Challenges and Opportunities for Teacher Professional Development in Interactive Use of Technology in African Schools

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hennessy, Sara; Haßler, Bjoern; Hofmann, Riikka

2015-01-01

This article examines the supporting and constraining factors influencing professional learning about interactive teaching and mobile digital technology use in low-resourced basic schools in sub-Saharan Africa. It draws on a case study of iterative development and refinement of a school-based, peer-facilitated professional learning programme…

Managing School-Based Professional Development Activities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cheng, Eric C. K.

2017-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to present a model to assist school leaders in managing the professional development activities of teachers. The model illustrates the important role of principals in promoting continuing professional development (CPD), chiefly by cultivating a collaborative learning culture and formulating policy.…

Impact of instructional Approaches to Teaching Elementary Science on Student Achievement

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kensinger, Seth H.

Strengthening our science education in the United States is essential to the future success of our country in the global marketplace. Immersing our elementary students with research-based quality science instruction is a critical component to build a strong foundation and motivate our students to become interested in science. The research for this study pertained to the type of elementary science instruction in correlation to academic achievement and gender. Through this study, the researcher answered the following questions: 1. What is the difference in achievement for elementary students who have been taught using one of the three science instructional approaches analyzed in this study: traditional science instruction, inquiry-based science instruction with little or no professional development and inquiry-based science instruction with high-quality professional development? 2. What is the difference in student achievement between inquiry-based instruction and non-inquiry based (traditional) instruction? 3. What is the difference in student achievement between inquiry with high quality professional development and inquiry with little or no professional development? 4. Do the three instructional approaches have differentiated effects across gender? The student achievement was measured using the 2010 fourth grade Pennsylvania System of School Assessment (PSSA) in Science. Data was collected from 15 elementary schools forming three main groupings of similar schools based on the results from the 2009 third grade PSSA in Mathematics and student and community demographics. In addition, five sub-group triads were formed to further analyze the data and each sub-group was composed of schools with matching demographic data. Each triad contained a school using a traditional approach to teaching science, a school utilizing an inquiry science approach with little or no professional development, and a school incorporating inquiry science instruction with high quality professional development. The five schools which provided its students with inquiry science and high quality professional development were Science Its Elementary (SIE) schools, as provided through a grant from the Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE). The findings of the study indicated that there is evidence to suggest that elementary science achievement improves significantly when teachers have utilized inquiry instruction after receiving high-quality professional development. Specifically, the analysis of the whole group and the majority of the triad sub-groupings did result in a consistent trend to support science instruction utilizing inquiry with high-quality professional development compared to a traditional approach and an inquiry-based approach with little or no professional development. The gender analysis of this study focused on whether or not girls at the elementary school level would perform better than boys depending upon method of science instruction. The study revealed no relationship between approach to teaching science and achievement level based on gender. The whole group results and sub-group triads produced no significant findings for this part of the data analysis.

Closing the Feedback Loop: A Productive Interplay between Practice-Based Research and School Development through Cross-Professional Collaboration in Secondary Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schenke, Wouter; van Driel, Jan H.; Geijsel, Femke P.; Volman, Monique L. L.

2017-01-01

A recurrent discussion in the field of education is how to build linkages between educational research and school practice. Cross-professional collaboration between researchers and school practitioners can contribute to the interplay between practice-based research and school development. The aim of our study is to obtain a better understanding of…

In the Round: Supporting Teachers' Authentic Professional Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Strand, Matt

2013-01-01

This is a study of teachers' authentic professional learning at a public school in Poudre School District in northern Colorado. At Polaris Expeditionary Learning School, teachers and administrators have developed a form of school-based instructional rounds referred to herein as PLC rounds (professional learning community rounds). In PLC rounds,…

Changes in Teaching Efficacy during a Professional Development School-Based Science Methods Course

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Swars, Susan L.; Dooley, Caitlin McMunn

2010-01-01

This mixed methods study offers a theoretically grounded description of a field-based science methods course within a Professional Development School (PDS) model (i.e., PDS-based course). The preservice teachers' (n = 21) experiences within the PDS-based course prompted significant changes in their personal teaching efficacy, with the…

An Evaluation of a School-Based Professional Development Program on Teachers' Efficacy for Technology Integration: Findings from an Initial Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Skoretz, Yvonne; Childress, Ronald

2013-01-01

The purpose of this program evaluation was to determine the impact of a school-based, job-embedded professional development program on elementary and middle school teacher efficacy for technology integration. Participant bi-weekly journal postings were analyzed using Grappling's "Technology and Learning Spectrum" (Porter, 2001) to…

Supporting Action Research in a Field-Based Professional Development School.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Menchaca, Velma D.; Peterson, Cynthia L.; Nicholson, Sheila

A collaborative project between a Professional Development School (PDS) and a public school supported teachers' action research and initiated preservice teachers into action research. This paper describes one team's action research project in an inclusive high school classroom that shared the duties of teaching, assisting, modifying instruction,…

Use of Online Training Modules for Professional Development with School-Based Therapists: Outcome Project

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lawdis, Katina; Baist, Heidi; Pittman, Corinthus O.

2017-01-01

This evidence-based project provided a professional development opportunity for school-based therapists to gain knowledge about evidence-based practice and learn strategies to integrate newly learned knowledge for the purpose of becoming an evidence-based practitioner. The purpose of the project was to determine whether a six-module online course…

Development of analytical competencies and professional identities through school-based learning in Denmark

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Andresen, Bent B.

2015-12-01

This article presents the main results of a case study on teachers' professional development in terms of competence and identity. The teachers involved in the study are allocated time by their schools to participate in professional "affinity group" meetings. During these meetings, the teachers gather and analyse school-based data about factors which persistently create and sustain challenges in effective student education (grade K-10). This process improves their understanding and undertaking of job-related tasks. The affinity group meetings also influence the teachers' professional identity. The research findings thus illustrate the fact that the analytical approach of affinity groups, based on the analysis of the difficulties in their daily job, provides good results in terms of competencies and identity perception. In general, as a result of meeting in affinity groups, adult learners develop professional competencies and identities which are considered crucial in rapidly changing schools characterised by an increased focus on, among other things, lifelong learning, social inclusion, school digitalisation, and information literacy. The research findings are thus relevant for ministries and school owners, teacher-trainers and supervisors, schools and other educational institutions, as well as teachers and their organisations worldwide.

School-Based Professional Development in One Lebanese School: How Much Is Too Much?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nabhani, Mona; Bahous, Rima; Hamdan, Zeina

2012-01-01

This case study examines the attitudes of the secondary and middle school teachers at one school in Lebanon regarding the effect of the school's professional development (PD) programs on the quality of their teaching practices and motivation. It also examines teachers' attitudes regarding PD as well as their recommendations to improve the quality…

Teachers Teaching Differently: A Qualitative Study of Implementation Fidelity to Professional Development

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Woolley, Michael E.; Rose, Roderick A.; Mercado, Micaela; Orthner, Dennis K.

2013-01-01

Intervention researchers in school settings often implement interventions that involve professional development to schoolteachers or other professional staff to implement school-based interventions. In terms of classroom interventions, teachers are the primary implementation agents; therefore, the fidelity of such interventions depends on teacher…

Professional Development in Secondary Schools.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Haile, Brian

1980-01-01

Citing information gained in his study of professional development programs in industry, retailing, and banking, the author proposes a new model for staff development in England's secondary schools, one based on self-assessment of individual needs and diversified training strategies. (SJL)

The Professional Development Needs of School-Based Leadership in Preparation for a District-Wide One-to-One Initiative in a Large Urban School District

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Simmons, Brandon Dean

2015-01-01

The purpose of this study was to determine the professional development needs of school-based leadership in preparation for a district-wide one-to-one initiative in a large urban school district. This study used an explanatory sequential mixed methods design to answer the three research questions that drove the study. Research for this study was…

Leadership and the Professional Learning Community

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gaspar, Sandra

2010-01-01

The purpose of this study was to describe the transformation of one small, rural school district's professional development program. The study focused on the actions that school leaders took to replace a traditional, workshop-based program that was deemed ineffective with a new professional development model. The new model was designed to create…

Improving Young English Learners' Language and Literacy Skills through Teacher Professional Development: A Randomized Controlled Trial

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Babinski, Leslie M.; Amendum, Steven J.; Knotek, Steven E.; Sánchez, Marta; Malone, Patrick

2018-01-01

Using a randomized controlled trial, we tested a new teacher professional development program for increasing the language and literacy skills of young Latino English learners with 45 teachers and 105 students in 12 elementary schools. School-based teams randomly assigned to the intervention received professional development focused on cultural…

The Impact of Professional Development on Poverty, Schooling, and Literacy Practices: Teacher Narratives and Reformation of Mindset

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ciuffetelli Parker, Darlene

2017-01-01

The study examines the impact of professional development on the topic of poverty in one high poverty school community located in a small city in southern Ontario, Canada. It considers narrative-based experiences of teachers' collaborative inquiry on literacy practices after a significant amount of professional development was provided to…

Physical Activity Based Professional Development for Teachers: The Importance of Whole School Involvement

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Till, Jude; Ferkins, Lesley; Handcock, Phil

2011-01-01

Objective: This study sought to investigate teachers' perceptions of a physical activity-related professional development intervention. Design: Interview-based qualitative approach founded on the interpretive paradigm. Setting: Purposive selection of one high-rated independent, and one low-rated public primary school from Auckland, New Zealand.…

Framework for 21st Century School Nursing Practice: Framing Professional Development.

PubMed

Allen-Johnson, Ann

2017-05-01

The NASN Code of Ethics upholds that it is the responsibility of the school nurse to maintain competency and pursue personal and professional growth. Designing professional development activities that are relevant and support the needs of the school nurse can be a challenge. The Framework for 21st Century School Nursing Practice provides a model rooted in evidence-based standards of practice that can be utilized to assess an existing professional development program and identify gaps in learning opportunities. Nurse leaders can use the Framework for 21st Century Nursing Practice to provide a roadmap toward a professional development program that will be meaningful to school nurse staff, help restore or maintain joy in their practice, and allow them to achieve the goal of advancing the well-being, academic success, and lifelong achievement and health of students.

Professional Norms Guiding School Principals' Pedagogical Leadership

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Leo, Ulf

2015-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to identify and analyze the professional norms surrounding school development, with a special emphasis on school principals' pedagogical leadership. Design/methodology/approach: A norm perspective is used to identify possible links between legal norms, professional norms, and actions. The findings are based on…

Pacific CRYSTAL Teacher Professional Development Models: Lessons Learned

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

van der Flier-Keller, E.; Yore, L.

2010-12-01

From 2005 to 2010 Pacific CRYSTAL (Centre for Research in Youth Science Teaching and Learning) has been engaged in community-based research fostering teacher leadership in innovative science education through a variety of approaches to teacher professional development. Pacific CRYSTAL is a University of Victoria based, NSERC funded project founded on a collaborative research model involving scentists, science educators and community members including schools, teachers, community groups and government. Pacific CRYSTAL professional development approaches embrace both in-service teachers and pre-service teachers, and include Lighthouse schools, workshops (ongoing as well as one-time), community-based partnerships in Pacific CRYSTAL research projects, teachers as researchers, and university science courses and workshops for pre-education and education students. A number of common themes, identified through these approaches, should be considered in the development and implementation of future science professional development initiatives. They include; teacher turnover, expanding and adding schools and participating teachers, teacher apprehension, building leadership capacity, further engagement of 'tourist' teachers, continuing professional support for teachers, as well as on-going mentoring.

