This article describes a Maryland staff development program that guides educators through an improved Individualized Education Program (IEP) process that provides a better alignment of IEP goals with general education curricular outcomes. The program's components and the teachers' response to the program during the 1999-2000 year are discussed.…

A successful Indiana distance education program that provides special education courses to rural teachers uses technologies available in target communities, collaborates with host schools on practicum experiences, focuses on inclusive settings, uses team teaching to increase student engagement, and uses teacher-participants as on-site coordinators…

Preservice and inservice teacher education must prompt teachers and educators to question issues of race, class, and ethnicity and develop appropriate courses of action. Teacher research is useful in that regard. Teachers can use research in work with other teachers and teacher educators to examine their knowledge, attitudes, and behavior. (SM)

A study investigated the conceptions, knowledge, and level of structural organization of learning among 40 teachers at all educational levels enrolled in a course on adult learning. Results were compared with findings from earlier research on other student samples in higher education, and discussed in relation to some assumptions about adult…

Examines current proposals and efforts to reform the Russian school system, assessing their prospects for providing an answer to the needs of Russian schools in this era of teacher shortages. The paper discusses new teachers' qualitative and quantitative needs, the teacher education system's response, course organization, and curriculum. (SM)

Reports the essential findings of one phase of the assessment studies conducted during the California New Teacher Project, suggesting some implications from that study for the impending reform efforts. The paper concludes that California lacks a coherent, rigorous system of assessments guided by a clearly defined set of performance expectations.…

Surveys of K-12 teachers and principals in New Jersey examined the effect of incentives on faculty development. Results suggest that, despite evidence that they recognize practice in teacher development, teachers continue to be attracted by incentives and rewards for more traditional and outdated forms of professional growth and development. (SM)

This article reviews and analyzes the functional behavioral assessment (FBA) requirements of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) of 1997 and its regulations. It explores school district obligations under the law, including the need for training faculty to conduct FBAs, adhere to the procedures of IDEA, and provide quality…

Discusses the importance of a school's infrastructure, equipment and software acquisitions, and the need for staff training and inservice workshops targeted toward helping teachers develop skills in technology applications. Considers the significance of the Internet and the changing role of the teacher. (AEF)

Reports on the challenges in designing and developing a series of videotaped sequences and original music for dance on a compact disc/audiotape and a self-instructional study guide for use by early childhood/primary students studying via a distance education model. Resources were designed to be used in preservice and inservice teacher training…

Investigated preservice and inservice teachers' perceptions about adopting case methodology for instruction. Interviews with students in a graduate course on using computer technology and case methodology to integrate instruction indicated that for teachers to adopt innovations, the learning process must be individualized. Collaboration,…

Finland's Reformative In-Service Education for Teachers was a one-year program that joined experienced and novice teachers in promoting change. Research on the resulting development of teachers' cognitions and on factors crucial to that development highlighted changes in beginners' craft knowledge concerning students, learning, knowledge, and…

Describes the Milwaukee Teacher Education Center (MTEC), a new system of alternative preservice and inservice teacher education which meets the needs of the Milwaukee Public Schools and prepares teachers to succeed with children in poverty within an urban school district. The paper discusses what works in preparing urban teachers and explains how…

Surveyed British male preservice elementary teachers regarding their views on operating within a female dominated profession. Age and/or wider life experiences influenced their initial recruitment and course success. Though respondents were deeply committed to elementary teaching, they recognized that being male was likely to lead to rapid…

Describes results of a survey of Deans of Colleges of Education that investigated distance education courses using interactive television or a Web-based instructional delivery model. Discusses faculty ownership of developed courses and materials; compensation; attitudes toward the distance learning instructional model; faculty training and…