Two papers examine how to promote literacy among high risk students by better utilizing literacy time blocks and providing faculty development. One explains that poor children with good decoding skills still can have vocabulary and comprehension deficiencies. The other describes how bringing reading research into the classroom requires giving…

Offers an overview of current challenges of preparing foreign language teachers in United States schools. Discusses the growing demand for foreign language classes in elementary and middle schools; longer internships for preservice teachers; ongoing professional development; more bilingual and immersion programs; and the trend toward…

Discusses training and support for distance educators. Topics include why faculty embrace distance education; why they resist it; stages of faculty development; types of effective training; content of training; level of course support offered; rewards and incentives for distance instructors; and evaluating staff development. (LRW)

The Milken Foundation launched the Teacher Advancement Program (TAP), based on the principles of opportunity and accountability and designed to bolster student performance by creating new incentives, rewards, and supports for teachers as they move up the career ladder (master teachers, mentor teachers, and associate teachers). Because not everyone…

Presents research on enhancing teachers' understanding of the key role emotions play in their personal professional growth, combining narrative, autobiographical accounts of British school and college teachers with an examination of the underlying values affecting the practices of their tutors. Results reveal the effects of powerful, often…

Integrative motivation was found to correlate significantly with American Sign Language (ASL) proficiency for 115 hearing faculty and staff at a postsecondary program for deaf students. Instrumental motives, however, were perceived as less important. Higher achievement in ASL was also associated with a positive cultural attitude toward deaf…

Based on a classroom teaching incident described elsewhere in the issue, use of reflective teaching to improve college instruction is discussed. Ways in which the professor's changing understanding of the teaching situation can be deepened by teacher-directed assessment in such a context and, in turn, inform future classroom research, are…

Discusses what effective instructional leadership looks like, how principals can improve teaching, and how teachers' views of leaders affect what they do in the classroom. Highlights two major themes that principals exhibit in effective instructional leadership (talking with teachers to promote reflection and promoting professional growth). A…

Reviews programs developed by the District of Columbia Public Schools to recruit, prepare and retain teachers. Though the programs mirrored national reforms, they were not institutionalized within the school system and thus faded after several years. The District's experience illustrates the often too-short lifespan of such reforms and the…

Discussion of the secondary school reform project at Brewster Academy (NH) focuses on the School Design Model and how technology has been used. Highlights include curriculum authoring tools; professional growth tools for teachers; and results of a longitudinal study that show improvements in SAT (Scholastic Assessment Tests) scores. (LRW)

Studied eight teachers struggling to implement an innovation in teaching English writing in the Hong Kong schools and developed a model for the Innovation-Decision process based on that of E. Rogers (1995). Findings provide a theoretical framework and principles for designing in-service programs for teachers adjusting to educational change. (SLD)

Describes the Comprehensive Social Studies Assessment Project (CSSAP), a collaborative effort by 23 states aiming to develop assessments for upper elementary, middle, and high school students in history, geography, civics, and economics. Explains that CSSAP aims to initiate a professional development program, implement a portfolio assessment, and…

Describes the experiences of four veteran teachers who came to teach in a residential high school for gifted adolescents and participated in peer coaching, study groups, and mentoring. This faculty development exposed them to advanced content and higher order thinking strategies, which were the very same skills they were encouraged to use to…

Describes how one college of education built its computer infrastructure and technology expertise. Essential in this process were a commitment on the part of the dean, significant funding, technology training sessions, and the expertise of technology specialists. The integration of technology throughout this college has positioned it to become an…

Discusses the relationship between health literacy and advocacy for health and health education, identifying health advocacy competencies for students and teachers, delineating health education's role in developing health-literate citizens and training health educators as advocates, and examining recent initiatives in school health education and…