Elementary School Teachers' Motivation toward Web-Based Professional Development, and the Relationship with Internet Self-Efficacy and Belief about Web-Based Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kao, Chia-Pin; Wu, Ying-Tien; Tsai, Chin-Chung

2011-01-01

This study was conducted to explore the relationships between teachers' motivation toward web-based professional development, Internet self-efficacy, and beliefs about web-based learning. By gathering questionnaire data from 484 elementary school teachers, this study indicated that the teachers' Internet self-efficacy and behavioral beliefs about…

The Role of Schools' Perceived Human Resource Policies in Teachers' Professional Development Activities: A Comparative Study of Innovations toward Competence-Based Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Seezink, Audrey; Poell, Rob

2011-01-01

The change toward competence-based education has implications for teachers as well as school management. This study investigates which professional development activities teachers undertake related to this change and how these activities differ among schools with various human resource (HR) policies. Two types of HR policy were involved: (1) a…

A Research-Informed, School-Based Professional Development Workshop Programme to Promote Dialogic Teaching with Interactive Technologies

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hennessy, Sara; Dragovic, Tatjana; Warwick, Paul

2018-01-01

The study reported in this article investigated the influence of a research-informed, school-based, professional development workshop programme on the quality of classroom dialogue using the interactive whiteboard (IWB). The programme aimed to develop a dialogic approach to teaching and learning mediated through more interactive uses of the IWB,…

Prioritizing Urban Children, Teachers, and Schools through Professional Development Schools

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wong, Pia Lindquist, Ed.; Glass, Ronald David, Ed.

2009-01-01

How can we better educate disadvantaged urban students? Drawing on over five years' experience in a broad partnership involving twelve urban professional development schools in five districts, a teachers' union, a comprehensive public university, and several community-based organizations, the contributors to this volume describe how they worked…

Assessing the Status of Professional Learning Opportunities in EARCOS Member Schools

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hardeman, Mark Brandon

2016-01-01

The purpose of this study was to assess the extent to which professional development programs within EARCOS member schools are consistent with research-based principles of effective practice. In addition, this study sought to identify the professional development opportunities that are being provided to EARCOS teachers. Finally, this study…

Teacher Enactment Patterns: How Can We Help Move All Teachers to Reform-Based Inquiry Practice through Professional Development?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lotter, Christine; Rushton, Gregory T.; Singer, Jonathan

2013-01-01

The purpose of this study was to investigate high school teachers' beliefs about inquiry instruction and determine how their beliefs influenced their use of inquiry after a professional development program. Thirty-six high school science teachers participated in this study. The professional development program consisted of a 2-week summer…

Evidence-Based Professional Development Considerations along the School-to-Prison Pipeline

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Houchins, David E.; Shippen, Margaret E.; Murphy, Kristin M.

2012-01-01

This article addresses professional development (PD) issues for those who provide services to students in the school-to-prison pipeline (STPP). Emphasis is on implementing evidence-based practices. The authors use a modified version of Desimone's PD framework for the structure of this article involving (a) collective participation and common…

Supporting Police Community Support Officers to Become Effective School Link Officers: Key Stakeholder Perceptions of a Pilot Professional Development Programme

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Thomas, Lorraine; Trotman, Dave

2017-01-01

This article presents the findings of a pilot professional development programme designed to support police community support officers (PCSOs) to become effective school link officers (SLOs) within urban secondary schools in the English West Midlands. Findings are presented via perceptions of key stakeholders: SLOs themselves; school-based mentors…

Principals' Time, Tasks, and Professional Development: An Analysis of Schools and Staffing Survey Data. REL 2017-201

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lavigne, Heather J.; Shakman, Karen; Zweig, Jacqueline; Greller, Sara L.

2016-01-01

This study describes how principals reported spending their time and what professional development they reported participating in, based on data collected through the Schools and Staffing Survey by the National Center for Education Statistics during the 2011/12 school year. The study analyzes schools by grade level, poverty level, and within…

Research Report on the Implementation of Professional Development in Kentucky.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Daniel, Patricia L.; Stallion, Brenda K.

The Kentucky Education Reform Act of 1990 required a complete restructuring of the educational system and greater emphasis on professional development focused on the needs of teachers at local schools. The purposes of this study were to determine the extent to which schools across the Commonwealth were implementing School-Based Professional…

An Alternative Collaborative Supervision Practice between University-Based Teachers and School-Based Teachers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Steele, Annfrid R.

2017-01-01

There is an increased focus in teacher education on research-based teaching as a means to develop a more research-based professional knowledge. However, research from several Western countries shows that neither school-based nor university-based teachers are familiar with how to integrate research-based knowledge in professional teacher practice.…

The Professional Development of High School Chemistry Coordinators

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hofstein, Avi; Carmeli, Miriam; Shore, Relly

2004-02-01

The implementation of new content and pedagogical standards in science education necessitates intensive, long-term professional development of science teachers. In this paper, we describe the rationale and structure of a comprehensive and intensive professional development program of school-based leaders, namely school chemistry coordinators. The year-long program was designed so that the chemistry teachers who enrolled in the program were able to develop in three interrelated aspects: content knowledge, pedagogical content knowledge, and leadership ability. Several strategies for the development of these aspects were adopted from Loucks-Horsley, Hewson, Love, & Stiles (1998). The evaluation of the program focused on the changes that participating teachers underwent regarding their personal beliefs and their functioning as school chemistry coordinators in their schools.

Cycles of Inquiry: Formative Assessment in Service of Learning in Classrooms and in School-Based Professional Communities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Birenbaum, Menucha; Kimron, Helena; Shilton, Hany; Shahaf-Barzilay, Rinat

2009-01-01

The paper reports results of three studies that used a formative assessment (FA) framework to compare schools that vary in their level of functioning as professional learning communities with respect to three processes: classroom assessment (study 1), development and implementation of school-based curriculum (study 2), and pedagogical…

Collaboration: A Key to Successful Professional Development Engagement with Students and Parents

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wood, Randy M.

2010-01-01

This article describes the significance of academic enrichment and English as a second language in a community-based professional development middle school. As an example of a university-school partnership that is responding to the needs of its students, parents, and community, the Baylor University School of Education has partnered with the Cesar…

Facilitating a Culture of Relational Trust in School-Based Action Research: Recognising the Role of Middle Leaders

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Edwards-Groves, Christine; Grootenboer, Peter; Ronnerman, Karin

2016-01-01

Practices such as formal focused professional dialogue groups, coaching conversations, mentoring conversations and professional learning staff meetings have been taken up in schools and pre-schools as part of long-term action research and development activities to improve the learning and teaching practices. The development of relational trust has…

Helping Teachers Help Themselves: Professional Development That Makes a Difference

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Patton, Kevin; Parker, Melissa; Tannehill, Deborah

2015-01-01

For school administrators to facilitate impactful teacher professional development, a shift in thinking that goes beyond the acquisition of new skills and knowledge to helping teachers rethink their practice is required. Based on review of the professional development literature and our own continued observations of professional development, this…

Network Learning for Educational Change. Professional Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Veugelers, Wiel, Ed.; O'Hair, Mary John, Ed.

2005-01-01

School-university networks are becoming an important method to enhance educational renewal and student achievement. Networks go beyond tensions of top-down versus bottom-up, school development and professional development of individuals, theory and practice, and formal and informal organizational structures. The theoretical base of networking…

Goals: Coherence and Relevance: 3 Districts Focus on Quality of Professional Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jacobson, Linda

2016-01-01

For more than a century, teachers in Tennessee's Loudon County School District have come together before the start of the school year for a professional development day. For the first time this year, professional learning in the district will be based at each individual school -- a result of the district's use of a new rubric, which states that…

The Relation between Middle School Science Teachers' Science Content Preparation, Professional Development, and Pedagogical Content Knowledge and Their Attitudes and Beliefs towards Inquiry-Based Instruction

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cwik, Lawrence C.

2012-01-01

This study is a quantitative investigation of the relation of middle school science teachers' attitudes and beliefs about inquiry-based instruction to their accumulated amounts of science content preparation, content and pedagogical professional development, and their pedagogical content knowledge. Numerous researchers have found that even though…

Adaptive Capacity in the Pacific Region: A Study of Continuous Professional Development for In-Service Teachers in Kiribati

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Martin, Tess; Thomson, Ian

2018-01-01

This study of I-Kiribati secondary school teachers used a project-based approach to investigate the notions of school-based and collaborative learning as a suitable model for in-service teacher continuous professional development (CPD). The design and methodology adopted by the study framed the argument that since collaborative behavior is…

You Seize What Pops Up: A Qualitative Investigation of the Core Features of School-Based Agricultural Education Professional Development

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Easterly, R.G., III.; Myers, Brian E.

2017-01-01

Desimone's core features of professional development (PD) guides the PD for teachers. The purpose of this study was to examine the PD practice of School-Based Agricultural Education (SBAE) teachers in the enthusiastic and growing career stage. Semi-structured telephone interviews were conducted with five teachers from five different states. The…

Developing Collaborative Approaches to Enhance the Professional Development of Primary Mathematics Teachers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McNeill, Jane; Butt, Graham; Armstrong, Andy

2016-01-01

This research project promoted a collaborative model of professional development between lead teachers from three schools, supported by a project coordinator and a researcher from a local university. Each lead teacher worked with their head teacher to design, lead, and evaluate an innovative, personalised, and school-based mathematics continuing…

Professional Development in Teacher Digital Competence and Improving School Quality from the Teachers' Perspective: A Case Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cervera, Mercè Gisbert; Cantabrana, José L. Lázaro

2015-01-01

Professional development in ICT for teachers, in addition to being necessary given the dynamic nature of technology, also improves the institutional quality of schools. This work, based on action research, provides evidence that the school itself is capable of organising and designing a training plan as part of a broader process to improve quality…

Sustaining Professional Learning Communities: Case Studies

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hipp, Kristine; Huffman, Jane; Pankake, Anita; Olivier, Dianne

2008-01-01

The purpose is to document the ongoing development of two schools in becoming professional learning communities and the effects of meaningful collaboration on teacher learning. The question that guides this research is: How does a school become a sustainable professional learning community? The theoretical framework is based on the work of Senge,…

Teacher Characteristics and School-Based Professional Development in Inclusive STEM-focused High Schools: A Cross-case Analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Spillane, Nancy Kay

Within successful Inclusive Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM)-focused High Schools (ISHSs), it is not only the students who are learning. Teachers, with diverse backgrounds, training, and experience, share and develop their knowledge through rich, embedded professional development to continuously shape their craft, improve their teaching, and support student success. This study of four exemplars of ISHSs (identified by experts in STEM education as highly successful in preparing students underrepresented in STEM for STEM majors in college and future STEM careers) provides a rich description of the relationships among the characteristics of STEM teachers, their professional development, and the school cultures that allow teachers to develop professionally and serve the needs of students. By providing a framework for the development of teaching staffs in ISHSs and contributing to the better understanding of STEM teaching in any school, this study offers valuable insight, implications, and information for states and school districts as they begin planning improvements to STEM education programs. A thorough examination of an existing data set that included site visits to four ISHSs along with pre- and post-visit data, provided the resource for this multiple case study with cross-case analysis of the teachers and their teacher professional development experiences. Administrators in these ISHSs had the autonomy to hire teachers with strong content backgrounds, philosophical alignment with the school missions, and a willingness to work collaboratively toward achieving the schools' goals. Ongoing teacher professional development began before school started and continued throughout the school day and year through intense and sustained, formal and informal, active learning experiences. Flexible professional development systems varied, but aligned with targeted school reforms and teacher and student needs. Importantly, collaborative teacher learning occurred within a school-wide culture of collaboration. Teachers were guided in establishing open lines of communication that supported regular engagement with others and the free flow of ideas, practices, and concerns. As a result of this collaboration, in conjunction with intentional pathways to teacher leadership, teacher professionalization was deliberately and successfully fostered creating an environment of shared mission and mutual trust, and a shared sense of responsibility for school-wide decision-making and school outcomes.

