Assesses the range of variation among the predominant types of professional development programs for principals in the 1980s. Highlights divergent trends in organizational processes and program content that characterize these programs, and identifies their varying potential for reaching competing policy goals. (JB)

A national conference of colleges of optometry focused on planning for optometric curricular reform and faculty development. Issues addressed included changes needed to meet entry-level professional needs, available resources, changes in optometry practice, and optometry's role in health care reform. Task forces worked together to develop a…

Describes a project conducted in Houston-area public schools and schools of education to integrate technology into preservice teacher education. The project includes equipping participating schools with computer technology, telecommunications, network-based resources, staff, and training. Training preservice teachers in public school classrooms…

Offers suggestions for improving classroom lecturing in terms of the sender, the content, and the receiver. Provides guidelines for lecture preparation. Explores importance of format, delivery, and timing in presentations. Discusses value of assessing the lecturer and states good lectures attract students, while bad ones drive them away. (NL)

The NCTM Standards present a picture of classroom instruction different from present practice in secondary schools. Presented are three instructional practices: (1) presenting open-ended problems, (2) communication of ideas, and (3) probing for diversity and recommendations for restructuring mathematics instruction based on the California…

Discusses experiences of U.S. and British psychology professors who exchanged teaching duties. Reports perceptions of differences between departments. Examines views concerning students, approaches to teaching, and faculty issues. Concludes that upper level U.S. undergraduates could benefit from British teaching methods. Suggests the British…

California high school teachers completed surveys about computer use in their schools and problems in realizing technology's full potential for education. Results indicate computer use is uneven, computers are scarce, certain departments use computers more than others, and very little of computer technology's potential is realized in mainstream…

A longitudinal study was made of elementary and secondary schools struggling to introduce global perspectives into teaching. This article examines how meanings that different teachers attributed to global education affected their behavior in adapting to change and the effects of competing demands on teachers' time; notes the importance of…

Newly hired tenure-track faculty were interviewed in their first (n=52) and third (n=47) years. Findings indicated a decrease in job satisfaction and increase in job-related stress. Factors driving stress and satisfaction varied over time. It is concluded that understanding faculty needs can enhance faculty development efforts at this critical…

Describes possible roles of the teacher-librarian in school staff development. The roles of librarians are discussed, including serving as agents for educational change and as curriculum consultants; the design of staff development programs is explained; the expansion of media center services is discussed; and marketing and public relations…

A University of Kentucky study of medical school faculty investigated the characteristics and attitudes of teachers who taught or declined to teach a physical diagnosis course. Faculty wanting to teach the course were more often generalists, tenure-track, had spent less time at other institutions, and valued workshops on instructional methodology.…

This paper describes a zero budget alternative to state-funded induction programs in Texas: the Beginning Teacher Academy (BTA). BTA culminates the third phase of a three-phase (initiation, implementation, induction) professional development model. (IAH)

Presents a collection of articles that address the importance of basic instruction programs in college physical education, focusing on the history of basic instruction, issues and answers, effective teaching, faculty renewal, teacher development, and research in basic instruction programs. (SM)

This study used case studies to examine the biographies of three first-year teachers to determine how individual perception of the teaching role impacts professional development during the first year of teaching. Results indicated that beginning teachers can be active agents in controlling the direction of biography and social structures in the…

One educator's experience suggests that having graduate teaching assistants use classroom assessment techniques (CATs) in structured assignments is a good way to develop teaching assistants' ability to look beyond their classroom survival concerns in that it provides a safe way for them to engage students in dialogs about learning. Examples of…