Partnerships that form to advance early childhood education are influenced by history and purpose. They are enacted in diverse social, cultural, economic, geographic and educational contexts. Using the theme of "strong and equal partnership" between family and school, and taking a theoretical standpoint that values social cohesion and…

The Teachers' International Professional Development (TIPD) Programme was launched by the British Council in 2000 in response to a Government Green Paper on teacher training. This provides opportunities for teachers to participate in international study visits to gain first-hand experience of good practice. As part of this programme, eighteen…

This paper provides readers with an overview of the unique issues present in secondary classrooms and their impact on the practice of collaborative teaching between general and special educators. The authors focus on the changes that are occurring in secondary classrooms related to varied structures (such as block scheduling), higher standards,…

The current accountability movement has focused on academic achievement but has circumvented issues of motivation and authentic reading materials. Many educators have challenged this direction of the reading curriculum, particularly criticizing the narrowing of the curriculum, the continued focus of teaching to the tests, the overemphasis on…

In an effort to prepare future educators to function effectively through interdependence in the global community, teacher education programs provide students and faculty members with experiences that foster the development of intercultural understanding. This article reports on an international educational partnership developed by the senior…

Teachers and administrators of Ogden Elementary School (Ogden, Kansas) had a problem--the school had had a pattern of poor student performance at least since 1991, when the Kansas State Assessment was implemented. Ogden had failed to reach the state standard of excellence (25% of tested students scoring in the "exemplary" category; 5% or…

This study describes the intellectual evolution resulting from persistent and careful consideration of beliefs and knowledge. Participants were prospective elementary school teachers enrolled in the University of California at Santa Barbara in a fifth-year post baccalaureate program. The study, parts of which began in 1990, sought to reconstruct…

The five essays included in this document focus on the First IMPACT II Teacher Policy Institute (50 New York City Public School teachers "committed to affecting real change in educational policy in this city"). "Teachers as Researchers" (Mark Silberberg) discusses the relationship between teaching and research, particularly…

This paper describes a two-year full partnership between special education teacher educators from five regional institutions of higher education and six school districts. The purposes of the partnership are identified and include working collaboratively to address and improve services to learners with special needs and to respond to the problems…

This study of the knowledge bases of education began with a "meta-review" of the research literature in special and regular education and identification of specific learning variables. The effort focused on determining the extent that special and regular educators work from common bases of knowledge and the degree of appropriate merging during…

This paper describes an intervention which was designed to: (1) provide opportunities for preservice teachers to collaborate with and network with inservice teachers; (2) create an environment which facilitated collaboration and interaction among early childhood, elementary, and special education majors; and (3) model collaborative teaching and…

Teachers, administrators, and counselors throughout South Carolina were randomly surveyed to evaluate attitudes toward inclusion. One hundred administrators, 125 counselors, and 342 teachers responded. Philosophically, over half of counselors and teachers believed that students with special needs have a basic right to be taught in the general…

The purpose of the Kennesaw State University (KSU) Coca Cola/Board of Regents Classroom Technology Initiative was to develop preservice and inservice teachers' expertise in educational technology such as computers, presentation software, and multimedia and to teach educators to apply those skills to content instruction. Project goals were to…

This publication describes some of the key technologies of distance education in the context of teacher education at Armstrong Atlantic State University, Georgia. The technologies permit college-to-school and school-to-school links, cross-cultural communication, and other expanded forms of communication. Section 1 examines distance education…

Collaborative action research has been a central focus of the Masters in Teaching (MIT) program at Whitworth College, Washington. This paper focuses on two aspects that are essential in any effective teacher education program: collaboration between preservice and inservice teacher education and schools and action research to enhance what K-12…