THE CHALLENGES OF SCHOOL-BASED YOUTH SUICIDE PREVENTION: EXPERIENCES AND PERCEPTIONS OF MENTAL HEALTH PROFESSIONALS IN SOUTH AFRICAN SCHOOLS.

PubMed

Woolf, Maryke; Bantjes, Jason; Kagee, Ashraf

2015-01-01

Youth suicidal behaviour poses a significant public health concern. Mental health care professionals working in schools have an important role to play in youth suicide prevention initiatives, although little is known of the experiences of this group of professionals in the developing world. The aim of this study was to explore the experiences of mental health professionals working in South African schools and document their insights, attitudes and beliefs regarding youth suicidal behaviour. In-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with seven school-based mental health care professionals and data were analysed using Thematic Analysis. Participants reported that they relied on a reactive strategy by responding to youths who were in crisis. They were challenged by a lack of support from faculty staff, lack of access to resources, and heavy caseloads. Findings highlight the need for a proactive and collaborative approach to suicide prevention among mental health care professionals, teachers and parents in South African schools and improved training and supervision.

THE CHALLENGES OF SCHOOL-BASED YOUTH SUICIDE PREVENTION: EXPERIENCES AND PERCEPTIONS OF MENTAL HEALTH PROFESSIONALS IN SOUTH AFRICAN SCHOOLS

PubMed Central

Woolf, Maryke; Bantjes, Jason; Kagee, Ashraf

2016-01-01

Youth suicidal behaviour poses a significant public health concern. Mental health care professionals working in schools have an important role to play in youth suicide prevention initiatives, although little is known of the experiences of this group of professionals in the developing world. The aim of this study was to explore the experiences of mental health professionals working in South African schools and document their insights, attitudes and beliefs regarding youth suicidal behaviour. In-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with seven school-based mental health care professionals and data were analysed using Thematic Analysis. Participants reported that they relied on a reactive strategy by responding to youths who were in crisis. They were challenged by a lack of support from faculty staff, lack of access to resources, and heavy caseloads. Findings highlight the need for a proactive and collaborative approach to suicide prevention among mental health care professionals, teachers and parents in South African schools and improved training and supervision. PMID:27990493

Applying the Design Framework to Technology Professional Development

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Curwood, Jen Scott

2013-01-01

Building on contemporary research on teacher professional development, this study examined the practices of a technology-focused learning community at a high school in the United States. Over the course of a school year, classroom teachers and a university-based researcher participated in the learning community to investigate how technology can…

Exploring Middle School Teachers' Perceptions and Applications of a Site-Based, Technology-Related Professional Development Program Focused on Interactive Whiteboards and Classroom Response Systems

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Desai, Shreya J.

2012-01-01

This qualitative study examined five middle school teachers' perceptions of a site-based, technology-related professional development (TRPD) program focused on the interactive whiteboard (IWB) and the classroom response system (CRS) and the practices implemented in the teachers' classrooms as a result of participation in the TRPD…

Conceptualizations of Professional Competencies in School Health Promotion

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Carlsson, Monica

2016-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of the paper is to contribute to the conceptualization and discussion of professional competencies needed for supporting the development of the whole-school approach in school health promotion (SHP). Design/methodology/approach: The paper is based on a conceptual synthesis of literature, guided by a theoretical perspective on…

Understanding the Complexity of Teacher Interaction in a Teacher Professional Learning Community

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sjoer, Ellen; Meirink, Jacobiene

2016-01-01

In this study, we examine a professional learning community of primary school teachers developing a joint school-based curriculum for science and technology (S&T) education. Team meetings were observed over the course of one school year and the participating teachers and school head were interviewed. An essential factor in the team's…

Enabling School Structures, Collegial Trust and Academic Emphasis: Antecedents of professional learning communities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gray, Julie; Kruse, Sharon; Tarter, C. John

2016-01-01

This study tested the role of enabling school structures, collegial trust and academic emphasis in the development of professional learning communities (PLCs) in a low-income school district. The empirical study was based upon the perceptions of teachers and principals as provided by survey responses (N = 67 schools). While enabling school…

An Investigation of the Factors That Motivate K-12 Christian School Teachers to Participate in Professional Development and the Relationship to Job Satisfaction and Retention

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bailey, Bonita Wingfield

2013-01-01

This study was conducted to advance knowledge by examining the reasons that motivate teachers to participate in professional development and the relationship to teacher job satisfaction and retention in Christian-based K-12 Association of Christian Schools International (ACSI) member schools. The study contributes to the literature in the field…

Professional development in inquiry-based science for elementary teachers of diverse student groups

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lee, Okhee; Hart, Juliet E.; Cuevas, Peggy; Enders, Craig

2004-12-01

As part of a larger project aimed at promoting science and literacy for culturally and linguistically diverse elementary students, this study has two objectives: (a) to describe teachers' initial beliefs and practices about inquiry-based science and (b) to examine the impact of the professional development intervention (primarily through instructional units and teacher workshops) on teachers' beliefs and practices related to inquiry-based science. The research involved 53 third- and fourth-grade teachers at six elementary schools in a large urban school district. At the end of the school year, teachers reported enhanced knowledge of science content and stronger beliefs about the importance of science instruction with diverse student groups, although their actual practices did not change significantly. Based on the results of this first year of implementation as part of a 3-year longitudinal design, implications for professional development and further research are discussed.

Assessing Professional Decision-Making Abilities.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McNergney, Robert; Hinson, Stephanie

1985-01-01

Describes Teacher Development Decision Exercises, a computer-based method of diagnosing abilities of elementary and secondary school supervisors (principals, staff developers, curriculum coordinators) to make professional preactive or planning decisions. This approval simulates assessment of supervisors' abilities to use professional knowledge to…

Investigating the Influence of a Mixed Face-to-Face and Website Professional Development Course on the Inquiry-Based Conceptions of High School Science and Mathematics Teachers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tuan, Hsiao-Lin; Yu, Chung-Chieh; Chin, Chi-Chin

2017-01-01

The purposes of this study are to report the influences of a mixed delivery professional development [PD] course involving face-to-face classes and the mentoring assisted inquiry-based teaching [MAIT] website that addressed the conceptual change and self-efficacy of high school mathematics and science teachers' conceptions of inquiry-based…

Mediating Artifact in Teacher Professional Development

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Svendsen, Bodil

2015-01-01

This article focuses on teacher professional development (TPD) in natural science through the 5E model as mediating artifact. The study was conducted in an upper secondary school, grounded in a school-based intervention research project. My contribution to the field of research on TPD is founded on the hypothesis that teachers would be best…

Teacher Professional Development for Technology Integration in a Primary School Learning Community

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Liu, Shih-Hsiung

2013-01-01

Teacher professional development (TPD) can benefit teachers in classrooms. This study contributes to an understanding of TPD processes where there is sufficient technology integration through teacher participation in a school-based community. It assesses the effectiveness of TPD and its potential problems. Qualitative research methods are used to…

Investigating Technology-Enhanced Teacher Professional Development in Rural, High-Poverty Middle Schools

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Blanchard, Margaret R.; LePrevost, Catherine E.; Tolin, A. Dell; Gutierrez, Kristie S.

2016-01-01

This 3-year, mixed-methods study investigated the effects of teacher technology-enhanced professional development (TPD) on 20 teachers' beliefs and practices. Teachers in two middle schools located in neighboring rural, high-poverty districts in the southeastern United States participated in reform-based lessons and learned how to integrate…

More than a Conversation: Using Cogenerative Dialogues in the Professional Development of High School Chemistry Teachers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Martin, Sonya N.; Scantlebury, Kathryn

2009-01-01

This paper focuses on content-based and pedagogical instructors' use of cogenerative dialogues to improve instructional practice and to evaluate program effectiveness in a professional development program for high school chemistry teachers. We share our research findings from using cogenerative dialogues as an evaluative tool for general…

Learning from First Time eLearning Experiences for Continuous Professional Development of School Leaders in the Maldives: A Case Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Saeed, Sheema; Moreira, Maria Alfredo

2010-01-01

In Maldives, educational policy makers are beginning to explore the value of ICT and web tools as a medium of continuous professional development for school leaders and teachers. This paper reports on insights and responses of a group of five school leaders who participated in a web based distance education course. For most of them, this was their…

The Implementation of Standards-Based Teacher Evaluation in Vietnamese Secondary Schools: A Case Study in Dong Thap

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pham, Huy Q.

2013-01-01

Teacher quality has become a critical area of concern in Vietnamese education. Recently, new professional standards for teachers in secondary schools have been developed, piloted, and implemented. This study explores the perceptions of teachers, school principals, and other administrators about the new teacher professional standards, the…

Community Engagement as Catalyst for Professional Learning, Reflection, and Agency in Preservice-Teacher Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Klehr, Mary

2015-01-01

I am a public elementary teacher currently serving as a school-based supervisor for a Professional Development School (PDS) undergraduate elementary-teacher-education program in Madison, Wisconsin, where our charge is to leverage the intersecting contexts of school, university, and community to prepare skilled and caring teachers for urban…

An Efficacy Trial of Research-Based Curriculum Materials with Curriculum-Based Professional Development

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Taylor, Joseph A.; Getty, Stephen R.; Kowalski, Susan M.; Wilson, Christopher D.; Carlson, Janet; Van Scotter, Pamela

2015-01-01

This study examined the efficacy of a curriculum-based intervention for high school science students. Specifically, the intervention was two years of research-based, multidisciplinary curriculum materials for science supported by comprehensive professional development for teachers that focused on those materials. A modest positive effect was…

Mapping the Terrain of Teachers' Professional Lives in Moving Landscapes and Shifting Identities: An Inquiry into a Literacy Coach's Interaction with Title I Teachers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chawla, Santosh

2017-01-01

This study examined how the professional development initiative of Reading Apprenticeship (RA), which included the support of a school-based literacy coach, impacted two high school Title I teachers and their students. In the field of education, much is known about the qualities of professional development which lead to improved learning on the…

Promoting Multi-Site Collaborative Inquiry: Initial Efforts and Challenges.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rafferty, Cathleen D.

