The purpose of this guide is to help experienced professional developers and others organize and conduct professional development that trains facilitators of National Center for the Study of Adult Learning and Literacy (NCSALL) study circles. Promoters of the study circle facilitators training should be experienced trainers. This guide includes…

Minorities are underrepresented in the departments of education at institutions of higher learning. This underrepresentation is due to more attractive opportunities in other fields, rigorous promotion and tenure requirements, and isolation of minority professors. This paper asserts that cultivation of mentoring relationships between senior members…

This in-depth case study explored the successes and struggles of elementary teachers as they implemented "Investigations in Number, Data, and Space," a K-5 research-based mathematics curriculum that offered students connected and meaningful mathematical problems and in-depth thinking. Data collection and analysis were based on the Zone…

We describe a large-scale urban school initiative aimed at teachers' professional development with the goal of increasing teachers' mathematics content knowledge and helping them improve their practice. Believing that the formation of professional communities of teachers is crucial in supporting teachers trying to implement changes in their…

In this paper we document the importance of institutional context in both constraining and enabling the work of mathematics teachers. We build from our current and ongoing collaborative efforts with middle-grades mathematics teachers to provide an analytic approach and resulting analysis that clarifies the critical role of institutional context in…

In 2000, the U.S. Department of Education and the Consortium for Policy Research in Education invited a range of people involved in schoolwide improvement to the Regional Forum on Turning Around Low-Performing Schools. Participants examined the responsibilities of federal, state, and local entities to do what is needed for students in high poverty…

This final report describes the activities, accomplishments, and outcomes of a three-year project, Preparing Advanced Collaborative Teams, of the College of William and Mary (Virginia) to train education professionals to plan, deliver, and evaluate programs for students with disabilities in inclusive settings. The project incorporated four key…

This is the fourth of a series of papers exploring the potential influence of National Board for Professional Teaching Standards propositions, standards, and processes on the development of advanced master's programs for teachers. It makes the case that collaboration is at the heart of accomplished teaching, and hence, of critical interest to both…

Small schools can provide an environment well suited to new and improved forms and models of teacher professional development. A compact faculty size can support close interpersonal relationships, resulting in greater teacher collaboration on interdisciplinary units and personalized teaching plans for all students. Thus, the necessity and…

This fastback provides practical information to help teachers better fulfill their roles in the mentoring process. The first section, "Introduction," explains the importance of the mentoring relationship. The second section, "Characteristics of a Good Mentor," highlights four core concepts: a mentor leads through example, a mentor leads through…

In professional development, attention to both collaboration and critical thinking in the various interactive socialization processes of teaching practices should be essential strategic elements in a formative environment. This study presents contributions from the teleinteractive dynamic established in a virtual environment for the critical…

An ethnographic study of teacher teaming was conducted at an urban high school, exploring the effects the teaming process had on teachers' and students' experiences. Heritage High School was a relatively large urban school in the Midwest, employing over 100 teachers and serving over 1,200 students. The school has a graduation rate of only about…

This monograph discusses using collaboration and consultation to teach children and youth with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD) in the general education classroom. After an introductory chapter, Chapter 2, "Collaboration and Consultation: Promises and Limitations," compares collaboration and consultation as they relate to serving…

This paper examines the impact of ethnocultural diversity on the process of collaboration. Section 1 shares stories of several different experiences with collaborative efforts, highlighting key assumptions about how people work together and how culture impacts assumptions. Section 2 discusses problems and issues related to collaborating. For…

This paper describes a study that investigated Western Australian senior high schools' cultures. Researchers developed the School Cultural Elements Questionnaire to examine six aspects of school culture: professional values, emphasis on learning, collegiality, collaboration, shared planning, and transformational leadership. A group of 422 teachers…