An emerging trend in educational research is the use of social network theory and methodology to understand how teacher collaboration can support or constrain teaching, learning, and educational change. This article provides a critical synthesis of educational literature on school social networks among educators to advance our understanding of the…

The majority of OECD countries now implement one form or another of standards-based assessment and evaluation. The core logic of standards-based systems rests upon the alignment of three key elements: "standards" defining the knowledge and skills--or "competences"--students are expected to have attained at different stages of…

The intent of this study was to fill gaps in the knowledge base about coaching; specifically the reflective thought processes of teachers as they implement an innovation, and whether or not these processes differ if teachers work with coaches for support. The theoretical framework informing the study design included Transformative Learning…

This article explains the impact federal legislation has on educating students with disabilities, the changing roles of physical educators and school counselors relative to educating students with disabilities, and collaborative approaches pertaining to how physical educators and school counselors can collaboratively foster successful inclusion of…

While the four C's--critical thinking, creativity, collaboration, and communication--will naturally fit into a school's existing curriculum, changing the school culture to emphasize these skills takes time and planning. The good news is that school leaders can get started in just a few minutes. In this article, the author presents practical steps…

This article discusses how reading for their own purposes affected struggling teens. It shares the authors' story, which demonstrates the importance and power of focusing on students' purposes, as highlighted in Standard 12, a standard not often addressed or assessed, but one that matters to students and teachers alike. The authors describe how a…

The importance of content-focused professional development for high school teachers has been widely recognized by educators and legislators. Professionals in education at all levels have long argued for more contacts between secondary and post-secondary instructors as one important way to improve subject matter mastery. In response to this call,…

Effective teaching about many of the geographical issues now confronting Earth and humanity requires collective approaches and shared solutions. It follows, therefore, that there is a need to better understand the basis of and process for sustaining successful international collaboration among geography educators. This paper first examines some of…

This article is a call for classroom teachers to become authors. The authors briefly describe a process that teachers can follow to write down their ideas, submit a paper for peer review, revise it, and celebrate its publication--whether as an article in "Social Studies and the Young Learner" ("SSYL") or as a handout to share with colleagues in…

This article explores several professional development models currently being used in the US and in other countries to support teacher learning, including coaching, mentoring and communities of practice. While in some contexts the activities of the participants are informed by social constructivist views of learning, the authors argue that…

Professional development for tertiary teachers in Pakistan is problematic. In most cases, it does not exist; and if it does, it is very brief, sporadic and traditional, and is conveyed off-site through top-down teacher training strategies. The Pakistani tertiary education sector is predominantly public in nature and consists of two main wings: the…

The primary objective of this study was to examine, based on a model of spurned helpers' reactions: (a) the degrees to which kindergarten teachers in Hong Kong, China, experienced recurrent rejections of their offers of help (being spurned) by peer teachers; (b) whether being spurned by peers would induce depersonalization; (c) the ways teachers…

This exploratory study emerged out of my interests in dance-making and phenomenology. In order to develop a portrait of how student dance artists choreograph self-performed solos, I asked nine graduate student dance-makers to contribute accounts of their experiences. From my efforts to make meaning of the participants' experiences, a composite…

Darin Stockdill was a secondary school English and social studies teacher in Detroit. His early research with classroom instruction and professional development motivated him to begin doctoral study to explore how schools serving as research sites can become sites for professional development and collaboration. He finds an epistemic perspective on…

The purpose of this report is to describe what the authors learned from studying eight teacher career advancement initiatives implemented across a variety of contexts, including urban, suburban, and rural districts; high poverty and affluent districts; and in schools/districts both with and without strong union presence. They describe key…