This paper explores perspectives, issues, and experiences related to initiating collaborative inquiry across multiple levels and sites, based on school-university partnerships developed between Indiana State University (ISU) and 10 professional development schools (five elementary schools, one middle school, and four high schools). Principles…

Singapore Schools and Professional Learning Communities: Teacher Professional Development and School Leadership in an Asian Hierarchical System

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hairon, Salleh; Dimmock, Clive

2012-01-01

While the literature on professional learning communities (PLCs) has proliferated, much of it derived from and contextualised in Anglo-American settings, the concept and practice of PLCs in Asian contexts of strong hierarchies have largely been ignored. Based on literature and documentary analysis, this paper investigates the systemic…

The Professional Learning Needs and Perceptions of Secondary School Teachers: Implications for Professional Learning Community.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Moore, Shawn; Shaw, Paul

This study interviewed 45 ninth-grade teachers in 4 secondary schools in Ontario, Canada, in the spring of 1997 regarding their perceptions of their professional learning needs. Respondents were part of a 3-year research and development study, "Change Frames." Analysis is based on the view that the most meaningful teacher professional…

Mathematics Learning Difficulties in Primary Education: Teachers' Professional Knowledge and the Use of Commercially Available Learning Packages

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Van Steenbrugge, H.; Valcke, M.; Desoete, A.

2010-01-01

The present study builds on teachers' professional knowledge about mathematics learning difficulties. Based on the input of 918 primary school teachers, an attempt is made to develop an overview of difficult curriculum topics in primary school mathematics. The research approach builds on new conceptions about the professional identity of teachers…

Developing and Sustaining an Educative Mentoring Model of STEM Teacher Professional Development through Collaborative Partnership

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Richmond, Gail; Dershimer, R. Charles; Ferreira, Maria; Maylone, Nelson; Kubitskey, Beth; Meriweather, Alycia

2017-01-01

In this paper, we present details of a partnership undertaken by four universities with field-based, alternative STEM teacher preparation programs and a large urban school district to provide ongoing professional support for teachers serving as mentors for individuals preparing for careers in high-poverty schools. We also present key findings…

Professional Development: Report from the Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence, Task Force on Improving Kentucky Schools.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence, Lexington, KY.

This report presents the Prichard Committee recommendations on professional development of Kentucky teachers. They are based on the results of a steering committee of Kentucky educators and are being implemented in a Pew Charitable Trusts project. The overall finding was that for school reform to succeed in Kentucky, greatly enhanced professional…

Critiquing Teacher Professional Development: Teacher Learning within the Field of Teachers' Work

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hardy, Ian

2010-01-01

This study is an empirical account of the professional development (PD) practices that constituted part of the work of a group of teachers and school-based administrators working together in a cluster of six schools in southeast Queensland, Australia, during a period of intense educational reform. The data comprise meeting transcripts and…

Transformational Leadership & Professional Development for Digitally Rich Learning Environments: A Case Study of the Galileo Educational Network.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jacobsen, Michele; Clifford, Pat; Friesen, Sharon

The Galileo Educational Network is an innovative educational reform initiative that brings learning to learners. Expert teachers work alongside teachers and students in schools to create new images of engaged learning, technology integration and professional development. This case study is based on the nine schools involved with Galileo in…

The Development and Validation of the School-Based Counseling Self-Efficacy Scale

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Boughfman, Erica M.

2010-01-01

The purpose of this study was to develop and validate the School-Based Counseling Self-Efficacy Scale (SB-SES). Two hundred sixty-five (N = 265) licensed mental health professionals participated in this study. Fifty-eight percent of the participants reported experience working as a school-based counselor with the remaining 42% reporting no…

Missouri Program Highlights How Standards Make a Difference

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Killion, Joellen

2017-01-01

Professional development designed to integrate key features of research-based professional learning has positive and significant effects on teacher practice and student achievement in mathematics when implemented in schools that meet specified technology-readiness criteria. Key features of research-based professional learning include intensive…

A study of the professional development needs of Shiraz high schools' principals in the area of educational leadership.

PubMed

Hayat, Aliasghar; Abdollahi, Bijan; Zainabadi, Hasan Reza; Arasteh, Hamid Reza

2015-07-01

The increased emphasis on standards-based school accountability since the passage of the no child left behind act of 2001 is focusing critical attention on the professional development of school principals and their ability to meet the challenges of improving the student outcomes. Due to this subject, the current study examined professional development needs of Shiraz high schools principals. The statistical population consisted of 343 principals of Shiraz high schools, of whom 250 subjects were selected using Krejcie and Morgan (1978) sample size determination table. To collect the data, a questionnaire developed by Salazar (2007) was administered. This questionnaire was designed for professional development in the leadership skills/competencies and consisted of 25 items in each leadership performance domain using five-point Likert-type scales. The content validity of the questionnaire was confirmed and the Cronbach's Alpha coefficient was (a=0.78). To analyze the data, descriptive statistics and Paired-Samples t-test were used. Also, the data was analyzed through SPSS14 software. The findings showed that principals' "Importance" ratings were always higher than their "Actual proficiency" ratings. The mean score of the difference between "Importance" and "Actual proficiency" pair on "Organizing resources" was 2.11, making it the highest "need" area. The lowest need area was "Managing the organization and operational procedures" at 0.81. Also, the results showed that there was a statistically significant difference between the means of the "Importance" and the corresponding means on the "Actual proficiency" (Difference of means=1.48, t=49.38, p<0.001). Based on the obtained results, the most important professional development needs of the principals included organizing resources, resolving complex problems, understanding student development and learning, developing the vision and the mission, building team commitment, understanding measurements, evaluation and assessment strategies, facilitating the change process, solving problems and making decisions. In other words, the principals had statistically significant professional development needs in all areas of the educational leadership. Also, the results suggested that today's school principals need to grow and learn throughout their careers by ongoing professional development.

Medics against violence--the development of a new violence prevention intervention for schools.

PubMed

Goodall, Christine A; Devlin, Mark F; Koppel, David A

2010-10-01

This article outlines the rationale, evidence base and development of a new anti-violence intervention for schools delivered in the school setting by healthcare professionals. It is an example of multi-professional and mutli-disciplinary working and demonstrates how all healthcare professionals can be involved in wider healthcare issues. The majority of victims of violence are young men. Most incidents of interpersonal violence involve injury to the head and neck area, including the dentition. The Medics against Violence Schools Project is very relevant to Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons, Oral Surgeons and General Dental Practitioners all of whom may have to deal with the sequelae of such injuries.

Professional Development for Scaling Pedagogical Innovation in the Context of Game-Based Learning: Teacher Identity as Cornerstone in "Shifting" Practice

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chee, Yam San; Mehrotra, Swati; Ong, Jing Chuan

2015-01-01

A dominant discourse on "scaling-up" small-scale innovations based on a limited number of successful classroom trials pervades the educational literature. We view this discourse as insensitive to the professional work of teachers and the human side of school change. Our research investigated how teacher professional development could be…

Developing and Establishing School-Based Sexual Health Services: Issues for School Nursing Practice

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hayter, Mark; Owen, Jenny; Cooke, Jo

2012-01-01

School-based sexual health clinics are emerging as one of the key ways to promote sexual health among young people, and school nurses play an important role in developing and delivering these services. This study used a qualitative design to explore the experiences of health professionals and policy makers involved in setting up such services in…

Implementing School-Based Teacher Development in Tanzania

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hardman, Frank; Hardman, Jan; Dachi, Hillary; Elliott, Louise; Ihebuzor, Noel; Ntekim, Maniza; Tibuhinda, Audax

2015-01-01

This paper reports on the findings of a pilot school-based professional development programme for Tanzanian primary school teachers launched in February 2011 and evaluated in December 2012 by the Ministry of Education and Vocational Training with the support of UNICEF. The study set out to investigate the effectiveness and efficiency of the pilot…

Teachers' Professional Development through University-School Partnerships: Theoretical Standpoints and Evidence from Two Pilot Studies in Chile

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Grau, Valeska; Calcagni, Elisa; Preiss, David D.; Ortiz, Dominga

2017-01-01

This paper presents a teacher professional development programme, based on a university-schools partnership and a collective reflection model, addressing the needs of in-service teacher education in Chile. First, the main challenges faced by both teachers and teacher education in Chile are summarised. Then, the foundations of this model are…

An Investigation of How a Physics Professional Development Course Influenced the Teaching Practices of Five Elementary School Teachers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Harlow, Danielle B.

2014-01-01

This paper reports the results of an investigation of how a professional development content course based on the Physics and Everyday Thinking (PET) curriculum affected the teaching practices of five case study elementary school teachers. The findings of this study highlight different ways that teachers use what they learn in content courses to…

Lilead Fellows Program: An Innovative Approach to Professional Development for School Library Leaders

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kodama, Christie; DiScala, Jeffrey; Weeks, Ann Carlson; Barlow, Diane L.; Jacobs, Leah; Hall, Rosemary

2016-01-01

In this article, the authors discuss the Lilead Fellows Program, funded by a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS). This innovative approach to professional development (PD) is for school district library supervisors. It is based upon widely accepted principles of quality PD, and is in its second year of operation with an…

Teacher Research in Secondary Education: Effects on Teachers' Professional and School Development, and Issues of Quality

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Meijer, Paulien C.; Oolbekkink, Helma W.; Meirink, Jacobiene A.; Lockhorst, Ditte

2013-01-01

This article describes an empirical exploration of three initiatives in which teachers in secondary education (learn to) research their own practice in collaboration with university-based research institutes, aiming at professional development and knowledge construction. We found evidence of professional development, mainly at the level of the…

Teachers' Learning in an Innovative School

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bissaker, Kerry; Heath, Jayne

2005-01-01

The successful establishment of a purpose-built innovative school designed to support new ways of teaching and learning in the senior secondary years, particularly in the area of science and mathematics, required a comprehensive and research-based professional development policy and program. Planning professional learning opportunities for the…

A Strength-Based Approach to Teacher Professional Development

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zwart, Rosanne C.; Korthagen, Fred A. J.; Attema-Noordewier, Saskia

2015-01-01

Based on positive psychology, self-determination theory and a perspective on teacher quality, this study proposes and examines a strength-based approach to teacher professional development. A mixed method pre-test/post-test design was adopted to study perceived outcomes of the approach for 93 teachers of six primary schools in the Netherlands and…

Factors Influencing the Functioning of Data Teams

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schildkamp, Kim; Poortman, Cindy

2015-01-01

Background: Data-based decision making can lead to increased student achievement; however, schools struggle with the implementation of data-based decision making. Professional development in the use of data is therefore urgently needed. However, professional development is often ineffective in terms of improving the knowledge, skills, and attitude…

Development of Students' Personal Professional Theories in Senior Secondary Vocational Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schaap, H.; Van der Schaaf, M. F.; de Bruijn, E.

