Describes the development of a Dutch technical assistance program for South Africa's Technikon Northern Gauteng. It involves five sub-projects linked to five Dutch higher education institutions. Details one of these, the staff development project undertaken in collaboration with the University of Maastricht. (EV)

Describes the University of Georgia's Deans' Forum, a group of approximately 30 faculty members who have engaged in collaborative work on issues of teacher education for over 4 years. Discusses its design, activities, and impact, and elements necessary to sustain it. (EV)

Addresses how teaching quality and student performance can be promoted, offering a blueprint for teacher evaluation, applicable to both regular and special education, based on differentiated supervision and evaluation as well as metacognitive reflection. The paper discusses the pitfalls of misusing teacher evaluation criteria and explains how…

One Pennsylvania school district requires that new teachers spend an additional 15 contractual days each year during their first 5 years of teaching in a comprehensive New Teacher Academy. They are also mentored during their first year. During those 15 days, teachers participate in workshops, personal choice staff development, graduate course…

Two papers examine the positive impact of professional development on student achievement. One discusses experiences in California which show that standards, assessment, and accountability are more likely to succeed when accompanied by extended opportunities for professional learning grounded in teachers' practice. The second explains that the…

Deans of education in the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education have developed a State System Teacher Quality Assurance Program to help graduates of all Pennsylvania state system universities. For the proposed program, the deans examined qualifying conditions and remedial interventions, planning a highly replicable pilot program for…

Suggests that schools need clear structures and strong, professional cultures to foster teacher learning, describing school culture, positive versus toxic cultures, and staff development. The paper highlights two schools with positive cultures and describes how principals and school leaders shape school culture by reading the culture,…

Textual analysis of course materials from a distance-delivered teacher development course reveals how they construct the concept of a good teacher. Standards of competence become normative and prescriptive discourses that limit critically reflective practice. (Contains 23 references.) (SK)

Highlights lessons learned from a small, grant-funded teacher improvement project in Guinea that went nationwide, including: it is possible to make such a system work on a national scale in a resource-scarce country; effective initial and continued training is critical for all participants; it is difficult to provide close-to-school assistance…

In administrator interviews and a survey of 395 medical school faculty (72% responded), faculty prioritized the following learning needs: sustaining vitality, life balance, meaningful work, relationships, and personal growth. Administrators ranked the following needs for faculty: time management, teamwork, and improved performance. Junior faculty…

Suggests 10 steps to alleviate faculty's fears of incorporating online learning: make e-learning as easy as possible, let faculty learn at their own pace, focus faculty training efforts, provide handy reference material, clearly state expectations, provide mentors, empower faculty, enlist students, evaluate training sessions, and let sleeping dogs…

Describes issues involved when converting traditional classrooms into smart classrooms that include appropriate educational technology. Highlights include faculty training in advance; flexibility; design considerations; technical support; and an example based on experiences at Virginia Commonwealth University. (LRW)

Describes how scholarly teaching projects were conceived, implemented, and evaluated by junior faculty from a variety of disciplines at a medium-sized Midwestern university. Explores considerations in designing scholarly teaching projects, methods used to evaluate teaching effectiveness, and outcomes of the teaching projects. (EV)

Examines a course team who have joint responsibility in the design of student learning as they reflect on their professional learning, focusing on professional development as a course team rather than staff development for individual teachers. Highlights a strategy for linking professional development activities to course teams for a more…

Discusses the importance of getting and retaining the right people as faculty members if research and scholarship in the allied health professions are to be enhanced. (JOW)