This paper offers an analysis of how six experienced teachers, and two in particular, used portfolios to aid and chart steps in their own professional development. The key finding of the study was that the pattern of growth of professional knowledge conformed strikingly to the central features of the model proposed by the philosopher of science,…

Teachers don't resist change, the author suggests, they resist programs that call for change without support. This Topeka, Kan., program added full-time instructional coaches to middle schools and found that teachers, with the coaches' support and time, adopted new practices that affected student learning.

This issue of CPRE Policy Briefs summarizes the findings on issues related to teacher quality in the chapter by the author in the book, "The State of Education Policy Research" (Cohen, Fuhrman, Mosher, Eds., 2007). This report also draws on discussions that took place during a summer, 2006, policy briefing on teacher labor-market issues…

This paper outlines the kinesiological foundations of the motor behavior subdisciplines of motor learning and motor control. After defining the components of motor behavior, the paper addresses the undergraduate major and core knowledge by examining several classic textbooks in motor learning and control, as well as a number of contemporary…

Preparing college supervisors/cooperating teachers to support teacher candidates' performance using standards is a challenge for teacher preparation programs. This paper will describe a professional development program collaboratively developed by representatives of the state department of education, institutions of higher education, and K-12…

Literacy is a concept that is continually evolving (Barr, Watts-Taffe, & Yokota, 2000). It is widely agreed that literacy emerges from a variety of abilities (Dickinson & McCabe, 2001). This perspective on development has implications for interventions because, if literacy-related skills emerge as interrelated systems, then optimal…

Although the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 dismisses the role of pedagogy in teacher education, teacher educators see the need for a deeper pedagogy that includes the teaching of thinking and socioemotional processes, which are missing in traditional teacher preparation programs. This article outlines criticisms of teacher education found in…

The purpose of this study was to determine the competencies (knowledge, skills, and abilities) required of effective Agricultural Science teachers both inside and outside the classroom as perceived by preservice and inservice teachers and to suggest ways that preservice teachers can gain those competencies prior to entering the teaching…

This paper investigates the effects of a sustained professional development project in South Australia in which a small group of preschool educators worked with the authors to develop their own knowledge and skills in facilitating young children's mathematical learning. Through the development of an approach to pedagogy that linked the mandated…

The article argues that preparing to be, in Shulman's words, "ready, willing and able" to teach with ICT can be supported by an integrative framework of teacher professional knowledge which recognizes connections between subject domain knowledge, the didactic relation with information and communications technology (ICT), and an openness…

Research into student teachers' perceptions, attitudes and prior experiences of learning suggests that these experiences can exert an influence on practice which can be relatively undisturbed by their initial teacher education. This article is based on the initial findings of an all-Ireland survey of all first-year students on B.Ed. courses in…

This article connects teachers' experiences of reflective school portfolio development to the idea of teachers' knowledge communities, the different groups and individuals with whom teachers negotiate meaning for their stories of experience, lived and told, and re-lived and re-told, over time. The reflective analysis makes the case that the…

Teacher preparation programs have continued to see the ever-increasing control of teacher candidates by policymakers. To control means to regulate. The problem, according to these authors, is that there are currently at least three regulating measurement and assessment obstacles faced by teacher candidates in teacher preparation programs. The…

This paper builds upon previous research into the history classroom and explores the following questions: (1) How do teachers read and interpret historical texts? (2) How do they construct a "truthful" historical account from analysis of various sources? (3) How do they approach an epistemology of history? (4) How do teachers prepare for the…

This paper describes the analysis of teacher pedagogical content knowledge for the topics of heat, energy, and temperature. The results of the study of these (n=6) 7th and 8th grade teachers indicate that teachers may be weak in this type of knowledge despite their experience and pedagogical expertise. Specific information is provided about…