Describes eight components of planning initiatives for improving the quality and delivery of early childhood education: (1) creating linkages; (2) using data in planning; (3) improving program quality; (4) developing a coordinated professional development system; (5) financing the system; (6) creating new systems of governance; (7) building public…

Describes the experiences of a group of graduate students in reading research, then meeting the investigators and discussing their work with them at the American Educational Research Association meeting. They reveal the relationship between their work and the work of the teachers that populate graduate programs and describe one professor's efforts…

In response to federal law requiring teachers to undergo professional development, this article presents and compares five approaches to training school staff. Approaches include training throughout the year; annual one- to three-day training sessions; sending staff to conferences; employing a staff trainer; and monthly video training. (JMV)

The different ways teachers represent their experiences as teachers were studied through the written expressions of six practicing Israeli teachers in an advanced teacher-education class. Their experiences demonstrate how "knowing-in-action" is converted to professional and public knowledge. (SLD)

Summarizes four reports to enliven administrators' summer reading. A U.S. Office of Technology report blames teachers' resistance on equipment age and lack of training. A Kentucky report underlines teachers' need for thinking time away from classes. A 1993 CDC survey of 2,000 high schoolers presents school safety statistics. Hugh Megan's report…

Examines the role of effective leadership in implementing a quality early childhood center. Suggests that through the leaders' work, quality performance is supported, and employees feel connected to both their coworkers and the quality of the improvement process. Suggests empowering the personnel, building a risk-giving environment, and embracing…

Reports five teachers' perceptions of how teacher participation in school decision making has affected school and classroom activities. Discusses the consequences in terms of teachers' beliefs about their own competence, the persistence of the culture of teacher isolation, prevailing forms of politesse, professional educators' uncertainty about…

Teacher skill and knowledge-based pay plans in education could be related to major demarcation points in teacher career development. To illustrate the approach, career ladder programs in three U.S. districts and a pay system in Australia are described. Each plan includes career stages that qualify for pay increments. (SLD)

Describes a job-embedded staff development program that has provided training and ongoing support in implementing cooperative learning and other teaching strategies in one Iowa school district. Job embedded means that leaders teach others and view their role as staff developers as important. (SM)

Maintains that center directors can help teachers increase their professional competence by helping them examine their belief systems. Describes the use of an assessment tool designed to help teachers reflect on their role in the classroom and their attitudes and beliefs about children and parents. (SM)

Moral purpose keeps teachers close to children's needs; change agentry causes them to develop better strategies for accomplishing their moral goals. Core capacities for building greater change capacity are personal vision-building, inquiry, mastery, and collaboration. Education faculties must redesign their programs to focus directly on developing…

Reviews seven books published in 1991 and 1992. Books cover such topics as the process of affirming culture in early childhood settings; adaptive education strategies that build on diversity; stories of first-year teachers; and fairy tales and the culture of childhood. (MDM)

Provides background on the library movement in Jordan since the 1950s and describes the main categories of library education in Jordan: (1) short-training courses; (2) subprofessional education offered by two-year colleges; and (3) professional postgraduate education. The roles of the Jordan Library Association and other institutions are…

Describes an online independent study course, "Telecommunications and Information Access," offered by the University of Oregon and the International Society for Technology in Education for educators who want to learn about computer-mediated communication. Course evaluation results are discussed, and recommendations for educators are…

Highly prescriptive curriculum, testing, and teacher evaluation policies, such as those in New York State, actually impede teachers from teaching responsibly and effectively. These policies insist that teachers demonstrate a set of uniform behaviors unrelated to effective teaching for particular students. To work toward a new reform paradigm,…