The effectiveness of the National Center for Study Adult Learning Literacy's (NCSALL's) Practitioner Dissemination and Research Network was examined by reviewing how, from 1997 to 2001, adult basic education teachers from 14 states served as liaisons between practitioners in their states and the NCSALL by engaging in the following activities:…

Native educators from around Alaska contributed to the development of guidelines for cross-cultural orientation programs for educators. The guidelines are organized around various roles related to culturally responsive schooling in Alaska. They encourage schools to strive to be reflections of their communities by incorporating and building upon…

Elizabeth City State University (ECSU) serves the 21 counties of rural northeastern North Carolina. In Fall 2000 ECSU administrators met with educators in area school districts to discuss their professional development needs. This paper reports on those expressed needs relevant to mathematics education and discusses ways to help achieve excellence…

In summer 2000, the University of Alaska Anchorage and cooperating professional development schools organized four summer institutes to enhance teachers' cultural and subject matter knowledge. This dual focus was prompted by the new Alaska Content Standards and by guidelines for preparing culturally responsive teachers, developed by Alaska Native…

This publication introduces an assessment instrument to help programs implement management competencies. It discusses development of management competencies and describes the Management Competencies Assessment Instrument (MCAI) designed to help managers verify and validate their competencies and use the information for planning professional…

This publication identifies a set of recognized skills and knowledge areas possessed by effective professional development (PD) coordinators. It is designed to enable PD staff and their supervisors to think reflectively about their PD system, to identify how the system builds on the strengths of the coordinator and the PD staff, to identify where…

Noting that improving the quality of learning in primary schools and preparing children for a long, complex life in the twenty-first century requires the highest quality of teaching and professional training, this book is part of a series to improve teachers' skills in the classroom. The book is intended to offer primary school teachers a means of…

Undertakings to improve teacher education in Poland have taken on these three main directions, with quality as the priority: (1) a system for accrediting higher schools (academic institution quality); (2) new regulator for standardizing the program of studies (program quality); and (3) system for teachers' progressive qualification and development…

The Illinois Governor's Task Force on Universal Access to Preschool is part of a broad-based effort to increase the quality of life for all children in Illinois. This report presents the action plan developed by this task force and calls for the creation of Illinois Preschool, a program giving all Illinois families quality preschool options for 3-…

East Feliciana Parish (Louisiana) has raised achievement scores by involving students in hands-on projects related to community needs and resources. Project Connect, a hands-on science and math program begun by the Delta Rural Systemic Initiative, has expanded into a comprehensive place-based program. In response to new state standards, teams of…

This paper addresses the issue of the relationship between critical pedagogy and English as a foreign language (EFL) in Venezuela. Teacher-researchers have come to see the issues confronting nonnative educators in ELT as a more important issue than in previous years. They are particularly concerned about the current situation in Venezuela,…

This report discusses the challenges and successes in creating an education system that meets the needs of all students in Texas. The first two sections provide background information on a project investigating the achievement of students with disabilities in high achieving, high poverty Texas elementary schools, and present a framework for this…

Teaching within a student-centered paradigm in an information society means accepting the responsibility of teaching for the acquisition of integrated information habits and fully adaptable lifelong information skills. Education today demands classroom teachers who can: model good practice in education programs that teach students to become aware…

The Presidential Awards for Excellence in Science and Mathematics Teaching program was established in 1983 to recognize outstanding science and mathematics teachers in the United States. In 1993 a national probability sample was taken of approximately 6,000 elementary/secondary teachers asking about their backgrounds and preparation, classroom…

Papers from a conference on translating and interpreting include: "Babel and the Brain" (Philip Grundy); "Simultaneous Interpreting: Its Role in International Conferences" (Yvonne Hu); "The Past, Present and Future of Legal Interpreting/Translating in NSW" (Ludmilla Robinson); "What's In a Name?" (Terry…