The job of the early childhood director requires becoming comfortable in performing a wide variety of tasks. Being a director demands skills in many different areas, as well as the ability to focus one's attention in many directions at once. This is the broad description of the director's job, but very little attention has been focused on the…

Within the Scottish educational system there have recently been significant moves towards devolution of decision taking and the expressed intention that schools must be more responsive to changing community requirements and expectations. We focus on two aspects of those organizations considered successful within changing external contexts: their…

Two College of Education faculty members describe their journeys as "professors in residence" immersed in schoolwide change efforts at two different partnership schools. Collaboration with school staff, students' families, and community agencies led to the formation of significant alliances that contributed to the process of school…

The usage of technology in adult ESL classrooms needs to be examined as it is creating new opportunities and added challenges. The purpose of the study was to explore how technology was being used in such environment and what factors contributed as supports or hindrances to technology use. Interviews, questionnaires, and observations were used to…

Beginning in September, 2001 when the Portland Public Schools received funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF) through the Urban Systemic Program (USP) initiative, the district focused, accelerated and strengthened its efforts to improve mathematics and science education K-12. Since its inception the authors at Inverness Research…

The year 2005 marked the National Science Resources Center's (NSRC) 20th anniversary. This 20-year period saw the rise of new opportunities--such as the promulgation of the National Research Council's National Science Education Standards--and challenges--such as the rise of China and India as important competitors in the global marketplace. Over…

In this compelling video series, popular presenter-educator Rick Wormeli examines the assessment practices that best support the differentiated classroom. He considers the role of assessment in designing differentiated lessons, the power of formative assessment, important considerations in tiering assessments, and the key components of strong…

This research literature on educational technology has identified important contextual factors that influence how technology is used in educational settings. In May of this year, EDC conducted the 2006 Instructional Practices and Classroom Use of Technology Survey with over a thousand teachers. This report first presents the overall survey…

This paper describes a collaborative professional development model in which faculty in a College of Education partnered with a local school district to design and implement a year-long project in an effort to increase effective integration of technology in instruction by K-8 classroom teachers, university teacher preparation faculty, pre-service…

Family, friend and neighbor (FFN) child caregivers represent a significant proportion of caregivers for young children. Yet, these caregivers receive little support for their services. In 2003, the First 5 California Children and Families Commission (First 5 California) began a study to determine the work-related needs of FFN caregivers in…

How does one become an effective teacher? What can be done to stem high attrition rates among beginning teachers? While many teachers are left to "sink or swim" in their first year--learning by trial and error, there remain a number of outstanding examples of collaboration and collegiality in teacher induction programs. Analysis of the…

There has been minimal Australian research focused on leadership and management aspects of directors' work in centre-based child care to date. In Australia, practices in early education have been drawn largely from studies in other cultural contexts, particularly research undertaken in the United States. It is timely that Australian research…

Video is currently a key element of numerous professional development programs, yet relatively little is known about how video fosters changes in teachers' thinking. This study examines how a particular type of video-based professional development, namely video clubs, supports teacher development. Video clubs are professional development…

Technology-enhanced knowledge mobilization can be extremely useful for helping practicing professionals keep abreast of research and development efforts in their field. The initiative described in this paper encourages collaboration among university and community partners to effectively use online learning and communications technology for…

Evidence suggests that student teaching is one of the most influential components of a teacher education program, and the cooperating teacher exerts the greatest influence on a student teacher. Therefore, it is vital to understand how the role of experienced teachers is affected by the implementation of a professional development school (PDS) as…