This article presents a case study of a unique New Zealand professional development programme, Te Kotahitanga, for mainstream secondary school teachers. Findings discussed are drawn from an independent evaluation of the programme across 22 secondary schools. The professional development approach attempted to reposition the relationship between…

In contrast to the common deficit approach, this self-study explores the relationship between the funds of knowledge possessed by people of poverty and their development of professional identity in academia. All three authors have moved beyond conditions of financial poverty, but all find that the mental conditions of poverty persist. We conclude…

Conservation and environmental education share similar goals with Extension and thus holds partnership potential for Extension. The study reported here compared the needs and barriers faced by environmental educators and Extension agents in West Virginia using a mail survey. Results indicated there were both similarities and differences in the…

The authors focused on public schools expected to meet performance goals before the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (2002) using data from the responses of 26,257 teachers and 6,711 principals to public school questionnaires from the 1999-2000 Schools and Staffing Survey. They examined relationships among measures of teacher commitment and…

Programmatic, multidisciplinary research provided converging brain, genetic, and developmental support for evidence-based diagnoses of three specific learning disabilities based on hallmark phenotypes (behavioral expression of underlying genotypes) with treatment relevance: dysgraphia (impaired legible automatic letter writing, orthographic…

This article provides a field-based example of a series of outreach programs that have been designed in response to current recommendations found in the K-12 outreach literature. These programs begin with university mathematics and science faculty members teaching a 10-day summer workshop to elementary and middle school teachers. Following this…

The number of state-funded prekindergarten programs continues to grow in the United States. The quality of these early childhood programs, however, often depends on the type of professional development provided. In this investigative study, an experimental pre-post causal-comparative research design was employed to evaluate the impact of an 8-week…

The authors investigated patterns of change in three middle grade teachers' beliefs and practices about motivation in mathematics during a yearlong professional development project with a university researcher. Four principles of motivation (and corresponding instructional strategies) were introduced in this sequence: supporting students'…

Schools across the country are implementing professional development initiatives with the intent of improving student outcomes. Over the past twenty years the criterion for measuring professional development has shifted from identifying what schools quantify to how professional development impacts students' performance. Teachers are under a…

This study researched a popularly used mathematics intervention, an extended time algebra class, and associated teacher professional development, to determine the effectiveness of this intervention on improving student mathematics performance. The study investigated whether providing additional time in class to struggling students along with…

The qualitative study explored the training and development provided to Community College academic advisors who are members of the National Academic Advising Association (NACADA). The purpose was to investigate the factors academic advisors believe are crucial for the support of their roles as advisors. Professional, faculty, and self-identified…

The purpose of this evaluative case study was to explore teachers' and administrators' perceptions of the organizational capacity during an initial implementation of a systemic change in professional development at a K-8 school. Educational reform acts such as the No Child Left Behind Act of 2002 pressure public school systems to increase student…

This book examines the work of elementary-level, non-supervisory, school-embedded, instructional teacher leader roles using research-based case studies. Instructional teacher leaders aim to help teachers develop the skills and knowledge necessary for continued instructional improvement and, ultimately, enhanced student learning. The authors use…

State departments of education are charged with overseeing the process of updating academic standards for their respective states. Although the process for updating standard varies between states, most states have similar elements: committee selection, creation of a draft of the revised standard, public comment sessions, standard adoption,…

An exploratory quantitative study of professional learning communities and student achievement in the largest school system in the State of North Carolina provides evidence to support systemic implementation of professional learning community practices and activities. A one-way ANOVA was conducted to explore the impact of teachers' perceptions of…