We explore the rationale for school managers in South Africa to enroll for a new practice-based qualification and determine the perceptions of principals on how the Advanced Certificate in Education (ACE) course influences their leadership style. The task of being a principal is demanding, requiring energy, drive, and many personal qualities and…

A qualitative study of a pilot writing course for baccalaureate social work (BSW) students evaluated the process and development of students' academic and professional writing. The course provided students the opportunity to build writing skills, develop a professional paper, and present at a national social work conference. Students and…

This study explores the musical content and human processes of improvisations of children and adults using the phenomenological lenses of time, space and responsivity. Paired improvisational performances of two late-career adult composers and two 7-year-old children were analysed considering a lifespan-related perspective involving the origins of…

When your school or district wants to do more to help all teachers become effective teachers of reading and writing, here's a book that will show you how to maximize your efforts through differentiated literacy coaching. This research-based, school-proven approach helps you implement eight professional development formats ranging from coplanning…

Like many sectors in society, the teacher preparation community is working to address challenges the nation faces in relation to global competitiveness. This document highlights institutions around the country that are preparing tomorrow's teachers in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Well-known shortages of…

The voluminous literature on teacher professional development presents varied components of what constitutes meaningful professional development experiences for elementary teachers. The research reported here first identifies these components through an analysis of the literature, and then describes a research project in which those components…

This article shares findings from an exploratory case study about an advanced school leadership development program designed specifically for practicing principals and administrator-trained teachers. The program was designed to help a high-need rural district transform its principalship from school management into learner-center leadership while…

In the first part of this paper, conceptions of trainee teachers are defined, together with their importance for the process of teacher education. Many studies concerning teacher conceptions and models of teacher development show that the conceptions of instruction, knowledge, and teacher and learner roles are a key part of the teacher's…

In 2003, the Mathematics and Science Unit of the South Carolina Department of Education developed the Mathematics and Science Coaching Initiative. The model--one coach, one school, one content area--requires participating schools to commit to a three-year partnership. The three-year commitment ensures sufficient time for coaching to become an…

This study investigated the professional development needs, preferences, and practices of secondary school counselors in Utah. Participants included 226 secondary school counselors who responded to a 20-question survey instrument. The respondents revealed that most of them exceed minimum licensure requirements for professional development but also…

The paper examines the role of leadership in facilitating collective learning and capacity building by utilising ideas from the fields of evolutionary learning, operations strategy, quality, project and risk management. Two contrasting cases are chosen to show how success and failure can depend upon collective capacity building through…

In this article, the authors explore which conditions support the success of literacy coaches. Because the literacy coach position is a relatively new one, this article examines some of the questions related to designing and implementing the position of the literacy coach, and the potential influence of the position on student achievement. The…

This paper examines the similarities and differences between two successful programmes of teacher professional learning. Firstly, Lesson Study developed in Japan over 40 years ago. It examines practice either through direct observation or through classroom artefacts and case studies. It assumes that teacher learning will be more meaningful and…

This article describes the National Urban Alliance for Effective Education (NUA), a nonprofit advocacy organization that engages with school communities through professional development to build relationships with educators, students, parents, and community stakeholders. NUA consultants are former and current university professors, former…

The purpose of this research was to evaluate the effects of two trainings designed to increase the competencies of professionals to develop high quality positive behavior support plans for students that engage in problem behaviors that interfere with theirs and/or others' ability to learn. Training one consisted of training attendees on six key…