The idea of teachers working together to improve teaching and learning seems so sensible that few would argue against it. However, some schools do not provide regular and ample opportunities for teachers to collaborate on their practice mainly because they do not know how to find new ways of using existing resources, such as time and personnel. In…

Effective educational reform involves changes in the overall operations of schools. Teachers who collaborate, analyze the functions of their schools, and adjust their practices become leaders and participants in whole-school change. This study documents the impact of teacher leadership teams from three schools in their efforts to increase access…

Continuing professional development (CPD) of teachers is a neglected area of teacher development in South Africa. The introduction of a new national curriculum in the post-apartheid era presents enormous challenges for teachers. CPD initiatives in South Africa thus far have been fragmented, diluted and have had little direct influence on teachers'…

There is a long history in the United States of collaboration between the academy and K-12 educators. Indeed, history, as an academic discipline in America, began in an atmosphere of professorial concern about history's place in the schools. In this article, the author provides a brief and general overview of the history of collaborative efforts…

Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) are places where teachers work with intentionality to improve their own craft for the benefit of students. Teachers and administrators study collaboratively and analyze student learning results to improve academic achievement for all students. Administrators working to implement PLCs seek to expand…

Any given year, general and special education teachers may find themselves managing and supervising one or more paraprofessionals within their classrooms. Paraprofessionals represent a growing and important segment of personnel used to provide support for students with severe learning or behavioral needs in self-contained and inclusive settings.…

One of the primary ways schools are addressing the need for accountability and individualization is through a technique known as co-teaching. Co-teaching is considered a viable option for ensuring students have a "highly qualified" content teacher in the room, while also ensuring that all students' individualized education needs are met by an…

Lesson study is a teacher-directed program for improving instruction. It focuses on improving students' learning by systematically refining the lessons used for instruction. In this article, the authors describe the use of lesson study with preservice secondary mathematics teachers to encourage collaborative reflection and professional…

This research examines how engaging teachers in collaboratively constructing situated assessments enhances teacher professional development, fosters meaningful shifts to practice, and supports productive conceptions of accountability. We conducted case studies of six teachers engaged as partners in investigating new approaches to assessing and…

An emerging research tool used in recent years to better understand and improve teacher thinking has been the use of collaboration and collaborative action research. In our study, we were interested in whether teachers could enhance the learning of their subjects through the use of teaching techniques and strategies involving social interaction.…

Learning scientists have discovered that deep learning is more likely to occur in complex social and technological environments, one example of this is computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL) situations. This was the main guideline when partners of Socrates Comenius 2.1-project FISTE (A Future Way for In-Service Teacher Training Across…

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships among teacher quality characteristics and school culture components and their influence upon student attendance and suspension rates. In addition, the research also examined the educational leadership practices of exemplary school principals in relation to the components of a collaborative…

The purpose of this study was to determine if implementing a specific collaborative structure would create effective teacher teams that in turn would lead to improved student achievement. An effective team can be viewed as one that uses collaboration to increase its knowledge and improve its practices. The structure that was implemented during…

"The Learning Principal" is an eight-page newsletter published eight times a year. It focuses on the important and unique work of school principals. This issue includes: (1) Talking "the" Walk Renews Schools: The Transformational Leader Links Values to Actions (Valerie von Frank); (2) School Leadership: Q&A Teacher Learning Turns School from F to…

A project funded through the National Vocational Education and Training Research and Evaluation program investigated higher education programs--mostly bachelor's and associate degrees--offered by technical and further education (TAFE) institutes. This overview highlights some of the implications for staff development identified through this…