Interviews with new faculty and graduate students regarding their career needs and desires identified concerns in the following areas: the tenure process; alternative career paths; the two-tiered academic labor market; professional development opportunities and post-tenure review; better graduate school preparation; and integration of personal and…

Provides suggestions to child care center directors on how to become effective participants at meetings. Suggests that a little planning and careful attention to the subtleties and details of participation can transform meetings into powerful organizational tools. Suggests that good preparation, respect for the ideas presented during the meeting,…

As this feisty teacher/professor conversation shows, there are no quick fixes for motivating students and maintaining classroom discipline. Teacher education programs should require a comprehensive, teacher-taught course in discipline that includes a full year of student and substitute teaching experience. Professional development schools, team…

Examines how a national model for integrating microcomputers into science teaching was implemented in rural school districts. Reports that the implementation of the model for rural school districts required several adaptations. Discusses the organizational, procedural, community, and personal factors that led to those adaptations and influenced…

Describes the variety of summer training programs for teachers that gives them opportunities for professional growth in tolerance-related education. The 10 programs reviewed address issues such as character education, African American culture, the Holocaust, values education, gender issues, and other aspects of multicultural education and conflict…

A training and teaching tools development project aims to help multigrade classroom teachers in remote areas of Ontario. The project presents multiple instructional strategies, such as collaborative learning, differentiated teaching, and subject integration. Sixty teaching activities, created and tested by teachers, are contained on a CD that will…

This article offers guidelines for planning distance professional development via interactive video for special educators in rural areas. A comprehensive planning checklist is organized into nine tasks. Other suggestions address equipment and interaction tips for receiving sites and setting up the site to encourage inclusion and active…

Noting a shortage of doctoral special educators, this article focuses on the need for training of special education faculty in California. It describes a new program at the University of San Francisco program that emphasizes coordinated professional development, flexible class schedule, student diversity, and minority group research. Outcomes for…

A study evaluated the effects of training 47 teachers of children with autism in the use of the Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS). Following training, significant, rapid increases were recorded in the level of PECS attained by the students (n=34), in students' PECS vocabulary, and in students' use of PECS. (Contains references.) (CR)

Introduces three papers that discuss the design methodology for developing learning systems for cognitive skills acquisition. Provides specific examples of processes that underlie the acquisition of cognitive skills. Confirms that through the embrace of lifelong learning, cognitive skills-based learning environments are finding a more prominent…

Discusses an atypical doctoral degree program in Community College Leadership at Mississippi State University, which takes an interdisciplinary approach to educating future rural community college administrators. Program characteristics include: (1) instruction and research driven by priorities established by rural community colleges; (2) a degree…

A study examining technology support in rural schools surveyed 129 school technology coordinators in four upper plains states. Heavy pedagogical and technical demands were placed on rural technology coordinators. Rural technology coordinators should have teaching experience and advanced degree work in network administration, computer hardware…

An evaluation of an Ohio professional development program for beginning rural principals interviewed and observed 23 principals and mentors in 3 study groups. Participants valued mentoring and networking activities, noting they mitigated professional isolation. Participants preferred "unofficial" activities focused on practical problems…

Recent efforts to improve writing instruction include emphasizing writing as a process rather than a product, new evaluation methods, allowing students a more active role, providing a real audience, and using desktop publishing and the World Wide Web. Sidebars present parents' role, the connection between reading and writing, and a professional…

The Indigenous Education and Training Alliance (IETA) is a staff college of Education Queensland (Australia), which brokers and delivers teacher professional development around state policies on Indigenous education. IETA's work to support policy on literacy education and English language learning for Indigenous students focuses on development of…