The author's most meaningful professional development (PD) experience was not a workshop or institute; nor did it result from a course or professional reading. Rather, it came in the form of Betsy--the second-grade teacher down the hall. This article describes the role of a mentor in professional development--and why everybody needs a Betsy!

STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) teaching is more effective and student achievement increases when teachers join forces to develop strong professional learning communities in their schools. This finding is supported by a two-year National Science Foundation funded study, "STEM Teachers in Professional Learning Communities:…

This research seeks to explore how early childhood professionals support children's scientific learning from the practitioner's perspective. Taking a qualitative approach, this case study indicates possible ways effective team teaching can support the child's scientific learning as well as other team members' learning and teaching development.…

The widespread turn towards "collaboration" in qualitative research methodologies warrants careful and continuous critique. This paper addresses the possibilities and the challenges of collaborative methodology, and in particular what happens when the line between pedagogy and methodology is blurred in classroom-based ethnographic…

Over the past seven years, research teams from the National Research Center for Career and Technical Education (NRCCTE) have been at work testing curriculum integration models. Each of three studies--Math-in-CTE, Authentic Literacy-in-CTE, and Science-in-CTE--has focused on the development of pedagogic frameworks and delivery of professional…

The use of online methods for professional development activities is on the rise, with more schools exploring creative ways of providing teacher learning opportunities. Online professional development offers a promising direction for providing increased learning opportunities, promoting professional collaboration, and supporting teacher facility…

Background: In light of the growing complexity of schoolwork, it is important that faculty members move away from isolated learning toward a more collective type of thinking regarding teaching and learning issues. Purpose: Whereas collective learning has mostly been approached from a deficit-based orientation (finding/solving problems and…

The professional development schools (PDS) effort, which grew out of the groundbreaking work of the Holmes Group (1986), was deliberately focused on the support and advancement of teachers as professionals and the professionalization of teaching, so the author argues that it is ironic that a volume about PDS might be seen as voicing an opinion…

How can a teacher use the practice of reflection to create rich mathematical learning environments that are engaging to students? In such environments, one can hear and see a seamless integration of Problem Solving, Reasoning and Proof, Communication, making mathematical Connections, and Representation (the NCTM Process Standards) through Number…

Half of all teachers might be moonlighting, working at a part-time job in addition to their main job as teachers, and that has consequences for their teaching jobs. Moonlighting interferes with their daily instruction and with their ability to collaborate with other educators. Moonlighting also can contribute to a less positive attitude about…

Social work students and faculty are increasingly embracing online education and collaborative teaching. Yet models to support these activities have not been adequately developed. This paper describes how a team of instructors developed, delivered, and evaluated an undergraduate gerontological social work course using a collaborative online…

Recently, consensus among researchers and professionals has emerged about factors that contribute to postschool success of youth with disabilities. Prominent among these factors are targeted academic preparation, family involvement, youth empowerment, and service collaboration and linkages. Work experience and paid employment have been identified…

Educators today are challenged with the task of designing curricula and standards for students of varying abilities. While technology and innovation steadily improve classroom learning, teachers and administrators continue to struggle in developing the best methodologies and practices for students with disabilities. "Models for Effective…

The quality of teacher education allows first-year teachers to meet mandates at federal and state levels (Darling-Hammond, 2010a). The teaching profession is complex and requires new and innovative quality preparation programs (Wei, Andree, & Darling-Hammond, 2009). This study involved examination of the perceptions of 17 building principals…

Successful education systems are those that promote leadership at all levels, thereby encouraging teachers and principals, regardless of the formal positions they occupy, to lead innovation in the classroom, the school and the system as a whole. This report summarises evidence from the OECD Teaching and Learning International Survey and the OECD…