Schools of social work are mandated to train students for policy practice. A new instructional approach is needed so that social workers skillfully engage in policy change to address the growing economic, social, and cultural problems that affect our clients. This article presents the Practicing Policy, Pursuing Change, and Promoting Social…

This paper describes the findings of an exploratory, qualitative case study and examines problems and impediments faculty members encountered in blended learning environments in Turkish Higher Education system. A total of 117 faculty members from 4 universities responded to 8 interview questions. Findings were based on content analyses of…

This study uses formal and informal student feedback as a source for understanding the impact of experimental course elements. Responses were used to develop a codebook, which was then applied to the entire dataset. The results inform our understanding of student's conceptions of professional identity, learning styles and curriculum design.…

More than a decade has passed since the National Research Council described the common elements of effective educational programs for young children with autism. Since that time, few studies have attempted to understand the mechanisms of change and factors affecting the effectiveness of research supported interventions implemented in community…

There have been recent calls for the integration of STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) in K-12 education. In this collective case study, we describe three teachers' implementations of a new STEM curriculum that integrates mathematics, engineering, and technology. These teachers ranged in their faithfulness to the curriculum…

I investigated eight preservice teachers' understandings about culturally responsive pedagogy as they tutored children in writing from different ethnic, socioeconomic, cultural, and linguistic backgrounds in an afterschool program at a local community center. I utilized an embedded case study and chose constant comparison, within-case analysis and…

How we provide training follows from the beliefs we hold about the effectiveness of different training approaches and methodologies. To be effective, the concepts and principles that guide how we develop and deliver training should be rooted in research. This article describes some of the myths about training that drive the design and delivery of…

This case study explored collaborative writing in Chinese among 59 primary four Chinese students using a "Wiki-based Collaborative Process Writing Pedagogy" (WCPWP) in Shenzhen, China. It aimed mainly to design and orchestrate a WCPWP in order to facilitate students' Chinese writing. It investigated students' collaborative writing…

This investigation examined the effects of a classroom-based intervention, Behavioral, Emotional, and Social Training: Competent Learners Achieving School Success (BEST in CLASS), on teacher behaviors and child outcomes in early childhood classrooms. First, we examined the effects of professional development training and practice-based coaching…

This "Rating a Teacher Observation Tool" identifies five simple questions and provides an easy-to-use scorecard to help policymakers decide whether an observation framework is likely to produce fair and accurate results. The five questions are: (1) Do the criteria and tools cover the classroom performance areas most connected to student outcomes?…

In 2008-09, Colegio Ingles had a watershed year in terms of teachers learning to enhance one another's skills. Beneath a deceptively congenial surface, teachers at this Mexican preK-9th grade school were avoiding professional confrontations and rarely observed one another's classes or shared teaching solutions and innovations. That same year, the…

Many faculty members in science departments are experiencing pressure to improve their courses, particularly with respect to the ways in which students are taught and assessed. The purpose of this article is to provide some insights and practical ideas on how curriculum change can be brought about--how motivated individuals can become agents of…

Direct instruction, an approach that is becoming familiar to Queensland schools that have high Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander populations, has been gaining substantial political and popular support in the United States of America [USA], England and Australia. Recent examples include the No Child Left Behind policy in the USA, the British…

Many teachers say that they do "assessment for learning" (AfL), but often their assessment practice does not really reflect the intentions and principles that make AfL powerful. Teachers who understand the "spirit" as well as the "letter" of AfL are continually building their expertise so that they can carefully apply…

This paper explores three influences on the effectiveness of teacher professional development for improving schools--the individual teacher, the learning activities in which teachers participate and the structures and supports provided by schools for teacher learning. It does so by relying on survey data collected for a national study of teacher…