What does informal formative assessment look like in the context of scientific inquiry teaching? Is it possible to identify different levels of informal assessment practices? Can different levels of informal assessment practices be related to levels of student learning? This study addresses these issues by exploring how 4 middle school science…

A well-designed professional development (PD) program serves to deepen and extend teachers' subject matter knowledge and extend and refine their teaching practices. However, professional development programs often fail to achieve sustained change in teacher practices and improvement in student learning. In this study the authors attempt to find…

The National Alliance of State Science and Mathematics Coalitions reports that American 12th graders ranked near the bottom of 21 nations that participated in the Third International Mathematics and Science Survey. This article describes several free Web resources designed to supplement rigorous classroom instruction, support NCLB initiatives, and…

Journaling is an integral part of staff development because it allows individuals to consider their own learning thoughtfully and it also helps participants analyze their own and other's thought processes and think about how one thinks and learns. This article features Williamson County Schools in Franklin, Tennessee, which created an academy to…

California's Los Angeles Mission College received a grant to conduct activities to develop sites for home economics and lifespan/life management education. The activities focused on curriculum development and professional development workshops to prepare staff for the changing roles of educators, while emphasis was placed on activities that helped…

This investigation was designed to determine the effect of a specific instructional approach upon the attitude of content area teachers toward teaching students to learn from text. The hypothesis tested was that a significant proportion of teachers receiving training in critical curriculum procedures would demonstrate an improvement in attitude.…

There exists much research and theoretical literature on school restructuring that is of interest to policymakers, practitioners, and educational researchers. In this publication, a bibliography of journal articles, manuscripts, and books is provided that divides the literature into five areas. Section 1, "General References on School…

This report examines twenty-three schools in their first year of participation in a California-State-sponsored restructuring initiative called Every Student Succeeds (ESS). Four areas of restructuring are reviewed: (1) curriculum and instruction; (2) governance; (3) professional development of teachers; and (4) coordination of community resources.…

In 1992, the Guam System of Performance Measures and Standards for vocational education was adopted. In 1993-94, results of the performance measures and standards indicated the following: 68 percent of secondary students achieved the 0.5 grade growth in reading; about 90 percent of postsecondary students scored a mean gain of 1.2, well over the…

This five part paper reviews problems faced by underprepared students and describes a model developed by faculty at the South Campus of Florida's Palm Beach Community College for dealing with such students. Section I reviews issues related to defining student underpreparedness and developing a model to serve all types of underprepared students,…

This paper describes initial implementation of a new role in staff development--the Instructional Coach (IC). The IC acts as a resource at the school level to assist the principal and faculty to improve instructional practices. In a pilot project, one teacher from each of four schools within the Department of Defense Dependents Schools system…

The absence of a professional career structure for teachers is not a new problem. In 1989, Australian unions, employers, and governments negotiated the Advanced Skills Teacher (AST) classification. Three levels of AST status involving salary increases were proposed to offer teachers a professional career path in teaching comparable in status to…

International literacy is a crucial element for institutions of higher education, and especially for community colleges since they educate more than half of the adults in the United States, many of whom do not transfer to four-year universities. The best method for helping students achieve international literacy is through internationalizing the…

This study sought to identify a norm for teaching development at five different higher education institutions. Identifying institutional norms is important because much of individual behavior in an institution is governed by such norms. Faculty (N=145) at five institutions (a community college district, two liberal arts colleges, a comprehensive…

This investigation, using Nuttin Motivation Relational Theory (1985), was designed to analyze the main motivational objectives responsible for the university and professional fulfillment of teachers and future teachers. It also analyzed how those objectives are distributed in both intrinsic and extrinsic terms, as well as the relation between…