This paper describes the structured faculty mentoring program at the Pittsburgh Technical Institute (Pennsylvania), which is designed to provide a system of support for new faculty, who encounter many stressful situations on a daily basis, and provide guidance and encouragement. One of the primary goals of the program is to improve the quality of…

This paper proposes that activity theory provides a useful framework for studying the conceptual development of teachers, particularly English/language arts teachers. Activity theory shifts attention to the social and cultural factors that mediate development in particular contexts, thus allowing an understanding of how particular preservice and…

This book concerns potential and actual uses of service learning as an instructional methodology in teacher education. Section 1 discusses how service and learning are primary to practically all roles teachers play. Section 2, a rationale for service learning and teacher education, shows consistency with Goals 2000, school-to-work transition, and…

The Beginning Department Chair Study used qualitative methodology to examine the developing identities of 13 new department chairs at 10 public and private colleges and universities in eight states. Data were gathered during on-site semistructured interviews (approximately two per month) during the chair's first year and periodic telephone…

This study examined teachers' experiences in the Washington state-mandated educational reform process, their pedagogical responses to the reform initiatives, and the way in which these were mediated by professional development activities such as those initiated by the Goals 2000 project. Five Washington teachers participated in this case study.…

This guide is the result of a 2-year initiative, Results-Based Staff Development for the Middle Grades. It provides information and resources for selecting, designing, and evaluating staff development to improve student achievement. It targets school staff development committees, principals, staff development leaders, and curriculum coordinators.…

The Southwest Educational Developmental Laboratory identified, located, and annotated references to inform the work of the Promoting Instructional Coherence Project, which investigates problems teachers face in their efforts to make their practice more coherent or meaningful for students. The references included in this annotated bibliography are…

This book, designed to be used with a training workshop that helps veteran teachers be effective mentors to beginning teachers, provides instructions on how to facilitate a successful workshop. The book offers six chapters that include strategies and materials to help readers learn how to plan and promote a workshop; facilitate a successful…

This guide answers three basic questions on how to develop a professional community of learners: (1) What type of polices, structures, and procedures will help staff to connect with and learn from one another? (2) What incentives help schools to undertake community-wide learning? and (3) How can schools transform themselves into professional…

This report describes a study on Arizona's beginning teacher induction, examining how induction program elements vary statewide. It also examines three induction models: the California Model, the Connecticut Model, and a model for science teachers in Arizona. In 2000, researchers surveyed 197 traditional public school districts regarding their…

This report summarizes the activities, outcomes, and recommendations of a small Commonwealth Department of Education, Training and Youth Affairs (DETYA)-funded teacher professional development project "Teachers First." Noting that the project delivered a program of professional development informed by the recommendations of the DETYA…

A study addressed two challenges in American teacher education: (1) the differences in background between a largely Euro-American teaching force and the diverse pupils it serves; and (2) the difficulty of teaching about literacy and culture in responsive ways. Working with a group of teachers, the study used ethnic autobiographies, written by…

The purpose of this ongoing project is to establish a model for school-based teacher development for secondary science and mathematics teachers in Taiwan. The model uses an action research approach with emphasis on constructivist perspectives of teaching and learning and the idea that teachers are to be taken as researchers and reflective…

This paper presents information from a series of preliminary asynchronous international conversations across four cultural contexts that focus on enhancing the profile of teachers in curriculum decision making. The paper challenges education systems to match the rhetoric about the place of teachers in curriculum decision making with curriculum…

This study examined the impact of a comprehensive periodic post-tenure review policy within a public research institution which was mandated to establish procedures for complying with a policy requiring periodic evaluation of tenured faculty. The post-tenure review policy was implemented in fall 1987. Two full cycles of periodic 5-year reviews…