2011-01-01

Students in competence-based senior secondary vocational education are expected to actively construct personal knowledge during school-based learning and workplace learning. This study introduces the construct "personal professional theory" (PPT) to monitor and analyse students' personal knowledge development. It aims to investigate the…

Expanding the Professional Development School Model: Developing Collaborative Partnerships with School Counselors

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Foust, Gretchen E.; Goslee, Patricia A.

2014-01-01

The Professional Development School (PDS) model, a successful collaborative partnership model between university teacher education programs and P-12 schools, focuses on ''preparing future educators, providing current educators with ongoing professional development, encouraging joint school-university faculty investigation of education-related…

Improving Teaching through Lesson Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rock, Tracy C.; Wilson, Cathy

2005-01-01

This article presents a professional development initiative developed by a university-school partnership based on the Japanese lesson-study model described by Stigler and Hiebert (1999) in "The Teaching Gap." Lesson study ("jugyoukenkyu"), an inquiry model of teacher professional development, is used extensively throughout…

Investigating the experience: A case study of a science professional development program based on Kolb's experiential learning model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Davis, Brian L.

Professional development for educators has been defined as the process or processes by which teachers achieve higher levels of professional competence and expand their understanding of self, role, context and career (Duke and Stiggins, 1990). Currently, there is limited research literature that examines the effect a professional development course, which uses David Kolb's experiential learning model, has on the professional growth and teaching practice of middle school science teachers. The purpose of this interpretive case study is to investigate how three science teachers who participated in the Rivers to Reef professional development course interpreted the learning experience and integrated the experience into their teaching practice. The questions guiding this research are (1) What is the relationship between a professional development course that uses an experiential learning model and science teaching practice? (2) How do the Rivers to Reef participants reflect on and describe the course as a professional growth experience? The creation of the professional development course and the framework for the study were established using David Kolb's (1975) experiential learning theory and the reflection process model designed by David Boud (1985). The participants in the study are three middle school science teachers from schools representing varied settings and socioeconomic levels in the southeastern United States. Data collected used the three-interview series interview format designed by Dolbere and Schuman (Seidman, 1998). Data was analyzed for the identification of common categories related to impact on science teaching practice and professional growth. The major finding of this study indicates the years of teaching experience of middle school science teachers significantly influences how they approach professional development, what and how they learn from the experience, and the ways in which the experience influences their teaching practices.

Exploration of the Professional Development Needs of New York City High School Principals with Less than 5 Years Experience

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Berman, Margaret Lacey

2015-01-01

This grounded theory study was conducted to explore the professional development needs of New York City high school principals with less than five years' experience based on the McREL balanced leadership framework. The purpose of this research is to answer the three research questions below in hopes of contributing to the field. The research for…

Oklahoma's Marshall Plan: Combining Professional Development and Summer Writing Camps in Low-Income Elementary Schools. National Writing Project at Work. Volume 1, Number 8

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Simmons, Eileen

2004-01-01

Eileen Simmons, a veteran teacher-consultant from the Oklahoma State University Writing Project, describes collaboration among writing project teacher-consultants and site-based teachers to plan professional development before, during, and after a summer writing camp for students at their school. This model, which has been adapted in a variety of…

Repetita Iuvant? Lessons from Repeated RCTs on the Effectiveness of a Teacher Professional Development Program

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pennisi, Aline; Argentin, Gianluca; Abbiati, Giovanni; Caputo, Andrea

2016-01-01

This work summarizes the results of two randomized control trails (RCTs) aimed at evaluating the effectiveness of a professional development program for lower secondary school math teachers. The program, called M@t.abel, was financed by the Ministry of Education in Southern Italy with EU funds. It lasts a full school year and it is based on formal…

The Influence of Mathematics Professional Development, School-Level, and Teacher-Level Variables on Primary Students' Mathematics Achievement

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Polly, Drew; Wang, Chuang; Martin, Christie; Lambert, Richard; Pugalee, David; Middleton, Catherina

2018-01-01

This study examined the influence of a professional development project about an internet-based mathematics formative assessment tool and related pedagogies on primary teachers' instruction and student achievement. Teachers participated in 72 h of professional development during the year. Descriptive statistics and multivariate analyses of…

Collaborative Professional Development and Curriculum Enactment: Teacher Reflection to Inform Inquiry-Based Discussions in High School Science Classrooms

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Alozie, Nonyelum M.

2010-01-01

Professional development for practicing science teachers has been a goal in education for the last two decades. Studies have shown that the quality of teacher instruction may be linked to teacher participation and involvement in professional development programs (Fishman, Marx, Best, & Tal, 2003). Furthermore, reflection during professional…

The Impact of a Practice-Teaching Professional Development Model on Teachers' Inquiry Instruction and Inquiry Efficacy Beliefs

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lotter, Christine R.; Thompson, Stephen; Dickenson, Tammiee S.; Smiley, Whitney F.; Blue, Genine; Rea, Mary

2018-01-01

This study examined changes in middle school teachers' beliefs about inquiry, implementation of inquiry practices, and self-efficacy to teach science through inquiry after participating in a year-long professional development program. The professional development model design was based on Bandura's (1986) social cognitive theory of learning and…

Task Relevance in the Design of Online Professional Development for Teachers of ELLs: A Q Methodology Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Collins, Linda J.; Liang, Xin

2014-01-01

Online professional development (oPD) for teachers should focus on designing web-based learning opportunities that help practicing educators solve the tough problems of practice when working in their schools. Technology, pedagogy, and content knowledge can be integrated in the design of online professional development modules to enhance task…

Teachers' Attitudes toward Web-Based Professional Development, with Relation to Internet Self-Efficacy and Beliefs about Web-Based Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kao, Chia-Pin; Tsai, Chin-Chung

2009-01-01

This study was conducted to explore the relationships between teachers' Internet self-efficacy, beliefs about web-based learning and attitudes toward web-based professional development. The sample of this study included 421 teachers, coming from 20 elementary schools in Taiwan. The three instruments used to assess teachers' Internet self-efficacy…

Development of a Base for the Re-evaluation of the Professional Segment of the Master of Science Degree Program in Industrial Education at the University of Wisconsin-Stout. Part III: Frequency and Importance of Their Professional Tasks as Reported by Wisconsin Junior-Senior High School Industrial Arts Teachers.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wright, Lawrence S.

This document reports on a study of the professional tasks of Wisconsin junior-senior high school industrial arts teachers. It presents data which show the frequency with which the teachers perform their professional tasks and the importance which they attach to these professional tasks. The data are presented and analyzed in a series of tables…

Combining Project-based Instruction, Earth Science Content, and GIS Technology in Teacher Professional Development: Is this Holistic Approach Sustainable?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rubino-Hare, L.; Bloom, N.; Claesgens, J.; Fredrickson, K.; Henderson-Dahms, C.; Sample, J. C.

2012-12-01

From 2009-2011, with support from the National Science Foundation (ITEST, DRL-0929846) and Science Foundation Arizona (MSAG-0412-09), educators, geologists and geographers at Northern Arizona University (NAU) partnered to offer professional development for interdisciplinary teams of secondary and middle school teachers with a focus on project-based instruction (PBI) using geospatial technologies (GST). While participating in professional development teachers received support and were held accountable to NAU staff. They implemented activities and pedagogical strategies presented, increased knowledge, skills, and confidence teaching with project-based instruction integrating GST, and their students demonstrated learning gains. Changes in student understanding are only observed when teachers continue to implement change, so the question remained: did these changes in practice sustain after official project support ended? In order to determine what, if anything, teachers sustained from the professional development and the factors that promoted or hindered sustained use of teaching with GST and PBI, data were collected one to two years following the professional development. Research questions included a) what pedagogical practices did teachers sustain following the professional learning experiences? and b) what contexts were present in schools that supported or limited the use of geospatial technologies as a teaching and learning tool? Findings from this study indicate that teachers fall into three categories of sustaining implementation - reformed implementers, mechanical implementers and non-implementers. School context was less of a factor in level of implementation than teachers' beliefs and philosophy of teaching and teachers' understanding of technology integration (teaching with technology vs. teaching technology). Case studies of teacher experiences will be presented along with implications for future professional development.

The Effect of School Culture on the Management of Professional Development in Secondary Schools in Malaysia

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rauf, Parwazalam Abdul; Ali, Syed Kamaruzaman Syed; Aluwi, Aliza; Noor, Nor Afizah Mohd

2014-01-01

This study explores the influence of school culture on the management of professional development in secondary schools in Malaysia. It illustrates how school culture influences the school professional development management. The instrument used in this study is a self-administered questionnaire involving 515 secondary school teachers. The results…

Food security practice in Kansas schools and health care facilities.

PubMed

Yoon, Eunju; Shanklin, Carol W

2007-02-01

This pilot study investigated perceived importance and frequency of specific preventive measures, and food and nutrition professionals' and foodservice directors' willingness to develop a food defense management plan. A mail questionnaire was developed based on the US Department of Agriculture document, Biosecurity Checklist for School Foodservice Programs--Developing a Biosecurity Management Plan. The survey was sent to food and nutrition professionals and foodservice operators in 151 acute care hospitals, 181 long-term-care facilities, and 450 school foodservice operations. Chemical use and storage was perceived as the most important practice to protect an operation and was the practice implemented most frequently. Results of the study indicate training programs on food security are needed to increase food and nutrition professionals' motivation to implement preventive measures.

Essential KPIs for School Nutrition Program Success

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rushing, Keith

2017-01-01

Purpose/Objectives: The purpose of the project was to develop a research based resource to support SN professionals in effectively utilizing KPIs to manage their programs. Methods: This project consisted of four phases. In Phase 1, a think tank of eight school nutrition professionals identified the general topic areas and format for the resource.…

A study of the professional development needs of Shiraz high schools’ principals in the area of educational leadership

PubMed Central

HAYAT, ALIASGHAR; ABDOLLAHI, BIJAN; ZAINABADI, HASAN REZA; ARASTEH, HAMID REZA

2015-01-01

Introduction The increased emphasis on standards-based school accountability since the passage of the no child left behind act of 2001 is focusing critical attention on the professional development of school principals and their ability to meet the challenges of improving the student outcomes. Due to this subject, the current study examined professional development needs of Shiraz high schools principals. Methods The statistical population consisted of 343 principals of Shiraz high schools, of whom 250 subjects were selected using Krejcie and Morgan (1978) sample size determination table. To collect the data, a questionnaire developed by Salazar (2007) was administered. This questionnaire was designed for professional development in the leadership skills/competencies and consisted of 25 items in each leadership performance domain using five-point Likert-type scales. The content validity of the questionnaire was confirmed and the Cronbach’s Alpha coefficient was (a=0.78). To analyze the data, descriptive statistics and Paired-Samples t-test were used. Also, the data was analyzed through SPSS14 software. Results The findings showed that principals’ “Importance” ratings were always higher than their “Actual proficiency” ratings. The mean score of the difference between “Importance” and “Actual proficiency” pair on “Organizing resources” was 2.11, making it the highest “need” area. The lowest need area was “Managing the organization and operational procedures” at 0.81. Also, the results showed that there was a statistically significant difference between the means of the “Importance” and the corresponding means on the “Actual proficiency” (Difference of means=1.48, t=49.38, p<0.001). Conclusion Based on the obtained results, the most important professional development needs of the principals included organizing resources, resolving complex problems, understanding student development and learning, developing the vision and the mission, building team commitment, understanding measurements, evaluation and assessment strategies, facilitating the change process, solving problems and making decisions. In other words, the principals had statistically significant professional development needs in all areas of the educational leadership. Also, the results suggested that today’s school principals need to grow and learn throughout their careers by ongoing professional development. PMID:26269786

Baylor University and Midway Independent School District: An Exemplary Partnership

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McCall, Madelon; Howell, Leanne; Rogers, Rachelle; Osborne, Lisa; Goree, Krystal; Merritt, Brent; Cox, Herb; Fischer, Jay; Gardner, Paula; Gasaway, Jeff

2017-01-01

The National Association of Professional Development Schools recognized the partnership between Baylor University and Midway Independent School District as one of three partnerships to receive the 2017 Award for Exemplary Professional Development School Achievement. This Professional Development School partnership began in 2009 and places the…

Development of a Base for the Re-evaluation of the Professional Segment of the Master of Science Degree Program in Industrial Education at the University of Wisconsin-Stout. Part IV: Frequency and Importance of Their Professional Tasks as Reported by Wisconsin Senior High School Industrial Education Teachers.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wright, Lawrence S.

