The role that individual learning proficiency, individual personality characteristics, and chance occurrences in the learner's environment play in self-directed professional development was examined through semistructured interviews with a purposeful sample of eight professional men and women of high achievement with no postsecondary schooling in…

Teachers must have accurate, up-to-date knowledge about biodiversity in order to help prepare world citizens to cope with the problems of decreasing variability on our planet. The objectives of this study were to: (1) develop a reliable, valid test of teacher knowledge about biodiversity; (2) administer this test to K-12 teachers to determine…

This paper takes a close look at a large county public school in northern Nevada and its implementation of a newly adopted standards-based elementary science program. The study investigates the opinions of elementary classroom teachers about the new hands-on activity-based science program for kindergarten through grade six. The results indicate…

This curriculum guide provides teachers with materials on Asian-American history and culture that include some of the most recent scholarship in the field. Although it is not a comprehensive treatment of history and culture, it examines many important topics and events. The guide is organized by theme. The themes, each of which is introduced by…

A study examined a number of sources regarding a growing trend against the importance of academic publishing, including various articles that have appeared in the popular and academic press both for and against the "publish or perish" mentality. The literature review was grounded in E. Boyer's 1990 report "Scholarship Reconsidered:…

The processes of school improvement at the secondary level are not well understood. This report summarizes activities conducted during 1990-91 in the Asheboro (North Carolina) City Schools in cooperation with personnel at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. The partnership created Teacher Collegial Groups (TCGs), which were leadership…

The Maryland Middle Grades School Policy Initiative addresses the polices and practices that support improved school and student performance. To document changes in policies and practices, this series of publications entitled "Milestones" was developed. Each publication traces the development, implementation, evaluation, and refinement…

This paper outlines the Southeastern University and College Coalition for Engineering Education's (SUCCEED) vision for designing and implementing a fundamentally new and experimental engineering curriculum with the engineering programs of its member institutions. The new curriculum, which emphasizes the process of engineering as well as the…

This guide focuses on ways that professional development may be used to assist educators in transforming their schools to more futuristic structures where vocational and academic education integration flourishes. Although the guide centers on integration, information presented should be of value to anyone who plans and organizes comprehensive…

This reference book offers information about nearly 1,200 funding opportunities open to Americans interested in research, creative, professional, or related activities abroad. The directory is divided into three separate sections: a descriptive list of financial aid programs established to support research and creative activities abroad; an…

Most current writing about American public education describes it in terms of a crisis situation. However, schools often serve as scapegoats for the failure of other institutions and for social ills that they had no part in creating. This book presents a collection of essays and commentaries on recent proposals for educational reform and actions…

School librarians are educators no less than teachers and administrators, and their roles grow ever more important. In most schools, however, there is a gap between the ideal influential role of the school librarian and the actual role of the practicing librarian. The book addresses overcoming this gap for secondary school librarians, not from the…

This paper reports on research into the concept of mentoring from many educational perspectives, based on six papers presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association in April 1994. The paper notes that mentoring is a slippery concept, without a precise operational definition; definitions used in the six papers are…

The eight papers collected here bring to bear a complex set of perspectives on a common problem: how to make education more effective now and in the future. The papers speak to the need to understand education as an individual-driven, learner-centered activity. Following Ronald J. Anson's introduction called "Personalizing Systemic Reform," the…

The relationship between staff development and the integration of microcomputing into instructional practice is examined. Data were obtained from a survey of all public school districts in a midwestern state (N=427). The questionnaire elicited information about the districts' integration of microcomputers into instruction and the extent/scope of…