In 1995, the Appalachian Rural Systemic Initiative (ARSI) was awarded a 5-year grant to improve performance in mathematics and science in a 66-county area in central Appalachia through high-quality, standards-based teaching supported by aligned, coherent local and regional systems. The ARSI model has three levels. The first level entails local…

This study was intended to design, enact, and evaluate a teacher education project on multiple forms of literacy and to examine whether teacher-learners would develop new understandings about language arts when defined more expansively to include multiple symbol systems offered by music and other art forms. The project was developed by teacher…

Academic staff development that is concerned with how to incorporate online learning into university courses must address two issues: online technology and its educational implications challenge many staff to review their attitudes to their own teaching, and working with online learning technology lends itself to a team-oriented, collegial…

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…

Hudson County Community College in New Jersey adopted a new mission statement in April 1993, which radically changed the school from a limited-mission college to a comprehensive college devoted to serving the entire community's educational needs. A strong faculty and staff development program was necessary for this transition. A new program was…

College faculty can avoid investing valuable time and resources in inappropriate technologies by staying in step with technological progress. A "future proof" approach to technology recognizes and welcomes small failures, considering them part of the ongoing process of absorbing technology into the learning process. Future proofing attempts to…

This final report describes activities and accomplishment of a 3-year federally funded project at Saint Joseph's College (Indiana) to better integrate undergraduate students' general education courses and coursework with their majors. Specifically, the college worked with all 16 departments and 50 faculty (out of 54) to set up frequent,…

Project Kaleidoscope (PKAL) focuses on transforming undergraduate science, mathematics, engineering, and technology programs and draws faculty from across disciplinary lines. The project report provides an overview of the project; a section that traces the project from problem definition to project conclusion and discusses administrative pitfalls;…

The purpose of this study was to investigate what, if anything, was lacking in training teachers for the classroom. A brief questionnaire was give to 12 teachers with two or less years of teaching at an elementary school in Oxford (Mississippi). All respondents stated a need for parent-teacher conference training. A review of relevant literature…

This booklet outlines key principles that ideally characterize partnership governance structures and processes in professional development school (PDS) settings, discussing the advantages and disadvantages of the various decision making structures and processes currently employed by PDS partnerships. The booklet provides a self-assessment tool for…

A survey examined the perceived influence of teacher educators on the 13 autonomous state teaching standard boards now in existence. A total of 125 board members, selected at random from the directories of the boards, received the mailed survey, and 73 percent responded. According to the results, all non-teacher educator board members rated the…

This report raises questions for policymakers to consider in designing and funding professional development activities. The study used 1995-1996 data to examine how much money states and districts spent on professional development and what that money bought, investigating connections between state and district expenditures on teacher professional…

This study sought to promote increased understanding of teachers' personal beliefs and philosophies about teaching and learning and the impact of these beliefs and philosophies on action in the classroom. Subjects were 17 elementary school regular and special education teachers who participated in an inservice course, videotaped themselves…

Researchers investigated the optimum length of teacher inservice activities where increasing teacher efficacy was the goal. Participants were elementary science teachers from seven teacher enhancement projects conducted from 1992-99. The length breakdown of each program was: 1992--6 weeks; 1994--6 weeks; 1995--4 weeks; 1996--4 weeks; 1997--4…

This practicum was developed to provide faculty and administrators in a K-12 school system with the necessary skills and instruction to incorporate Internet technologies into the curriculum using the existing resources located in the school. The project was divided into three phases. The initial phase developed staff and community awareness. The…