Describes how the question "What's driving you crazy?" is used by Hawaii middle-level educators to improve working conditions and meet students' needs by making schools more developmentally responsive. Focuses on the 6-step collaborative, inquiry-based innovation process at two private, multi-level schools embedded within K-8 or 6-12…

Describes how engaging preservice and inservice teachers in the process of documenting children's learning in preschool and primary classrooms enhances learning, promotes reflective thinking, and encourages professional growth. Explains that documentation provides teachers opportunities to observe children more closely; focus on children's…

The State Early Childhood Policy Leadership Forum seeks to build state capacity to develop and strengthen statewide, cross-system early childhood policies and programs. The Forum provides intense leadership retreats, professional development opportunities, policy discussions, and one-on-one technical assistance for individuals who are leading…

Drawing upon empirical data, this article explores the ways in which school culture and leadership impact on new teachers' learning in the workplace. The study was carried out over a two-year period and involved a cohort of 14 new teachers and 18 elementary and secondary schools. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with the new…

The purpose of this study was to examine if and how participation in a journaling workshop influenced the content of student journals. A total of 59 post secondary students from two university programs in North America participated in this study and were randomly assigned to either an experimental (n = 21) or control (n = 38) group. Before their…

The components of a professional development model designed to empower school nurses to become leaders in school health services is described. The model was implemented during a 3-day professional development institute that included clinical and leadership components, especially coalition building, with two follow-up sessions in the fall and…

In this chapter, the authors focus on teacher development as a collective and organizational issue. They begin with a brief review of conventional approaches to teacher workforce development and management, including current critiques of these efforts, their possible consequences, and an overview of the recent calls for more comprehensive,…

Through No Child Left Behind, states receive funds that can be used to address "challenges to teacher quality, whether they concern teacher preparation and qualifications of new teachers, recruitment and hiring, induction, professional development, teacher retention, or the need for more capable principals and assistant principals to serve as…

Professionalising the early childhood workforce in terms of improving pay and conditions of work and employing male workers can be seen as independent trends: there is no necessary relationship between the two. However, when the definition of professionalism is extended to include the scope and quality of practice, the experiences and views of…

This research explores how community cohesion can sustain teacher participation in a small scale, mixed mode (face to face and online) PD course. Secondary school teachers in Queensland undertook a mixed mode PD course utilising Education Queensland's Learning Place. The results indicate significantly longer participation than required and when…

Information about the experiences successful leaders perceive as vital to their development can be helpful to one's understanding of resiliency. Such information can also offer insights into the ways successful leaders use positive and negative situations as learning opportunities and the strategies they implement in addressing adversity. The…

This article discusses the following general questions: (1) what is the role of the teacher in the technology enhanced classroom; and (2) how are teachers prepared for the use of new technology in the classroom? The answers will differ among European countries due to, among other reasons, resources, national initiatives and available…

This study used a variety of qualitative methods within the context of an exploratory single case study to examine the use of digital video as a means for a preservice teacher to capture personal teaching episodes and reflect on them as an integral part of her professional development. Results demonstrate how an urban preservice teacher's work…

The steps of implementing, analyzing, refining, and re-implementing a lesson is referred to as "lesson study." These steps formed the basis of a "workshop study" model that can be used to analyze a professional development workshop for the purposes of tailoring the content, resources, and collaborative efforts to better meet the needs of the…

This study explored the impact of learning a new instructional practice in a US school district that places great value in a statewide student assessment. Grounded Theory methodology (Strauss & Corbin, 1998, Basics of Qualitative Research: Techniques and procedures for developing grounded theory, 2nd Edition, Sage Publications, Thousand Oaks, CA)…