This document presents data on the frequency with which senior high school industrial education teachers perform their professional tasks as reported by the teachers in a study during the 1971-72 academic year. Also presented are data which show the importance which these senior high school industrial education teachers attach to their…

Education for Disability Equality through Disabled People's Life Stories and Narratives: Working and Learning Together in a School-Based Professional Development Programme for Inclusion

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chrysostomou, Marianna; Symeonidou, Simoni

2017-01-01

This paper reports on the findings of an action research project that took place in a primary school in Cyprus. A professional development programme was devised with contributions from teachers involved in the research. The programme was aimed at helping teachers to map the difficulties they encounter when working with their students on…

Developing EFL Teachers' Performance at Sana'a Secondary Schools in the Light of Their Professional and Specialist Needs

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zuheer, Khaled Mohsen Mohamed

2013-01-01

The main aim of the present study was to develop EFL teachers' performance at Sana'a secondary schools in the light of their professional and specialist needs. Based on literature review, related studies and a panel of jury members' points of view and English teachers' interview, a list of four needs was proposed and used as the most necessary…

Student Response Systems for Formative Assessment: Literature-Based Strategies and Findings from a Middle School Implementation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fuller, Julia S.; Dawson, Kara M.

2017-01-01

In this article we share how a district-level technology integration specialist used literature on implementing student response systems (SRS) for formative assessment, based on Desimone's (2009) core features of professional development design, Guskey's Levels of Professional Development Evaluation (1998, 2000, 2002), and Danielson's Observation…

Authentic Project-Based Design of Professional Development for Teachers Studying Online and Blended Teaching

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dabner, Nicki; Davis, Niki; Zaka, Pinelopi

2012-01-01

Online learning and teaching is rapidly increasing in many countries, including high schools in the USA and teacher education worldwide. Online and blended approaches to professional and organizational development are, therefore, becoming essential to enable effective and equitable education. Authentic project-based learning to support the…

The Effective Research-Based Characteristics of Professional Development of the National Science Foundation's GK-12 Program

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cormas, Peter C.; Barufaldi, James P.

2011-01-01

This study investigates the effective research-based characteristics of professional development (ERBCPD) of the National Science Foundation's GK-12 Program--a program which partners institutions of higher education with local school districts and places science, technology, engineering, and mathematics graduates in the K-12 classroom with…

Technology-Based Professional Development for Teaching and Learning in K-12 Classrooms

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Byrd, Nijia

2017-01-01

In an urban Georgia school district, teacher satisfaction surveys revealed that technology-based professional development was not equipping teachers with the skills or support needed to implement technology into their teaching practices. The purpose of this mixed-methods case study was to explore teachers' experiences and perceptions of…

Using Coaching as a Professional Development Modality to Train Teachers in the Use of Evidence-Based Practices for Students with Autism Spectrum Disorders

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hollins, Samantha Marsh

2013-01-01

Professional development for teachers currently working in the classroom is an important focus of educational programs and school systems. Continuous professional development is especially important for special education teachers to maintain current information related to strategies and supports that are effective in educating students with…

Evaluating the Impact of Teacher Professional Development: An Evidence-Based Framework

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

King, Fiona

2014-01-01

Does teacher professional development make a difference? How do we know? While researchers and policy-makers acknowledge that teacher professional development (PD) needs to be assessed and evaluated, there is often little clarity as to how this can be achieved. Evaluation of teacher PD by schools has been described as the weak link in the PD chain…

Rice Creek Elementary School and the University of South Carolina: A Shared Vision for Excellence

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Evans, Kathy; Holley, Jessica; Richburg-Sellers, Felicia; Robey, Susan; Suber, Shawn; Burton, Megan; Field, Bruce E.

2012-01-01

The 2011 Professional Development Schools National Conference recognized Rice Creek Elementary School for its outstanding collaborative accomplishments with the University of South Carolina, naming it as a recipient of the National Association for Professional Development School's Award for Exemplary Professional Development School Achievement.…

Learning from the best: Overcoming barriers to reforms-based elementary science teaching

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Banchi, Heather May

This study explored the characteristics of elementary science teachers who employ reforms-based practices. Particular attention was paid to the consistency of teachers' practices and their beliefs, the impact of professional development experiences on practices, and how teachers mitigated barriers to reforms-based instruction. Understanding how successful elementary science teachers develop fills a gap in the science reforms literature. Participants included 7 upper elementary science teachers from six different schools. All schools were located within two suburban school districts in the south-Atlantic United States and data was collected during the spring of 2008. Data collection included use of the Reformed Teaching Observation Protocol (RTOP) to evaluate the level of reforms-based instruction, as well as 35 hours of classroom observation field notes and 21 hours of audio-taped teacher interviews. The variety of data sources allowed for triangulation of evidence. The RTOP was analyzed using descriptive statistics and classroom observations and interview data were analyzed using Erickson's (1986) guidelines for analytic induction. Findings indicated (a) reforms-based elementary science teaching was attainable, (b) beliefs and practices were consistent and both reflected reforms-based philosophies and practices, (c) formal professional development experiences were limited and did not foster reforms-based practices, (d) informal professional development pursued by teachers had a positive impact on practices, (e) barriers to reforms-based instruction were present but mitigated by strong beliefs and practical strategies like curriculum integration. These findings suggest that there are common, salient characteristics of reforms-based teachers' beliefs, practices, and professional development experiences. These commonalities contribute to an understanding of how reforms-based teachers develop, and inform efforts to move all elementary teachers in the direction of reforms-based science teaching.

Increasing Bellevue School District's elementary teachers' capacity for teaching inquiry-based science: Using ideas from contemporary learning theory to inform professional development

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Maury, Tracy Anne

This Capstone project examined how leaders in the Bellevue School District can increase elementary teachers' capacity for teaching inquiry-based science through the use of professional learning activities that are grounded in ideas from human learning theory. A framework for professional development was constructed and from that framework, a set of professional learning activities were developed as a means to support teacher learning while project participants piloted new curriculum called the Isopod Habitat Challenge. Teachers in the project increased their understanding of the learning theory principles of preconceptions and metacognition. Teachers did not increase their understanding of the principle of learning with understanding, although they did articulate the significance of engaging children in student-led inquiry cycles. Data from the curriculum revision and professional development project coupled with ideas from learning theory, cognition and policy implementation, and learning community literatures suggest Bellevue's leaders can encourage peer-to-peer interaction, link professional development to teachers' daily practice, and capitalize on technology as ways to increase elementary teachers' capacity for teaching inquiry-based science. These lessons also have significance for supporting teacher learning and efficacy in other subject areas and at other levels in the system.

School Culture and Postgraduate Professional Development: Delineating the "Enabling School"

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Arthur, Linet; Marland, Harriet; Pill, Amanda; Rea, Tony

2010-01-01

The culture of the "enabling school" is investigated within the context of the government's policy of continuing professional development and postgraduate professional development for teachers in England. This context is problematised by considering teachers' conceptualisations of their professional autonomy, status and personal…

Innovation Configurations, Volume III: School-Based Staff Developers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Killion, Joellen; Harrison, Cindy

2007-01-01

An Innovation Configuration (IC) map identifies and describes the major components of a new practice such as NSDC's standards and details how it would look in practice. NSDC's ICs are detailed by contexts and professional roles. This CD-ROM focuses on the role of school-based staff developers.

Site-Based Management and the School Business Administrator: A Compilation of Articles from "School Business Affairs." The Professional Development Series.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Association of School Business Officials International, Reston, VA.

The Association of School Business Officials International compiled the 12 best articles on site-based management from its journal "School Business Affairs." The first section covers budgeting: "School-Site Budgeting," David S. Honeyman and Richard Jensen; "Involving the Principal in the Budget Making Process," Leonard L. Gregory and Roger R.…

What Is a Scientific Experiment? The Impact of a Professional Development Course on Teachers' Ability to Design an Inquiry-Based Science Curriculum

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pérez, María del Carmen B.; Furman, Melina

2016-01-01

Designing inquiry-based science lessons can be a challenge for secondary school teachers. In this study we evaluated the development of in-service teachers' lesson plans as they took part in a 10-month professional development course in Peru which engaged teachers in the design of inquiry-based lessons. At the beginning, most teachers designed…

School Leaders as Participants in Teachers' Professional Development: The Impact on Teachers' and School Leaders' Professional Growth

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hilton, Annette; Hilton, Geoff; Dole, Shelley; Goos, Merrilyn

2015-01-01

Over a two-year period, approximately 70 teachers from 18 schools participated in an on-going professional development program as part of a study to promote the teaching and learning of numeracy. Principals and other school leaders were invited to participate in the professional development program alongside their teachers, which 20 leaders from…

Problematising the Standardisation of Leadership and Management Development in South African Schools

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Williams, Clarence

2015-01-01

In 2007 the Department of Education introduced the standards-based Advanced Certificate in Education: School Management and Leadership. The standardisation of leadership and management development in South African schools has been uncritically accepted by most academics and professionals. The purpose of this article is to problematise the…

Using Mentoring and Professional Development Approaches to Educate Urban Mathematics Teachers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fraser-Abder, Pamela

2005-01-01

Due to the dearth of qualified professional teachers, policymakers and professional development programs need to focus on improving the quality of high school mathematics teaching in order to diffuse this crisis. In the middle of this crisis, the demand for new teachers is predicted to rise significantly in the next ten years. Based on the…

A Study of the Vestiges of Studio Classroom Projects in Two Middle School Mathematics Departments

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nordquist, Lora

2010-01-01

Lesson study, a form of school-based professional development widely practiced in Japan, has gained popularity in the United States over the last two decades. However, research on its effectiveness has been limited in scope, typically conducted shortly after the conclusion of the professional learning and focused primarily on the practices of…

Elementary teachers' perceptions of science inquiry and professional development challenges and opportunities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jones, Kathleen M.

