In 1994, Australian Catholic University personnel and 14 K-12 Catholic school teachers collaborated on an action research project to promote professional growth. The K-12 Professional Development Program involved classroom teachers in action research through which they could identify ways to create partnerships with parents. The action research…

This paper describes characteristics of and educational implications for children with Hunter's syndrome, a rare, genetic lysomal storage disorder resulting from an absence of the enzyme iduronate-2-sulphatase. Boys born with this sex-linked disease are born with little or no clinical manifestations, but generally are diagnosed by the age of three…

This symposium addresses the historical development of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga (UTC) Professional Development School (PDS) in collaboration with the Hamilton County Public Schools. The study goes from PDS I, a semester-long initial field experience, to a major component of the teacher preparation program with the addition of PDS…

This book presents a guide for setting up a new teacher mentoring program. Chapter 1, "Relating," stresses the important part a relationship plays in the mentoring process. A set of introspective exercises teaches ways to establish trust and pay attention to nonverbal communication. Chapter 2, "Assessing," provides ways to gather and diagnose data…

Over the past several years, education reformers have increasingly invested in the development of communities within schools as a central strategy to improve teaching and student learning. These communities come in various guises, including small schools, small learning communities, and teacher teams. Two assumptions about how these communities…

The purpose of this study was to investigate middle school general education mathematics teachers' beliefs and knowledge of inclusive instruction and to assess whether or not teachers' classroom practices reflect their beliefs and knowledge. Administrative support and higher education teacher preparation programs were also examined. Data were…

This paper presents the results of a study conducted in a Christian teacher education program which describes students' perceptions of the integration of faith, learning, and practice in education contexts. The study answers the following questions: (1) How do students define the integration of faith and learning (IFL)?; (2) is there consensus…

Case Studies for "Inclusive Schools, Second Edition" presents a sampling of case studies that contain realistic problems concerning inclusion issues for teacher education students to solve. This format was chosen because the case study approach to learning is gaining in popularity as it provides students with an opportunity to apply information…

This case study chronicled ways that one Professional Development School (PDS) partnership implemented peer coaching as a vehicle for promoting collaboration in order to improve classroom instruction. In the first phase of a 4-year study, teachers, administrators, and university faculty developed procedures for creating peer coaching teams and…

This paper discusses strategies with the potential to enhance student learning, teacher collaboration, building management, and joy within the rural school setting. With the goal of fostering education that makes sense to students, three general categories of strategies are considered: curriculum, classroom management, and building management.…

This conference session proposal describes a project designed to assist a group of teacher researchers from the Amarillo, Texas Independent School District. The project was led by West Texas A&M University personnel. It was structured to improve educational policies and practices by designing and conducting research in school settings. A cadre…

This study was intended to design, enact, and evaluate a teacher education project on multiple forms of literacy and to examine whether teacher-learners would develop new understandings about language arts when defined more expansively to include multiple symbol systems offered by music and other art forms. The project was developed by teacher…

Academic staff development that is concerned with how to incorporate online learning into university courses must address two issues: online technology and its educational implications challenge many staff to review their attitudes to their own teaching, and working with online learning technology lends itself to a team-oriented, collegial…

This study uses journal articles and research studies to identify methods in collaborative teaming to support the inclusion of students with severe disabilities in general education classrooms. It examines the implementation of a Student Support Outline as a vehicle for planning during regularly scheduled collaboration meetings by school teams. In…

This final report describes activities and accomplishment of a 3-year federally funded project at Saint Joseph's College (Indiana) to better integrate undergraduate students' general education courses and coursework with their majors. Specifically, the college worked with all 16 departments and 50 faculty (out of 54) to set up frequent,…