Consistent with its mission, the National Association of School Psychologists (NASP) has adopted an integrated set of comprehensive standards for the preparation, credentialing, and professional practice in school psychology. Standards for training and credentialing, ethical principles, and guidelines for practice have undergone review and…

This final report describes accomplishments and activities of a 3-year federally funded project of the University of Maine to develop and deliver a graduate Master's degree program in early intervention for infants and young children with low incidence disabilities. A curriculum was designed to prepare professionals to provide culturally relevant,…

This proceedings contains 59 conference papers and presentation summaries concerned with rural special education. The papers are arranged in 11 sections covering at-risk students, collaborative education models, early childhood education, impacting governmental policy, inservice teacher and administrator education, multicultural education, parents…

In examining the topic of evaluation, it is necessary to look at the role of evaluation in supervision and professional development. For any program to be effective, research states that accountability must be the focus of those responsible for the program. Evaluation of program, results, and personnel is part of providing for accountability. The…

Preservice teacher researchers investigated the effectiveness of a Professional Development School (PDS). They began by reviewing information about other PDSs, then conducted a literature review. Their evaluation involved teachers employed at a local PDS, teachers who had taught students at the PDS, undergraduates who had participated in field…

This study investigated the impact of the Benedum Collaborative Model of Teacher Education at West Virginia University (WVU). Under this model, Professional Development Schools (PDSs) were expected to be sites of best practice, centers of inquiry, and empowered communities. The model raised admissions requirements, reinvented the curriculum, and…

The desire to integrate technology within the PreK-12 educational environment is a noble endeavor and may lead to the enhancement of student achievement. Teacher candidates are constantly striving to understand the learning environment and to meet these expectations, but do not have models from which they may glean appropriate knowledge,…

This report summarizes the activities and findings of Horizon Research, Inc. (HRI) in its external evaluation of Rural Physics Teacher Resource Agents (PTRA) project. The report details HRI's work and findings since June 2002. The project is on schedule for going to scale with the rural centers model, establishing four centers in Year One and…

This report summarizes the activities and findings of Horizon Research, Inc. (HRI) in its external evaluation of the American Association of Physic Teachers (APPT's) Rural Physics Teacher Resource Agents (PTRA) project. The report details HRI's work and findings since June 2004. The report is divided into five main sections. The first provides an…

Japanese lesson study, in various adapted forms, is becoming increasingly significant in professional development of mathematics teachers in the USA. Our goal in the research reported in this paper was to investigate, in a three-tiered teaching experiment, the cycles of learning of two researchers, six teachers, and the students in three grade 4…

Online instruction gains an increasing presence due to associated benefits, including the ability to disregard geographical and time constraints, and the belief that online training is more cost efficient. This paper provides a discussion of issues to be faced by HRD professionals who intend to move the training environment online in response to…

A survey of informal learning among 318 teachers and HRD professionals was conducted. Analysis of the data found that teachers rely to a greater extent on interactive informal learning activities while HRD professionals rely to a greater extent on independent learning activities. Data analysis also found that six environmental factors inhibit…

This document contains six articles. The first article describes the current status of education in the United States. The second article describes what changes to expect in adult and student populations, migration, the economy, and support for public education in the Mid-continental region. The next four articles provide snapshots of the region…

The National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) has challenged test developers to create a voluntary program of certification in which highly accomplished teachers receive recognition for meeting rigorous standards. These four papers report the experiences of teacher-candidates, school district administrators, researchers, and test…

The local assessment moderation process is described in terms of Science Education for Public Understanding Program (SEPUP) teachers' roles in the process of student evaluation and the subsequent use of that data for program evaluation. Teachers engaged in local assessment moderation function as a community of judgment, and this task engagement…