A graduate university workshop on action research helped kindergarten through twelfth grade teachers improve their approach to teaching writing. The article examines classroom research as staff development and introduces one action research plan, giving an example of one teacher's use of the plan to improve instructional writing practice. (SM)

Data obtained from the Change Facilitators Stages of Concern Questionnaire were used in the Philippines to select content in a one-month staff development program for department heads. The training program was strongly influenced by participants' concerns. The article describes the change facilitator stages of concern. (SM)

Relates experiences in providing on-site Internet workshops to the newly networked Native-Alaskan village of Galena. Discusses a handbook of K-12 Internet resources, the collaborative relationship at the core of Internet innovations, creating an online course on brokering Internet learning resources, and the three biggest advantages the Internet…

Discusses the role library media specialists can play in promoting community-school interaction through use of the media. Highlights include newspapers; television and radio; electronic media, including Web sites and electronic publishing; newsletters; journals and magazines; conferences and workshops; and honors and awards. (LRW)

Describes strategic planning efforts in eight states (Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio, and Wisconsin) to implement guidelines in "Information Power" (1998, American Library Association) relating good school library media programs to student achievement success. Discusses Web pages; state conferences;…

Profiles a number of projects and activities enacted during the 1996 Summer Colloquium, "Art and Ecology: Interdisciplinary Approaches to the Curriculum." Participants created ecologically sensitive structures for pond life at a nearby wetland and attended a dramatic presentation about early mound dwellers performed on the site. (MJP)

Project ESTEEM (Earth Science Teachers Exploring Exemplary Materials) is designed to improve earth science teaching by providing materials and personnel to reverse the decline in activity-based instruction. During an intense summer program, precollege teachers examine and present activities for earth-science courses. These materials are assembled…

A seminar in Idaho on creating assessment and accountability plans for charter schools presented attributes of assessments that build children's confidence and give insights into how they can improve; offered criteria for using portfolio assessments; and described how to develop objectives that are measurable. A sidebar presents a six-step plan…

Tests a parent competency model incorporating the effects of attendance in a parenting skills training intervention. Subjects (n=209) participated in a controlled study to test the model. Results generally supported the model for both mothers and fathers. Child management behaviors mediated parent conventionality and intervention attendance…

To monitor a statewide systemic initiative (SSI) for reform of mathematics and science, students were asked such questions as what their teachers did in science and what they themselves did in their classes. Responses were analyzed by race and gender. Different types of teaching and learning activities occurred in classes taught by teachers who…

This article describes a 9-week writing workshop in a fourth grade classroom. The workshop was based on a process-writing model, graphic organizers, and ongoing assessment using a six-trait writing assessment rubric. Although both high and low scoring groups made significant progress, the low group made the most progress. (Contains 13 references.)…

Describes the Technology-Based Teacher Education (TBTE) Program at Lehigh University. Discusses the Seminar in Elementary and Secondary Education, in which preservice teachers regularly work in classrooms with inservice teachers, and the partnership with a K-12 independent school--which addresses the needs of both inservice and preservice…

A collaborataive program allowed early childhood certification students to gain experience working with parents of young children. Preservice teachers from Sam Houston State University worked with the Conroe Independent School District (Texas) Even Start Family Literacy Program as part of their parent education program. Students developed and…

The purpose of this paper is to describe the model of a mathematics and science staff development cooperative and focus on the evaluation of the mathematics component. The Mathematics and Science Education Cooperative (MSEC) was a comprehensive, long-range staff development program to improve the teaching and learning of mathematics and science at…

This chapter discusses the importance of enhancing the diversity awareness and multicultural competence of undergraduate and graduate students through the use of popular media for classes and training workshops, and it presents two models that explain behaviors associated with racial identity development and understanding diversity issues.…