Inquiry science, including a focus on evidence-based discourse, is essential to spark interest in science education in the early grades and maintain that interest throughout children's schooling. The researcher was interested in two broad areas: inquiry science in the elementary classroom and the need/desire for professional development opportunities for elementary teachers related to science education, and specifically professional development focused on inquiry science. A cross sectional survey design was prepared and distributed in May 2005 and usable responses were received from 228 elementary teachers from the south-central area of Pennsylvania which was a representative sample of socio-economical and geographical factors. Areas of particular interest in the results section include: (1) The use of Science Kits which is popular, but may not have the desired impact since they are "adjusted" by teachers often removing the opportunity for evidence-based discourse by the students. This may be partly based on the lack of time dedicated to science instruction and, secondly, the teachers' lack of comfort with the science topics. Another issue arising from science kits is the amount of preparation time required to utilize them. (2) Teachers demonstrated understanding of the high qualities of professional development but, when it came to science content professional development, they were more inclined to opt for short-term opportunities as opposed to long-term learning opportunities. Since elementary teachers are generalists and most schools are not focusing on science, the lack of attention to a subject where they are least comfortable is understandable, but disappointing. (3) There is a great need for more training in evidence--based discourse so teachers can implement this needed skill and increase students' understanding of science content so they are more able to compete in the international science and math measurements. (4) Professional development, especially in the science area, needs to be a long-term, grass-roots effort in all schools. We need to dedicate funding, and make time available for teachers to participate in long-term collaborative learning opportunities. Teachers want to observe each other and collaborate on lessons but, unless it becomes a priority of the school, it will not happen. Time must be dedicated throughout the day that allows small groups of teachers across the board to get together and share, learn, attempt new approaches, reflect and revise. Various forms of professional learning are available, and each school must choose the one that works for them. (5) The principal as the educational leader in the school needs to be more fully engaged with the learning process of the teachers and the students. The principal should not be viewed only as the evaluator of teachers, but as a collaborator of learning and teaching. Suggestions for further research include longitudinal studies of the impact on students of long term professional development of the teachers that specifically targets science content, inquiry and evidence--based discourse.

School health promotion--international perspectives and role of health care professionals.

PubMed

Prasla, Munira; Prasla, Shameer Ali

2011-01-01

Schools have great potential in health promotion; however, this is often neglected area and fewer efforts are done in exploring status of school health promotion in Pakistan. This paper attempts to outline brief historical background of school health promotion in Pakistan; presents critical review of some international school health promotion perspectives; and finally explore opportunities and role of healthcare professionals in Pakistan's context. A critical review of peer-reviewed literature divided into two broad themes of international perspectives on school health promotion, and role of healthcare professionals. Results are presented in cross-cutting themes and in narrative style. School health promotion is very diverse phenomenon, situated in respective cultural contexts. Programmes pesent a range of characteristics from focusing on integrated approach to health education to behavioural changes; and from involving youngsters to policy advocacy. Like the programmes, role of healthcare professionals is also varied and dynamic and without clearly defining their role, development of effective health promotion programmes is difficult. School health promotion could be facilitated by appropriate trainings for healthcare professionals and evidence-based policy changes.

Renewing professionalism in dental education: overcoming the market environment.

PubMed

Masella, Richard S

2007-02-01

The most important mission of dental education is development of student professionalism. It is only within the context of professionalism that specialized knowledge and technical expertise find meaning. Altruism, integrity, caring, community focus, and commitment to excellence are attributes of professionalism. Its backbone is the obligation of service to people before service to self--a social contract. Professionalism can and should be acquired by targeted interventions, not as an assumed by-product of dental education. Top-down, rule-based professionalism is contrasted with its experience-based, mentor-mediated, socially driven counterpart. Moral principles are inherent in professional development and the professional way of life. Unfortunately, American society, including higher education, glorifies a market mentality centered on expansion and profit. Through formal and hidden curricula, dental schools send mixed messages to students about the importance of professionalism. Institutional consensus on professionalism should be developed among faculty, administration, and students through passionate advocacy and careful analysis of dentistry's moral convictions. The consensus message should communicate to stakeholders that morality and ethics "really count." Maximum student exposure to faculty exemplars, substantial service-learning experiences, and portfolio use are likely to enhance professionalism, which should be measured for every student, every semester, along with faculty and institutional assessment. Research reveals a significant relationship between levels of student moral reasoning and measures of clinical performance and shows that moral reasoning ability can be enhanced in dental students. Valid and reliable surveys exist to assess student moral reasoning. Documented student unprofessional behavior is a predictor of future state professional board disciplinary action against practitioners, along with low admissions test scores and course failures in the first two professional school years. ADEA Policy Statements recognize the importance of professionalism in student development. From day 1 of dental school, faculty and students should have no doubt as to what constitutes acceptable and unacceptable behavior in academic and clinical settings. With education and experience, dental students and dentists are likely to elevate their standards of professionalism.

Frameworks Shaping an Online Professional Development Program for K-12 Teachers of ELLs: Toward Supporting the Sharing of Ideas for Empowering Classroom Teachers Online

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Smith, Sedef Uzuner

2014-01-01

In efforts to maintain America's global competitiveness in the knowledge-based economy, teacher professional development has moved to center stage. With increasing numbers of English language learners (ELLs) in U.S. schools, several states have adopted mandatory professional development for classroom teachers to equip them with the knowledge…

Impact of a school-based pediatric obesity prevention program faciliated by health professionals

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

This study evaluated a school-based obesity intervention for elementary school children (N=835) where health professionals assisted teachers with the integration of healthy messages into the school curriculum. Schools were randomized into a professional-facilitated intervention (PFI; N=4) or a self-...

Embedded Professional Development and Classroom-Based Early Reading Intervention: Early Diagnostic Reading Intervention through Coaching

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Amendum, Steven J.

2014-01-01

The purpose of the current mixed-methods study was to investigate a model of professional development and classroom-based early reading intervention implemented by the 1st-grade teaching team in a large urban/suburban school district in the southeastern United States. The intervention provided teachers with ongoing embedded professional…

How Do Teachers Learn Together? A Study of School-Based Teacher Learning in China from the Perspective of Organisational Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zhang, Xiaolei; Wong, Jocelyn L. N.

2018-01-01

Studies of professional development have examined the influence of school-based approaches on in-service teacher learning and change but have seldom investigated teachers' job-embedded learning processes. This paper explores the dynamic processes of teacher learning in school-based settings. A qualitative comparative case study based on the…

Food Allergy Training for Schools and Restaurants (The Food Allergy Community Program): Protocol to Evaluate the Effectiveness of a Web-Based Program.

PubMed

Pádua, Inês; Moreira, André; Moreira, Pedro; Barros, Renata

2018-06-12

Food allergy is a growing public health concern. The literature suggests that a significant number of reactions occur in community services, such as schools and restaurants. Therefore, suitable training and education for education and catering professionals using viable and practical tools is needed. The objective of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of a Web-based food allergy training program for professionals working in schools and restaurants, designed to improve knowledge and good practices in the community. Free learning programs which contain educational animated videos about food allergy were developed for professionals working at schools and restaurants. The learning programs comprise of nine 5-minute videos, developed in video animation format using GoAnimate, with a total course length of 45-60 minutes. The courses for professionals at both schools and restaurants include contents about food allergy epidemiology, clinical manifestations, diagnosis and treatment, dietary avoidance, emergencies, labelling, and accidental exposure prevention. Additionally, specific topics for work practices at schools and restaurants were provided. Food allergy knowledge survey tools were developed to access the knowledge and management skills about food allergy of school and restaurant staff, at baseline and at the end of the food allergy program. The courses will be provided on the e-learning platform of the University of Porto and professionals from catering and education sectors will be invited to participate. Data collection will take place between September 2017 and October 2017, corresponding to a 2-month intervention. Final results will be disseminated in scientific journals and presented at national and international conferences. The Food Allergy Community Program intervention may improve school and restaurant professionals' commitment and skills to deal with food allergy in the community. Furthermore, this e-intervention program will provide an innovative contribution to understanding the impact of electronic health technologies on the learning process and the development of strategies for community interventions. RR1-10.2196/9770. ©Inês Pádua, André Moreira, Pedro Moreira, Renata Barros. Originally published in JMIR Research Protocols (http://www.researchprotocols.org), 12.06.2018.

Increasing Cultural Competence through Needs Assessment and Professional Development

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Smith, Natasha L.; Bahr, Michael W.

2014-01-01

The increasing cultural diversity of American students makes it imperative for school-based professionals to engage in culturally-competent practice, thereby ensuring high-quality mental health services. Although most cultural competence training occurs in university programs, research shows practicing mental health professionals would benefit…

Training Teachers to be Professional Development Leaders.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Leslie, Jessica B.

1982-01-01

A Teacher Corps project conducted by the Edgewood Independent School District and Trinity University (San Antonio, Texas) is described. A classroom teacher at each participating school is trained to lead professional development activities at his or her school. Teacher involvement in designing professional development at each school is emphasized.…

Timbercrest Elementary and the University of Central Florida: From Theory into Practice--A School's Story

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Banta, Sarah; Cool, Mary; Hansen, Mary; Heckler, Jessica; Masker, Trish; Plavchan, Krista; Sobol, Michele; Blessing, Lew; Starzynski, Mary; Carr, Melissa

2013-01-01

From an informal discussion to being awarded the National Association for Professional Development School's Award for Exemplary Professional Development School Achievement, this article presents the story of the Timbercrest Elementary/University of Central Florida Professional Development School Partnership's journey. As the authors shared their…

Secondary science teachers' view toward and classroom translation of sustained professional development

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lewis, Elizabeth Blake

This study concerns the phenomenon of secondary science teacher learning and enacting instructional strategies learned at the Communication in Science Inquiry Project (CISIP) teacher professional development events, as well as teacher perception of, and relationship to, this year-long professional development program. The CISIP program teaches science teachers how to build scientific classroom discourse communities with their students. Some of the science teachers were previous participants in the professional development, and acted as mentor teachers. The research design employed an integrated conceptual framework of situated learning theory with an analytical lens of teachers' professional, institutional and affinity, identities. A multi-method approach was used to generate data. Throughout the 2007-2008 academic year, the teachers' fidelity to the professional development model was measured using a classroom observation instrument aligned with the professional development model. From these observation data a longitudinal model, using hierarchical linear modeling, was constructed. In addition, surveys and interview data were used to construct both whole group and case studies of two high school science teachers who taught biology at the same school. The results indicated that there was a significant difference between previous and new participants; specifically, the longer teachers had participated in the professional development, and adopted a mentorship role, the greater their fidelity of classroom instruction to the CISIP model. Additionally, the case study teacher who developed a CISIP model-aligned affinity identity implemented more of the instructional strategies than the teacher who maintained his school-based institutional identity.

