The outcome of this inquiry assists in understanding how veteran teachers view participating in a Professional Learning Community (PLC) and how their strengths could be utilized in this context within an elementary school setting. Findings revealed that a PLC was useful for providing a foundation for collaboration and adult learning among veteran…

Middle school leaders are increasingly playing a crucial role in developing and maintaining the nature and quality of pupils learning experiences. However, there is often ambiguity about their role, sometimes experienced as being caught in the "crossfire" between the expectations of different levels in the schools' hierarchy. Ensuring…

Although LGBTQ youth are at risk for peer rejection, substance abuse, mental health disorders, and dropping out of school, research shows that most mental health training programs do not include a course on working with this population (Carroll & Gilroy,2001; Matthews, 2005; McCabe & Rubinson, 2008;Sherry, Whilde, & Patton, 2005;…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the knowledge base on the ways in which assistant principals view their roles, and on the potential challenges involved in a distributed leadership model. Design/methodology/approach: The study employed a narrative capture method, in which assistant principals from two large urban school…

The professional development schools (PDS) effort, which grew out of the groundbreaking work of the Holmes Group (1986), was deliberately focused on the support and advancement of teachers as professionals and the professionalization of teaching, so the author argues that it is ironic that a volume about PDS might be seen as voicing an opinion…

Given increasing emphasis on assessment and accountability across the globe in higher education, it is clear that individual institutions must take action and provide evidence in response to these concerns. This article provides an example of how one university has developed a central office for assessment, facilitated the development of an…

Peter Farrell provides some interesting insight into the importance of teacher research and gives examples of his own research from his personal classroom experiences. The importance of disseminating findings from the classroom as professional development is discussed.

This article presents a guide to the development of formative assessments for school librarians participating in professional learning communities (PLC). It describes librarians' reading of assigned books, meeting with their PLCs, and incorporation of learned strategies in their daily instruction. Central library service readers' regular visits to…

School librarians are in a profession where it is easy to be isolated. Often, school districts have only one certified librarian and school librarians must create ways to connect with one another and with other educators. Social media opportunities such as Facebook, LinkedIn, blogs, wikis, and nings are powerful ways of staying connected on a…

This qualitative, design-based research study resulted in a proposal for a comprehensive set of best instructional practices immersed in a learning trajectory, outlining the tools, processes and the content development for online asynchronous, text-based learning in graduate level professional development courses. The outcome provides a rich…

This article discusses an audience-informed professional development model that combines audience research focus groups and staff training that includes interaction and direct feedback from visitors, in this case, visitors with low vision. There are two critical components to this model: one is that museums' programming decisions are informed by…

Concerns about the professional development of teachers have a political dimension as governments around the world engage in the discourse on global standards and want to improve the quality of their school education. Increasingly, teachers are feeling the pressure of securing high achievement scores and large-scale assessments of student learning…

The transition from school to work, in the form of a trade-based apprenticeship, is one with a long history. Recent socio-historical changes include increased use of technology, the changing nature of work and shifting patters in the employment market are influencing both the apprenticeship journey and its destination. In this article, the…

With the continuing increase of inclusive education in our public school classrooms today, there is a great deal of interest in co-teaching teams. Research indicates that administrative support is a critical factor in co-teaching effectiveness. In this study, we explored administrator knowledge and practices related to the supervision and…

The Common Core State Standards have been adopted by 46 states and the District of Columbia. They enjoy a huge following of well-wishers and supporters who are optimistic that the standards will boost achievement in U.S. schools. Setting aside the cheerleading and fond hopes, what are the real chances of success? The most reasonable prediction is…