Research suggests a strong association between the existence of professional learning communities within schools, increases in the effectiveness of practice, and improvement in student achievement. This paper describes the National School Reform Faculty (NSRF), a professional development program at the Annenberg Institute for School Reform at…

Interdisciplinary middle school level teams capitalize on the idea that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Administrators and team members can maximize the advantages of teamwork using team assessments to increase the benefits for students, teachers, and the school environment. Assessing team performance can lead to high performing…

This book explains how to use whole-faculty study groups to get the entire teaching staff working together on one set of organizational goals. Chapter 1 discusses the school reform environment and the potential of whole-faculty study groups to serve as a major change process for improving schools and student learning. Chapter 2 describes the…

Approaches that schools can use to create a high-quality, professional, working community are provided in this journal issue. The report uses a case study to illustrate the process. A review of research reveals at least five major dimensions of the professional learning community: supportive and shared leadership, collective learning and…

This paper describes findings from the Science Students in Primary School (SSIPS) project in which undergraduate science specialist student teachers were placed in primary schools where they "co-taught" investigative science and technology lessons with primary teachers. Students and teachers planned, taught and evaluated science lessons together.…

This collection of papers delves into reflection as a concept and provides specific, replicable tools for professional practice. Each chapter draws on a particular school situation, demonstrating the value of teacher reflection and describing the nuts and bolts of the process, offering protocols for handling many different circumstances. After…

The practice of grouping students--such as all freshmen or students with similar career goals--into "small learning communities" or academies within a large high school is proving beneficial to many schools in raising achievement and keeping students in school. Students thrive in a small-school environment where they share the same teachers and…

This case study documents the pedagogical changes an inner city, secondary school humanities teacher made as she attempted to improve the quality of her students' educational experience. Data were gathered in the 1989-90 school year. The teacher had explored what had happened to her as a good conventional teacher, to her pedagogy, her curriculum,…

This book is designed as a problem-based user's guide and sourcebook for practitioners who are developing and facilitating collaborative groups to improve student learning. It is organized by six themes that, taken together, focus and generate productive group results: getting work done, doing the work right, working collaboratively, managing…

This paper explores high school teachers' professional collegial relationships, exploring teachers' perceptions of collegiality and contextual features that affect collegial relationships. The study involved 36 volunteer teachers from two urban midwestern high schools who completed a semi-structured interview. The interview focused on teachers'…

This study examined advantages and disadvantages of team teaching and elements of successful teams from the perspective of eight teachers and a principal at one elementary school. The teachers were all participants in several types of school teams. During individual interviews, they discussed their thoughts and feelings about team teaching. Their…

Motivated by education reform and state-mandated inservice training, New Jersey's Montclair Public School District created a staff development model that uses teachers as resources for their own professional growth. This model utilizes the expertise of an elementary math, intermediate language arts, and secondary science teacher in the formation…

This study examined the level of professional community in seven urban elementary schools that served large proportions of low-income students and that had engaged in innovative, schoolwide professional development and reform. The study points out to what extent and in what ways professional development at each school addressed professional…

This bulletin, the first technical assistance bulletin produced by the Special Education Effective Practices Section of the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, is intended to share research-based promising practices with educators including family members, teachers, building administrators, and paraprofessionals. It…

This brief paper describes the Circle of Collaboration approach at one elementary school in Utah that is focusing on development of an inclusive school for all students and implementation of a program (Balance Literacy) to enhance students' reading skills. Balance Literacy incorporates phonemic awareness, phonic instruction, fluency, vocabulary,…