A graduate-level distance-learning course used a "class page" on the World Wide Web to increase student interaction and access to Web resources. Student surveys and interviews focused on student reactions, stresses, and coping strategies related to communication issues and anxieties, computer involvement, computer and Internet access,…

Explores how one state's draft standards addressed five areas: skill development/maintenance through inservice, existence of different teaching and learning styles, effects of varied teaching experiences, development of commonly- and rarely-used skills, and standards' potential for fostering inclusion. Nine participating teachers reported greatest…

Focuses on considerations that may be used to guide the development of functional-assessment training programs for preservice and inservice educators. Functional-assessment training domains are outlined and include content knowledge, attitudes and beliefs, supports and barriers, training needs and issues, and maintenance and generalization. (CR)

Presents a framework for interpreting educational reforms, situating existing reform efforts in physical education within that framework. The role of professional development in these reforms and implications for physical education are discussed. The paper also reviews workplace conditions in physical education and draws conclusions for reform in…

Describes changing workplace conditions encountered by middle school physical education teachers and administrators engaged in the Saber-Tooth Project, sharing data from interviews about their perspectives of this project. Findings are organized around the themes of collegiality, planning and assessment, and professionalism, all of which empowered…

Improving teacher preparation has become a focus of educational reform efforts. Discusses professional development strategies that help teachers grow, barriers to growth, the importance of making a career of learning, elements of effective professional development programs, effective alternatives to one-shot workshops, standards for good teaching,…

A survey of 79 teachers of Alaskan students with deafness found those who use instructional technology tended to be older, hold an advanced degree and secondary education certification, benefit from in-service training onsite, are connected to the Internet, and actively use the technology available at their schools. (Contains references.)…

This article describes effects of parent-professional collaboration in a partnership in which a mother of an elementary school-age child with severe to profound hearing loss assumed the role of "parent as teacher" in an effort to promote spoken language. A positive effect on the child's spoken language proficiency was found. Implications for…

Describes an approach to facilitating middle school reform that includes teachers in a constructivist learning environment where they function as active learners who explore contradictions and create their own solutions to real problems. Considers implications for teacher inservice education, and describes the case of one middle school teacher.…

This article examines impediments to effective dissemination of training in positive behavioral support, such as school discipline policies and the inadequacy of training models. It suggests ways new information technologies can overcome these obstacles and reviews some new approaches using CD-ROM and online instructional methodologies to advance…

An action research group for Israeli English-language teachers helped them learn from and support one another while introducing portfolio assessment as an integral part of their teaching. Using portfolios for foreign language teaching, learning, and assessment increased learners' responsibility and improved classroom work. The action-research…

Describes the development and implementation of a laboratory-based professional development program for high school chemistry teachers. Demonstrates how chemistry can be taught with simple, readily available materials. (DDR)

By focusing on advantages inherent in what are typically considered disadvantages for rural schools, 14 rural, southern California school districts cooperated in implementing a successful inquiry-based elementary science program. Isolation and low population density resulted in a stable teaching force familiar with the community, and the area's…

Presents general overview of evaluation, including definition, general functions, and processes. Describes factors associated with low teacher quality in Kenya such as deficiencies in preservice teacher education, limited opportunities for inservice training. Summarizes problems in the Kenyan teacher-evaluation system and the proposed strategies…

Describes the creation and use of Web sites developed by secondary school teachers of German and European history who participated in an NEH-sponsored summer institute titled "Post-Wall Germany: Integrating Post-Unification German Culture into the High School Curriculum. Teacher participants also offer suggestions for using sites they created…