A professional library for inservice education of teachers can be useful in founding a Teaching of Reading Book Club. The Teaching of Reading Book Club, in time and sequentially, needs to become a community of learners in studying, assessing, and trying out new, recommended approaches in reading instruction. Knowing how these trial runs in new…

This Digest examines school districts' efforts to reap the greatest benefit from smaller classes. Although the report discusses teaching strategies that are most effective in small classes, research has shown that teachers do not significantly change their teaching practices when they move from larger to smaller classes. Smaller classes mean…

To get a valid picture of program impact via comprehensive data collection, combined with a focus on standards, an evaluation of a professional development program for elementary and secondary level teachers of science was carried out at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. This paper presents selected examples from the program evaluation, designed…

The amount and quality of time available for instruction were studied in the Chicago, Illinois, public schools. The report focuses on the basic structures of time and how teachers use them to create learning opportunities for their students. Data are from a 3-year series of school and classroom observations from 1994 to 1996 made in 8 elementary…

As a dimension of a total school reform initiative, the Delcroft School faculty, committed to a more integrative literacy curriculum, implemented a proposed framework to align teaching/learning/assessment. The staff was already committed to implementing the integrative curriculum framework of the Pennsylvania Department of Education, and the new…

This document brings together a series of short papers that examine 20 educational issues affecting all 50 states in the U.S. The following issues are addressed: (1) accountability, with an emphasis on performance-based accountability systems and state-performance indicators; (2) alternative schools for disruptive students; (3)assessment,…

Three policy strategies interpreted as intended to empower teachers within the new policy context of school autonomy were studied. Teacher services in Kentucky's school councils seemed to have little effect on empowering teachers since the researchers found in two studies involving 168 and 318 Kentucky teachers that teachers were not even…

For the individual seeking a counselor education faculty position, the journey is a complicated process. In addition to the assistance given to doctoral students, it is important for these students to be self-advocates in their own professional development. This paper provides suggestions, information, and self-advocacy recommendations for…

This document contains the four issues of Northwest Education published from fall 1999 through summer 2000. Issue themes are: (1) "Sea Change: Meeting the Challenge of Schoolwide Reform" (Fall 1999); (2) "City Kids: What Helps Them Thrive" (Winter 1999); (3) "The New Principal" (Spring 2000); and (4) "Growing…

This paper has three objectives: (1) to examine the context in which faculty developers operate; (2) to review 25-year program of research for the findings that are most pertinent to teacher developers; and (3) to situate research into teacher development and consider the strategies that might persuade others to conduct research into teacher…

This booklet, which is intended as a support to the delivery of professional development of Australian literacy educators on critical literacy, presents a seven-step systematic model of all contexts through which a text may be constructed and studied. The first two sections discuss the model's use as a comprehensive framework for future teaching,…

This book is intended to encourage and support leaders in being authentic. It draws on the stories and anecdotes of an educator who has been a school principal for 20 years. Two organizing principles structure the 6 chapters: the core issues of leadership are illustrated and discussed through stories while the evolution of a leader is portrayed.…

This book examines what it means to be a leader. It is intended not only for education leaders, but for anyone who feels compelled to provide the most effective leadership they can. The content is based on the author's 30 years of experience as a professional educator. Each chapter illustrates a component of leadership through a series of…

As part of its contract to develop a framework for continuous school improvement in its four-state region (Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia), Appalachia Educational Laboratory staff designed the Quest project. Based upon principles of inquiry, collaboration, and action research, Quest supports and investigates ongoing school…

This portfolio book provides an actual step-by-step complete system of writing assessment from the ground up and across all grade levels. The book suggests that teachers purposefully gather student portfolios, reflect meaningfully on them, and then validly and reliably rate them with statistical success that will also feed meaningfully back into…