnership, be discipline specific, allow time for divergence, offer variety, provide a smorgasbord, focus on both planning and teaching, translate research findings into classroom…

Describes a program of instructional development for teaching assistants used in the Department of Speech Communication at the University of Washington. Program objectives and implementation procedures are included. (JMF)

The purpose of this case study is to describe the challenges one coach faced during the initial implementation of a coaching initiative involving 33 teachers in an urban, high-poverty elementary school. Reading coaches are increasingly expected to play a key role in the professional development efforts to improve reading instruction in order to…

This sourcebook contains a collection of articles on educational topics and is designed to be used as a resource for inservice teacher programs at the secondary level. The first section is devoted to curriculum theory and contains writings on the theoretical underpinnings and relevant background for practical work with students. Inservice is the…

As part of its peer tutor training program, the writing/reading center at a Massachusetts University conducts a videotape production workshop in which experienced tutors plan, write, and act in a video script used for training new tutors. To proceed with such a program requires no professional skills or special talents, but a television studio…

Staff development in cooperative learning must focus on three stages of staff development (pre-training, training, and post-training) to achieve at least five purposes. The five purposes are: creating conditions for successful staff development prior to training; conducting high-quality training sessions that result in mastery of the conceptual…

Major concepts about adult learning, program planning, and the teaching-learning transaction, along with brief descriptions of instructional procedures that reflect such concepts illustrate how adult educators can increase their effectiveness. (Author/SK)

A project implemented a new tutor training model that used integrative learning strategies to teach more effectively to different intelligences and learning styles of adult learners. A 15-hour tutor training curriculum focused on designing lessons that do the following: involve several learning styles and intelligences, encourage an equal…

Maryland's School Improvement Through Instructional Process (SITIP) program involved 24 local education agencies (LEAs) in implementing one or more research-based instructional models: Active Teaching, Mastery Learning, Student Team Teaching, and Teaching Variables. A summary is presented of: (1) descriptions of each of the instructional models;…

An inservice teacher education program is described in which participants experience one method of individualizing instruction through use of programmed learning workbooks and in the presence of a group leader. Inservice topics covered include self-appraisal, analysis tools, and Kurt Lewin's theory of force field analysis. Objectives are to deal…

The School Improvement Through Instructional Process (SITIP) Program, initiated in Maryland in 1980, was concerned with improving classroom and school activities through the application of process-product research on classroom and school effectiveness. All 24 local education agencies voluntarily implemented one or more of four research-based…

The QUILT (Questioning and Understanding to Improve Learning and Thinking) program tested the hypothesis that well-designed staff development would positively affect teachers and students. QUILT increased and sustained teacher use of classroom questioning techniques to produce higher levels of student learning and thinking. QUILT participants…