Starting in the fall of 2009, ELL (English-language learner) instructional coaches began to provide workshops to ELL and general education teachers in a northwest American city. This article aims to analyze the differentiated instruction provided in the workshops. Data in this study include observational field notes, interviews, and documents.…

Standards can aid educators as they work to produce strong student writers who can create meaningful and skillfully crafted authentic pieces of writing. This once-a-month, yearlong professional development program, conducted during the school day, shifted a district's kindergarten writing program to a writing workshop model that enabled the…

This article is a tribute to JoBeth Allen, recipient of the Elementary Section's 2012 award for Outstanding Educator in the English Language Arts. Each year, this award recognizes a distinguished educator who has made major contributions to the field of language arts in elementary education. This article was written by second-grade teacher and…

In 2003, a state in the Rocky Mountain region combined the concept of partner schools (Goodlad, 1993) and the model of a professional development school (Holmes Group, 1986, 1995) to develop four university public school partnerships. This study asked two guiding questions: Is authentic cross-cultural collaboration possible between a university…

The 2009 Professional Development Schools National Conference recognized the North Florida Urban Professional Development School Partnership for its outstanding work in an urban education context and so named it one of the three recipients of the first-ever National Association for Professional Development Schools Award for Exemplary Professional…

This paper explores the weaknesses in university faculty development efforts when compared with corporate professional development practices. Suggestions are offered to think of faculty development as a process rather than as isolated development activities.

This study examined the experiences of a group of American secondary humanities teachers engaged in lesson study. Lesson study (LS) is a teacher-driven, collaborative inquiry process grounded in the realities of the classroom. It is an approach to professional development (PD) that originated in Japan, and has been credited there with contributing…

"The Pentagon is currently undertaking a congressionally mandated Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR) of strategy, force structure, missions, and resources. One issue that should be on the table is defining professional military education requirements. The current system is inadequate. The Department of Defense (DOD) should restructure it to…

This newsletter is published four times a year. It focuses on school improvement, organizational planning, training, and managing change. This issue contains: (1) Protocols: A Facilitator's Best Friend (Lois Brown Easton); (2) NSDC Tool: Wagon Wheel; (3) NSDC Tool: Three Levels of Text; and (4) NSDC Tool: Success Analysis Protocol.

This newsletter is published four times a year. It offers articles on school improvement, organizational planning, training, and managing change. This issue contains: (1) Link Up & Learn: Use Technology to Create a Personal Learning Network to Connect with Experts and Mentors Everywhere (Valerie von Frank); (2) NSDC Tool: Get Connected with…

In this rejoinder, I first provide a more detailed account of the discourse-focused professional development activities facilitated as part of the SMIT'N program, specifically addressing issues raised by van Zee with regard to the institute's overall format, goals and development strategies. Next, I resort to Peter Medawar's metaphorical view of…

When the author attended a leadership conference last year, she started to reflect on her own situation. In this article, the author reflects on her experience and her role as a library media specialist who wants to be a leader in her school. However, to be a leader in a school, one has to offer a set of skills and abilities that others aren't…

The person of the teacher is an essential element in what constitutes professional teaching and therefore needs careful conceptualisation. In this article the author argues for this central thesis, presenting a wrap up of his theoretical and empirical work on the issue over the past decade. These studies have been inspired--both conceptually and…

Should teachers sacrifice class time for professional development? Two authors present their arguments to this question. The first author contends that teachers should definitely use class time for professional development. Technology is changing and growing all the time, and it is their job to prepare students for the world they will inherit.…

Creating schools that are culturally responsive and successful with all students requires doing basic work with educators to uncover their beliefs about children. If school leaders believe, like many people do, that changed behavior will result in changed beliefs, they are mistaken. Leaders must be proactive in identifying what teachers believe…