Though the benefits of working with families are documented, teacher education programs and school districts offer limited educational opportunities to new teachers. Until recently, most state certification departments did not require courses on family involvement in preservice education. During the late 1990s, the number of states requiring that…

This study explored teacher perceptions toward giftedness among rural children from economically disadvantaged backgrounds, before and after staff development. The study also explored the influence of staff development on teacher-designed instructional strategies to nurture giftedness. Five teachers at a K-4 school in rural Arkansas participated…

This paper focuses on the ongoing development of an inservice teacher education program for teachers in Albania following the downfall in the early 1990s of a repressive totalitarian regime. The Kualida project's name is an acronym based on the Albanian words for training, distance, and teachers and is very close in sound to the Albanian…

This paper presents the results of the implementation of an instructional approach that supports teachers' learning of instructional design (ID) and honors their beliefs and concerns within the ID process; participants included two instructors and 23 practicing K-12 teachers enrolled in an instructional design course as part of a masters program.…

This paper describes a professional development model, which emerged from two projects, that had professional development of teachers as an important component. The first project, Project Lighthouse, was designed to facilitate the inclusion of students with disabilities into general education classrooms. In this project, faculty and staff…

This study examined whether there was a difference in the attitudes toward computer use of preservice and inservice teachers. The Computer Literacy Attitude Survey, a survey which reflected attitudes toward computer use, was administered to 50 preservice teachers enrolled in a 10-week instructional technology course and 30 inservice teachers…

Experiences from a distance course conducted during 1996-97 for high-school teachers in Sweden and reports from other experiments have yielded the conclusion that collaborating via electronic conferencing systems demands new communication patterns. This paper uses theories about communication, group processes, and shared symbolic order and social…

This paper compares and contrasts the author's adult learning experiences with those of another adult learner in order to understand the inter-relationship between the domains of education and "work and love" (Merriam, 1993) imbedded in adult development theory. The author interviewed a female colleague of similar age and place of…

This report evaluates special education program expansion in the Saginaw (Michigan) school district with federal funding under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. The program expansion involved: employment of 16 special education certified teachers to teach students with learning disabilities (LD), emotional impairments (EI), and…

Provides geology departments and science educators with a leadership model for developing earth science inservice programs. Model emphasizes cooperation/coordination among departments, science educators, and curriculum specialists at local/intermediate/state levels. Includes rationale for inservice programs and geology department involvement in…

Documents from the ERIC database pointing to the need for more stress on computer literacy in teacher education are cited. References emphasize the need for teacher educators to assume leadership in this area, program development, and identification of competencies needed by teachers. (PP)

A new California law, Senate Bill 813, implies sweeping changes for teacher education in that state. The law permits districts to hire college graduates without teaching credentials and train them. It also requires all teachers to renew certification periodically. Implications for schools of education are discussed. (Author/PP)

The teacher education program at Doane College (Nebraska) was substantially overhauled to provide additional support for beginning teachers. Program changes include raising admission and graduate requirements, offering graduate courses and supervision for new teachers, and cooperative activities with the University of Nebraska in Lincoln. (PP)

Describes two programs to improve science education. Harvard University will provide a teacher training program for mid- to late-career mathematicians/scientists in industry and will provide inservice programs for current science/mathematics teachers. University of Wisconsin's program involves a national institute to foster research in chemical…

Studied the impact of a counselor-consultant model, using a Teacher Effectiveness Training inservice program for teachers (N=28) and their students (N=140). Results showed a significant impact on teachers' attitudes and student perceptions of teacher competence, and interest in the class. (WAS)