To increase collegiality at a rural upstate New York high school, the principal scheduled informal sessions on various subjects (daily plans, objectives, clarity, and learning principles), based on Saphier and Gower's "The Skillful Teacher" (1993). He then discovered that teacher-led presentations worked even better. (MLH)

There are usually three reasons for hiring consultants: to inspire or motivate staff, to provide staff with new ideas, or to glean information from research and evaluation studies to make informed decisions and changes. To benefit from hiring consultants, administrators should know their speakers, consider timing, get their money's worth, verify…

This inservice primer for teachers, consisting of a case study and 10 true/false questions, distinguishes between protections guaranteed by two federal laws, Section 504 of the 1973 Rehabilitation Act and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. Emphasis is on eligibility requirements, coverage for certain learning disabilities and health…

Employs hierarchical linear modeling to examine the relationship between professional development and the reformers' vision of teaching practice. Indicates that the quantity of professional development in which teachers participate is strongly linked with both inquiry-based teaching practice and investigative classroom culture. (Contains 39…

Teachers assigned to teach on an emergency credential are severely challenged by inadequate understanding of classroom management techniques and instructional methods. Also, California's Beginning Teacher Support and Assessment Program is not available to these teachers. This article outlines criteria for principals to include in an inservice…

Inservice, preservice, and prospective teachers and nonteacher controls (N=408) participated in a cross-sectional study of the development of beliefs about use of critical-thinking (CT) activities with different learner populations. Teachers' self-selection of their careers was associated with strong support for high-CT activities for both high-…

Discourse analysis of interaction in a course on language and literacy development elucidates and exemplifies how preschool teachers constructed new knowledge that can be assumed to contribute to the improved literacy instruction observed in their classrooms. An analytic framework rooted in sociocultural theory and interactional sociolinguistic…

For many administrators, the task of providing meaningful and timely inservice training for classroom and school safety is difficult. Staff development time is a scarce commodity in today's education environment; therefore, most inservice activities for faculty members center on academic issues. But during an emergency or crisis, a lack of…

This article examines the challenges of our work as multicultural teacher educators, explicating this perspective on what "taking a stand" means and the importance of infusing a praxis of multicultural education throughout the curricula of our professional teacher education programs. It is argued that as cultural workers/teacher educators, we have…

Classes of undergraduate and graduate students assigned to three professors were used to experience cooperative learning, jigsaw strategies, and to reflect on the process that occurred over a semester. The work is based upon theories of social interdependence, cognitive development, and behavioral learning. Pre- and post surveys were completed by…

An increasing number of students are taking medications while they are in school or are under the influence of medication during school hours. In a novel effort, clinical pharmacists and mental health therapists worked together to provide "mini-in-service" educational programs on psychological disorders and medications used to treat…

Building faculty or professional learning communities is an idea that has come of age. This article describes work being done within the Brigham Young University (BYU)-Public School Partnership to form and sustain such communities across higher and public education and in ways consistent with the four aims of the Agenda for Education in a…

This study investigated the effect of the disability labels: learning disabilities (LD), physical disabilities (PHD) and emotional and behavioural disorder (EBD), on United Arab Emirates public school general education and special education teachers' willingness to refer and place students in gifted and talented programmes. A total of 269…

This article describes quantitative and qualitative data providing perspectives on how six English as a Foreign Language (EFL) vocational high school teachers perceived CALL knowledge and competencies in a yearlong technology-enriched professional development program. The teachers' developing technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK) and…

An argument is made that teacher leadership at both the system and school level is an important part of the science systemic process intended in science education reform. This article describes the design of such a professional development program, the challenges addressed, and the impact on teacher leaders.