This project involved field testing and revising the "Standards for Professional Development Schools" (PDSs) and developing an assessment process for their use. Eighteen PDS partnerships participated. They provided information and feedback, developed self-studies, hosted team visits, worked on visiting teams, and volunteered in ongoing…

The Mekong e-Sim involved more than 140 students across Australia and overseas participating in an online roleplay-simulation over a four-week period. Set in the Mekong region of South East Asia, it allowed for debates over development issues arising from clear-cut differences and conflicts in values and interests. The geography and engineering…

This final report and separate evaluation report describe activities and accomplishments of a 45-month project at Heidelberg College (Ohio), to develop and evaluate an undergraduate course for nonmusic majors which integrates music with a variety of other disciplines. The course's emphasis was on the relationship of music to the larger society.…

Texas A&M University developed a secondary education collaborative model leading to the redesign of the secondary education teacher preservice preparation program. Phase 1 provided for self-directed experiences with adolescents. Phase 2 established an understanding of teaching and schools in modern society. Phase 3 focused on developing skills…

Muskingum College in Ohio uses team teaching in Teaching Science and Social Studies in Elementary Schools and Teaching Mathematics in Elementary Schools, an 8-semester-hour inquiry block for preservice teachers. The course includes three areas of integration: coordination of course content among the three disciplines, team teaching of strategies…

This paper considers the question of faculty as "community." The study examined community-building efforts at one institution, which had been initiated in response to negative outside judgment about faculty effectiveness and that threatened the continued existence of the teacher preparation program. A "community committee" survey asked 32 faculty…

A study assessed perceptions of 90 preservice teachers about the quality of their participation in practica experiences in a consultation and curriculum adaptation course collaboratively developed and supervised by a small midwestern university and rural school personnel. Data were collected over three semesters in the form of written responses…

This paper describes a process model for evaluating school-university partnerships. It presents one university's inter-collegial collaboration model for teacher content preparation, explains a process for documenting content and teaching proficiency via an electronic portfolio, and presents the evaluation process used in a multifaceted renewal…

This study investigated how teachers described current decision making structures, culture, and the power/micropolitics of their work, examining how they used their agency to accomplish work and make decisions together under Florida's reform. Data came from interviews with 1996 and 1997 elementary educators selected as teachers of the year. The…

This paper examines the negotiations that occur in a specific educational setting when traditional student placement practices are challenged and redesigned in an effort to better meet the needs of English language learners. The settings for these negotiations is an elementary school where over 90 percent of the students are native English…

This paper describes a research project conducted by a Brazilian public university in partnership with an elementary school involved improving the quality of teaching and learning through an inservice teacher education program developed in the workplace. Project goals were to build a knowledge base of teachers' learning and professional…

This brief is designed to promote collaborative leadership in the work of transforming low performing urban schools into successful schools. The brief is organized into several topics, which include framing the challenge (concentrated disadvantage, concentration effects, and savage inequalities); encouraging educators and partners to promote the…

This paper describes a study of a collegial teacher education program aimed at helping student teachers learn interdependent instructional skills and professional behaviors which support the development of authentic collegiality before they experienced the isolation many teachers perceive. The program arranged an environment where student teachers…

Systemic change in education refers to many facets of a community working together to support and improve how well children learn. This study examines the perceptions of teachers involved in systemic change as math and science resource teachers. In Duval County, Florida, a group of teachers were hired to assist systemic change as part of a 5-year…

The Graduate School of Education (GSE) at the University of California at Berkeley (UCB), the San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD), and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) have collaborated to pilot an on-site training and mentoring program for intern science teachers. Exit interviews suggest that its innovative mentoring…