This study examines the events and behaviors associated with the improved and sustained student achievement in a rural high school. The rural high school highlighted in this study showed significant improvement and sustained achievement over a three year period as defined in the following areas: (a) test scores, (b) achievement of Adequate Yearly…

In 2000, the author took over the leadership of a large elementary school located in a small community in western Pinellas County, Florida. During her first year, the student population was around 950 students in kindergarten through fifth grade. Today the school population is around 750 students, with 93 percent being white students who live in…

Across the country, schools operate on a schedule of about 180 six-hour days. This is not because they think it is the best schedule or the right schedule but because it has been in place for generations and would be difficult to change. But does this schedule really provide enough time to help all students achieve academic proficiency? The…

Today's educational environment requires teachers who understand teaching and learning, have strong content knowledge, and can make connections between life experiences and the curriculum. Teachers are expected to be continually learning to improve their practice. Professional learning is essential in this process. Research on professional…

Case studies of Authentic Intellectual Work (AIW) in the Iowa project included four high schools that have been practicing this professional development model for the last five years. The schools, AHST Secondary School, Cedar Falls High School, Spencer High and Middle Schools and Valley High School were visited in April, 2011. The visits included…

The call for reform of teacher preparation programs by Arne Duncan (2009), U.S. Secretary of Education, has the potential to be the catalyst for a re-emergence of co-teaching in higher education. Duncan argues for the need to implement innovative preservice teacher education strategies that will result in an increase in K-12 student achievement.…

The Arkansas Department of Education Co-teaching Project was designed to assist Arkansas schools in the implementation of more inclusive service delivery models for students with disabilities. The project began due to a need to increase the number of students being served in less restrictive environments, but evolved into a systematic statewide…

This article chronicles the coordination and better integration of existing institutional resources to support "cocurricular" themes embedded in the provision of a large enrollment, video-mediated undergraduate operations management (OM) course. The name Project Cheddarfield refers to a 2008 initiative in which two professors team-taught…

Inclusion for students with disabilities into the general education classroom has grown exponentially over the last decade. With legislation, such as, No Child Left Behind (NCLB) and The Individuals with Disabilities Educational Improvement Act (IDEA) of 2004 schools are moving towards integrating their classrooms more than they ever have in the…

The purpose of this study was to explore and identify the experiences that informed the development of three veteran (15+ years of teaching experience) 9th grade physics teachers' specialized knowledge, or PCK, for using representations to teach the topics of energy transformation and transfer. Through the lens of phenomenography, the study…

Background/Context: Studies have found that within-field mentoring, collaboration with colleagues, and administrative support can increase new general education teacher commitment (Kapadia, Coca, & Easton, 2007; Smith & Ingersoll, 2004). In the area of special education, studies have reported that support from mentors and colleagues is…

Our purpose was to investigate the efficacy of using reflective practice to guide our action research study of incorporating formative assessment into middle school science teaching and learning. Using participatory action research, we worked collaboratively to incorporate formative assessment into two instructional units, and then engaged in…

This self-study emerged within the context of a school-based professional development project that established collaboration between two teacher educators and a group of elementary public school teachers. We launched the Book in a Bag project as a way to promote curriculum integration in classrooms and at the same time to provide a venue for…

This article explores whether features associated with effective professional communities among K-12 teachers are relevant and sufficient for improving the practice of supervisors in teacher education programs. Interview and observational data from nineteen supervisors in one teacher education program illuminate what supervisors want in order to…

This study examined the impact of enrollment in co-teaching classes on the grades earned by high school students without disabilities. The study also included analyses of teacher responses to a survey regarding their experience with the co-teaching model at the school. The study sought to examine (1) the extent to which enrollment in co-teaching…