This paper reports the results of a 4-year study of a consortium of 22 school districts undergoing systemic reform. Results are framed in terms of individual district reform status at the end of the 4 years in 6 areas: curriculum, parent-community involvement, classroom practice, professional development, administration and leadership, and system…

This paper presents a project description of efforts to improve preservice teacher education programs. The project focuses on two aspects. The first aspect probes Auburn Junior High School eighth-grade students and Auburn University preservice teachers, while the second probes Auburn Junior High School faculty and Auburn University faculty. The…

This report covers one segment of a larger professional development program for transportation professionals that addresses the need to develop a larger cadre of transportation professionals capable of designing, planning, managing, operating, and maintaining the transportation infrastructure nationwide. Three specific tasks were undertaken and…

This publication reports on the status of public education in Alaska and provides policymakers with information for decision making. Under state law, each school district is required to report to its community information about the school district's plans and performance. This publication is a summary of those reports. Data are organized around…

This book explains how California schools, working with the "Education for the Future" initiative, have integrated technology and data-based decision making into their school improvement efforts. The book is a guide to improving school performance by constructing a school portfolio. The chapters are: (1) "Introduction: The Need for…

This paper reviews the history of sabbatical leave in secondary and postsecondary education, as well as contemporary research on sabbatical leave, and offers some personal narratives of the sabbatical experience. It explains that sabbatical leave programs began at Harvard University in 1880, with professors granted a year of leave at half-pay…

In 1988, the Arizona Board of Regents, Legislature, and the State Board of Directors for Community Colleges approved an innovative partnership between Northern Arizona University (NAU) and Arizona Western College (AWC) in Yuma. The AWC/NAU partnership was designed to expand higher education opportunities in southwest Arizona. This document…

During the 1995-96 academic year, faculty and administrators in the College of Education at Illinois State University, (Normal, IL) and teachers and administrators from a local school district established a Professional Development School (PDS). A group of 32 of the university's elementary education majors were placed at school sites in the local…

This report describes the five Professional Development Partnership projects funded in 1992. They were designed to form consortia or partnerships of public and private entities which were to develop opportunities for career advancement or competency-based training for current workers at public and private agencies that provide services to infants,…

This paper examines the use of professional reading groups as a strategy to help college and university administrators stay informed and meet administrative challenges. It reports on a study of 26 institutions by the American Council on Education, which examined the process of large-scale institutional change. This study's findings support reading…

Designed for teachers who view service learning as a teaching strategy to improve instruction, this guide assumes that participants in the training are teachers who will use service learning to help their students achieve the objectives of the school curriculum. Some of the training sessions, such as reflection and defining service learning, may…

This paper establishes a use for digital video in developing preservice teacher metacognition about the teaching process using a lesson plan-rating sheet as a guide. A lesson plan was developed to meet the specific needs of the methods instructors in a professional development program at a large public institution. The categories listed on the…

This third edition includes 136 annotations and abstracts on Professional Development Schools (PDSs). Most resources are published since 1997. Because earlier editions of this publication are now out of print, annotations of several works from the second edition were chosen for inclusion in the current edition. In many cases, the older entries…

This document is comprised of weekly newsletters for family child care providers for the year 2000. Each theme-based four-page newsletter contains: (1) creative activities for use with mixed-age groups of 2- to 5-year-olds; (2) ideas on guiding behavior, organization tips, and a Monthly Planning Calendar; (3) special sections for infants and…

Reading Recovery is an early intervention program that helps low-achieving first-grade children to become independent readers who need no further remediation. Reading Recovery was introduced by Marie M. Clay who, in the mid 1970s, developed procedures with teachers and tested the program in New Zealand. In 1984, the success of the program in New…