A practicum was designed to improve the literacy instruction of first-grade students by increasing the first grade teachers' and reading specialists' understandings of current research and theory. A graduate-level 3-hour course was developed and adopted by a local state university to assist teachers in understanding and utilizing the most current…

This book describes the ASSET (Accreditation for Social Services Experience and Training) Program, a British program which addresses the need for effective education and development of social workers and a model variant of ASSET used to train engineers. The work draws on three different traditions: the principles of National Vocational…

A constructivist practitioner's masters program in professional development (PDMA) was designed and piloted at the University of Northern Iowa. The program provides an option for pursuing a master's in education structured upon the following constructivism-focused framework of components: (1) the program is designed for experienced educators, and…

This report describes the Educational Testing Service professional development/assessment system for student and beginning teachers, "Pathwise," a classroom observation instrument, as used in the California Beginning Teacher Support and Assessment Program (BTSA) for teacher education. Three themes were noted by "Pathwise" users…

This paper describes a study in which one specific form of follow-up, the action plan, was used to assess the effectiveness of a teachers' course with 15 German teachers of English and offers an evaluation of the plan's potential as a program evaluation instrument. The course was taught for 20, 1.5 hour sessions, in the mornings; afternoons were…

This book takes up the question of what shape high school English studies should take in the coming years. It describes an English program that blends philosophical depth with classroom practicality. Drawing examples from commonly taught texts such as "Macbeth,""To Kill a Mockingbird," and "Lord of the Flies," the…

There are more than 100 democracies in the world today. All but three of them--Great Britain, Israel, and New Zealand --have written constitutions. This digest examines the importance of constitutions and constitutionalism and the teaching of these concepts through the use of comparisons. The primary objectives of civic education for democratic…

Case-based approaches are effective for teaching and learning science, encouraging student-directed collaborative learning and active engagement. This paper looks at using cases in science teaching and learning at the secondary and undergraduate levels and the impact these approaches have on teachers, students, curricula, and classroom…

A program of faculty development was designed and implemented at Andrews University (Michigan). The training design included presentation of instructional theory, demonstration of instructional strategies, practice of the strategies by participants, feedback on practice sessions, and on-going peer- and instructor-support. The following topics were…

This longitudinal study was designed to ascertain if those teacher candidates (N=388) having failed to make or having made a more or less successful transition into the teaching field 7 years after the commencement of teacher preparation differed in academic aptitudes and academic abilities assessed upon commencement of teacher preparation. MANOVA…

This longitudinal study was designed to compare the academic, personal, and family characteristics of those teacher candidates persisting and not persisting through teacher preparation and the early years of classroom teaching. The candidates' (N=551) personal, family, and academic characteristics were collected upon commencement of teacher…

This article aims to: (1) improve novice and experienced science teachers' understanding of contemporary pedagogical research, its value in improving classroom practice, and how to effectively communicate this in an interview; (2) improve administrators' interviewing practices so that exemplary candidates stand out from other candidates; and (3)…

This article reports the process two professors have begun in an effort to develop a course of study for undergraduate teacher education students at Armstrong Atlantic State University (Georgia). From data collected through graduate surveys and other sources, a pilot survey was constructed and administered to students attending six high schools in…

Ten strategies used to facilitate use of research to inform practice in urban schools are reviewed in this digest. The strategies are: (1) using ongoing, building-based staff development (SD) programs to translate instructional research into practice; (2) planning SD programs collaboratively with district personnel to ensure their relevance to…

Single parents face not only the challenge of raising their children alone, but also the negative messages about their lifestyle. This book emphasizes the strengths of single parents. It provides counselors with techniques to empower these clients, whether they are single due to divorce, death, or because they never married. Included are…