The High School Puente Project, one of several outreach efforts of the University of California, is an innovative program that is designed to assist traditionally underserved students. Puente builds on community and the idea of "familia" and features a strong component of professional developments for teachers as well as structural…

The authors of this article argue that professional development on literacy instruction should go beyond instructional methods to teacher identity. Reading and discussing poetry and literature, as well as writing to examine powerful themes in teachers' lives, can help educators explore and deepen their identity as language arts teachers. Casbon,…

Meaningful faculty professional development has been recognized through decades of research as an important component in effective classroom instruction. Too often, however, faculty development activities are offered by well-meaning administrators with little or no attention to faculty assessments of their own levels of competence. This study of…

Staff development practices that successfully implemented long-term applications of cluster grouping in two districts are analyzed, compared, and reviewed. Parallel practices and differences are discussed concerning program beginning, implementation, and maintenance. Conclusions are drawn and six steps for use and consideration by others engaged…

Going on an expedition enables teachers to become better scientists and researchers and, thus, better classroom instructors. Teachers have the opportunities to go on exotic field trips around the world as amateur research assistants, do hands on research in their own backyards, or vicariously experience another scientist?s work via the Internet. A…

This article reports on 3 years of mathematics reform that took place in 4 high-poverty minority schools in a large, demographically mixed public school system in the South. Comparisons were made with 2 demographically similar sets of schools on project-constructed interviews, items taken from the Third International Math/Science Study (TIMSS)…

Creating and sustaining a collaborative culture takes work, effort and focus. If professional development delivered in the classrooms is to be successful, the focus and practice must become part of the school culture (Danielson, 2002). Providing in-classroom professional development has been the key to instructional reform at Lee Richmond…

This study builds upon the concept of alignment within the curriculum (due to Biggs) and suggests, in the context of two current examples, an integrated methodology for effectively aligned development activities within universities. Higher Education institutions face important challenges. Firstly, quality enhancement of the curriculum is now an…

Institutions of higher education are faced with the challenge of developing faculty who are ready, willing, and able to teach online. Standard approaches towards faculty development often miss the dynamic and complex relationship between content, pedagogy, and technology. Our approach has faculty members and graduate students participate in a…

This article introduces technology training designed for university professors who work with preservice and emergency teachers at a College of Education of a state university. The technology training was delivered in multiple ways: (a) large group workshops, (b) small group meetings, (c) individual mentoring, and (d) just-in-time training. Service…

This editorial introduces the July 2004 issue of "Teacher Development". When Sue Brindley, the principal editor of "Teacher Development", invited the General Teaching Council for England to participate in guest-editing a special issue of the journal on the theme of teachers' engagement in and with research, the GTC was…

Objective: Academically motivated graduates of military psychiatric residency programs confront serious challenges. Method: In this article, the authors present a junior faculty development model organized around four overlapping domains: mentorship, scholarship, research, and career planning/development. Using these four domains as a platform for…

Despite general agreement that students should consider more than one way to solve a complex mathematics problem, this practice is rarely observed in U.S. classrooms. In this paper, we examine data that trace the year-long professional development experience of 12 veteran teachers of middle grades mathematics--experienced users of a…

The importance of the principal's role in making a teacher's first year successful is documented in this Research Report, which examines the needs of new teachers and how they can be addressed. It discusses problems related to their inexperience and how principals can instill in them the confidence they often lack. (Contains 4 online resources.)

Faculty reading groups explored the potential for creating a discussion series among departmental colleagues at a regional university. The objectives of this initiative were to enhance collegiality and to facilitate communication and consensus-building skills among peers. Two titles were read by participating faculty during sessions spanning two…