Traces growth of the Teaching Community model at Australia's Monash and Swinburne universities; the model uses group meetings to encourage professional development of teaching staff. Elaborates on the model's successes and why it has been powerful in bringing about change in an area known for resistance, and proposes conditions required for this…

Maintains that the United States tolerates an ineffective system of early education and professional preparation. Notes challenges to the field, including insufficient teacher preparation, outdated teacher professional development approaches, ineffective use of research findings to improve early childhood programs, and failure to understand,…

Presents descriptions of using the Internet for music instruction by Laura Ferguson, James F. Daugherty, and Sandi MacLeod. Covers topics such as steps for creating and publishing movies on a Web site, a template for electronic learning called ChoirONLINE based on the creative use of interactive Web forms, and the Vermont MIDI Project. (CMK)

Examined how aspiring Scottish principals conceptualized school leadership and management, discussing the impact of continuing professional development (CPD) on practice in the context of the Scottish Qualification for Headship (SQH). Changes in SQH candidates' cognitive frameworks were traced over time. Results suggest that social processes have…

Describes the benefits of providing laptop computers to elementary teachers. Analysis revealed two broad categories of beneficial uses of laptops: individual use benefits and group use benefits, and findings indicated that access to laptops at school and at home positively affected the teachers' technology use. (AEF)

The main aim of this article is to examine the application of the concept of continuous development to the Cyprus Educational System. First, the concept of continuous development, the necessary conditions for its existence, the policies of the organization, and the responsibilities of those involved are discussed. Afterwards, the identification of…

This article features the Connie Belin & Jacqueline N. Blank International Center for Gifted Education and Talent Development, and describes how the University of Iowa College of Education offers teacher education through the Belin-Blank dynamic model of professional development. As a part of the University of Iowa College of Education, the…

School reform is an often heard term within the Bush administration. Since the signing of his "No Child Left Behind Act of 2001" (NCLB), President George W. Bush set out to make certain our teachers are highly qualified and that our children perform better in school. From the Holmes Group (1986) to present-day mandates from The National…

Integrating consumer/survivor/recovering (C/S/R) women in the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration's Women, Co-Occurring Disorders and Violence Study involved both struggles and growth. The C/S/R women and all of our professional allies, both individually and collectively, greatly enhanced the study by overcoming what earlier…

This paper examines the characteristics and variety of digitization training initiatives in North America and to a lesser extent, Europe, and the growing development of credit-bearing courses and programs within higher education relating to digitization, with a specific focus on librarianship. Information was collected in response to an inquiry…

This paper reports a qualitative case study of four preservice student teachers' professional learning experiences in an international field experience programme situated in the language and cultural immersion component of a PGDE (Primary) Programme in Hong Kong. Two of the student teachers undertook the international field experience in Australia…

This study compared the effects of four electronic portfolio curricula on pre-service and beginning teachers' self-ratings of their professional development (n =207), using a 34 item electronic Portfolio Assessment Scale (ePAS). Three formative portfolios, A, C and D, had teacher development as a primary objective and used participants' narrative…

In this article, the authors discuss the importance of education policies that aim at diminishing social disparities in poor countries, focusing on a program in higher education developed in the state of Rondonia in the Brazilian Amazon. Rondonia is a region in which people have suffered deeply from the consequences of social inequalities. Many…

Nothing is more important to America's future than teaching children the skills they need to be successful. Every child must receive a quality education if America is to be a prosperous and hopeful country. The rapidly changing global economy is creating new industries that compete for highly skilled workers from around the world, and young people…

The purpose of this study was to examine positive influences and barriers associated with entering a music teacher education doctoral program. Practicing music educators (N = 63), were asked to rate 48 positive-influence items and 54 barrier items. The highest-ranked positive influence was "Training young teachers to provide worthwhile…