Conceptualizing and Evaluating Professional Development for School Leaders

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Goldring, Ellen B.; Preston, Courtney; Huff, Jason

2012-01-01

In this paper, we present a review of the field of professional development for school leaders. The paper sets out a framework for defining what professional development is, articulates criteria to define "high quality" professional development, and describes goals for professional development. It then critiques the research on…

Promoting the Role of Occupational Therapy in School-Based Collaboration: Outcome Project

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Christner, Andrea

2015-01-01

This evidence-based project provided a professional development opportunity for educators to enhance the awareness of school-based occupational therapy and promote a collaborative approach when supporting student participation in daily learning tasks. Through asynchronous web-based delivery, participants viewed five narrated PowerPoint…

Exploring a Model of Situated Professional Development: Impact on Classroom Practice

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Singer, Jonathan; Lotter, Christine; Feller, Robert; Gates, Harry

2011-04-01

A hallmark of current science education reform involves teaching through inquiry. However, the widespread use of inquiry-based instruction in many classrooms has not occurred (Roehrig and Luft in Int J Sci Educ 26:3-24, 2004; Schneider et al. in J Res Sci Teach 42:283-312, 2005). The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of a professional development program on middle school science teachers' ability to enact inquiry-based pedagogical practices. Data were generated through evaluation of teacher practice using the Reformed Teaching Observation Protocol (RTOP) (Sawada et al. in School Sci Math 102:245-253, 2002) at three distinct junctures, before, during, and after the professional development treatment. Analysis of teacher-participant post-institute reflections was then utilized to determine the perceived role of the various institute components. Statistical significant changes in RTOP scores indicated that the teachers were able to successfully transfer the enactment of the inquiry-based practices into their classrooms. The subsequent discussion provides connection between these pedagogical changes with use of professional development strategies that provide a situated learning environment.

Distance Learning for Teacher Professional Development in Statistics Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Meletiou-Mavrotheris, Maria; Mavrotheris, Efstathios; Paparistodemou, Efi

2011-01-01

We provide an overview of "EarlyStatistics," an online professional development course in statistics education targeting European elementary and middle school teachers. The course facilitates intercultural collaboration of teachers using contemporary technological and educational tools. An online information base offers access to all of…

Implementing Teacher Evaluation: Lattice of Leadership

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Derrington, Mary Lynne

2016-01-01

This case study describes how all leaders in one elementary school focused their collective work implementing a dramatically changed, state-mandated teacher-evaluation system. The article describes how multiple leaders created new professional development structures based on staff feedback and adapted exiting professional development structures to…

Mathematics Efficacy and Professional Development Needs of Wyoming Agricultural Education Teachers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Haynes, J. Chris; Stripling, Christopher T.

2014-01-01

School-based agricultural education programs provide contextualized learning environments for the teaching of core academic subject matter. This study sought to examine the mathematics efficacy and professional development needs of Wyoming agricultural education teachers related to teaching contextualized mathematics. Wyoming agricultural…

Managerial Approaches Adopted at Schools and Their Effects on the Professional Development of Teachers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Akbasli, Sait; Üredi, Lütfi; Ulum, Hakan

2016-01-01

One of the determinant factors contributing to the professional development of teachers is the school manager, since the school managers' administration manner determines the speed and capacity of development. With this study, the managerial approaches adopted at schools and their effects on teachers' professional development are aimed to be found…

Learning to Lead Reading Comprehension Discussion

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Silver, Rita Elaine; Png, Jessie

2016-01-01

In this article, we describe and reflect on a collaborative, school-based professional development project (an "intervention") intended to encourage innovation in classroom teaching. Specifically, the intervention included a collaboration between university-based researchers/mentors and primary school teachers in Singapore who were…

Impact of a School-Based Pediatric Obesity Prevention Program Facilitated by Health Professionals

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Johnston, Craig A.; Moreno, Jennette P.; El-Mubasher, Abeer; Gallagher, Martina; Tyler, Chermaine; Woehler, Deborah

2013-01-01

Background: This study evaluated a school-based obesity intervention for elementary school children (N = 835) where health professionals assisted teachers with the integration of healthy messages into the school curriculum. Methods: Schools were randomized into a professional-facilitated intervention (PFI; N = 4) or a self-help (SH; N = 3)…

The Impact of Individual, Educational, and Workplace Factors on the Transfer of School-Based Learning into the Workplace

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Renta Davids, Ana Inés; Van den Bossche, Piet; Gijbels, David; Fandos Garrido, Manel

2017-01-01

The aim of this study was to investigate the transfer of learning of professional competences from vocational colleges to the workplace context in vocational education. Concretely, the study examined the relations between the professional competences learned at school and the use and further development of those competences at the workplace during…

Professional/Peer-Learning Community: Impacts on Workplace Training at Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) Schools

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Phusavat, Kongkiti Peter; Delahunty, David; Kess, Pekka; Kropsu-Vehkapera, Hanna

2017-01-01

Purpose: The study aims to examine the issues relating to workplace learning at the upper secondary school level. This study is based on the two questions. How should the professional/peer-learning community or PLC be developed and deployed to help strengthen in-service teacher training? The second question is what are the success factors which…

Preparing culturally responsive teachers of science, technology, engineering, and math using the Geophysical Institute Framework for Professional Development in Alaska

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Berry Bertram, Kathryn

2011-12-01

The Geophysical Institute (GI) Framework for Professional Development was designed to prepare culturally responsive teachers of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). Professional development programs based on the framework are created for rural Alaskan teachers who instruct diverse classrooms that include indigenous students. This dissertation was written in response to the question, "Under what circumstances is the GI Framework for Professional Development effective in preparing culturally responsive teachers of science, technology, engineering, and math?" Research was conducted on two professional development programs based on the GI Framework: the Arctic Climate Modeling Program (ACMP) and the Science Teacher Education Program (STEP). Both programs were created by backward design to student learning goals aligned with Alaska standards and rooted in principles of indigenous ideology. Both were created with input from Alaska Native cultural knowledge bearers, Arctic scientists, education researchers, school administrators, and master teachers with extensive instructional experience. Both provide integrated instruction reflective of authentic Arctic research practices, and training in diverse methods shown to increase indigenous student STEM engagement. While based on the same framework, these programs were chosen for research because they offer distinctly different training venues for K-12 teachers. STEP offered two-week summer institutes on the UAF campus for more than 175 teachers from 33 Alaska school districts. By contrast, ACMP served 165 teachers from one rural Alaska school district along the Bering Strait. Due to challenges in making professional development opportunities accessible to all teachers in this geographically isolated district, ACMP offered a year-round mix of in-person, long-distance, online, and local training. Discussion centers on a comparison of the strategies used by each program to address GI Framework cornerstones, on methodologies used to conduct program research, and on findings obtained. Research indicates that in both situations the GI Framework for Professional Development was effective in preparing culturally responsive STEM teachers. Implications of these findings and recommendations for future research are discussed in the conclusion.

Transportability of an Evidence-Based Early Childhood Intervention in a Low-Income African Country: Results of a Cluster Randomized Controlled Study.

PubMed

Huang, Keng-Yen; Nakigudde, Janet; Rhule, Dana; Gumikiriza-Onoria, Joy Louise; Abura, Gloria; Kolawole, Bukky; Ndyanabangi, Sheila; Kim, Sharon; Seidman, Edward; Ogedegbe, Gbenga; Brotman, Laurie Miller

2017-11-01

Children in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) are burdened by significant unmet mental health needs. Despite the successes of numerous school-based interventions for promoting child mental health, most evidence-based interventions (EBIs) are not available in SSA. This study investigated the implementation quality and effectiveness of one component of an EBI from a developed country (USA) in a SSA country (Uganda). The EBI component, Professional Development, was provided by trained Ugandan mental health professionals to Ugandan primary school teachers. It included large-group experiential training and small-group coaching to introduce and support a range of evidence-based practices (EBPs) to create nurturing and predictable classroom experiences. The study was guided by the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research, the Teacher Training Implementation Model, and the RE-AIM evaluation framework. Effectiveness outcomes were studied using a cluster randomized design, in which 10 schools were randomized to intervention and wait-list control conditions. A total of 79 early childhood teachers participated. Teacher knowledge and the use of EBPs were assessed at baseline and immediately post-intervention (4-5 months later). A sample of 154 parents was randomly selected to report on child behavior at baseline and post-intervention. Linear mixed effect modeling was applied to examine effectiveness outcomes. Findings support the feasibility of training Ugandan mental health professionals to provide Professional Development for Ugandan teachers. Professional Development was delivered with high levels of fidelity and resulted in improved teacher EBP knowledge and the use of EBPs in the classroom, and child social competence.

Making Professional Development Schools Work: Politics, Practice, and Policy. The Series on School Reform.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Levine, Marsha, Ed.; Trachtman, Roberta, Ed.

The 11 chapters in this book are organized into 3 parts. "Part 1: Making Changes at the Core" contains five chapters: (1) "Learning To Teach in Professional Development Schools" (Kenneth Zeichner and Maurine Miller); (2) "'Making It Happen': Creating a Subculture of Mentoring in a Professional Development School"…

The Process of Professional School Counselor Multicultural Competency Development: A Grounded Theory

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Berry, Jessica L.

2013-01-01

Professional School Counselors who work in schools with a range of student diversity are posed with a unique set of challenges which require them to develop their multicultural competencies. The following qualitative study examined the process of developing multicultural competence for four professional school counselors. The four professional…

A "Special" Partnership: The Towson-Waterloo-Ilchester-Bellows Spring Elementary Education-Special Education Professional Development School

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gartland, Debi

2010-01-01

The 2010 Professional Development Schools National Conference recognized the professional development school relationship between Towson University with its dual certification major and the Howard County Public School System for its outstanding collaborative accomplishments, naming the Towson-Waterloo-Ilchester-Bellows Spring PDS as a recipient of…

Professional Development of Principals: A Path to Effective Secondary School Administration in Nigeria

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ibara, Emmanuel C.

2014-01-01

The article examines the professional development of secondary school principals in Nigeria. Drawing from vast review of literature on professional development and appointment of school principals in other countries, the article canvasses the position that secondary schools in Nigeria should be administered by skilled personnel who have the…

Leading Learning: The Role of School Leaders in Supporting Continuous Professional Development

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stevenson, Michael; Hedberg, John G.; O'Sullivan, Kerry-Ann; Howe, Cathie

2016-01-01

In contemporary school settings, leaders seeking to support professional development are faced with many challenges. These challenges call for educators who can undertake professional learning that is continuous and adaptive to change. As a term, continuous professional development (CPD) reflects many different forms of professional development in…

Creating Professional Development School Partnerships. A Resource Guide.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Teitel, Lee; Del Prete, Tom

This three-part guide presents information and recommendations from the Massachusetts Professional Development School Network Steering Committee on how to develop a professional development school (PDS) partnership. Part 1 defines the PDS concept, presents a brief background account of its evolution, and discusses its potential for simultaneously…

Enlarging the STEM pipeline working with youth-serving organizations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Porro, I.

2005-12-01

The After-School Astronomy Project (ASAP) is a comprehensive initiative to promote the pursuit of science learning among underrepresented youth. To this end ASAP specifically aims at building the capacity of urban community-based centers to deliver innovative science out-of-school programming to their youth. ASAP makes use of a modular curriculum consisting of a combination of hands-on activities and youth-led explorations of the night sky using MicroObservatory. Through project-based investigations students reinforce learning in astronomy and develop an understanding of science as inquiry, while also develop communication and computer skills. Through MicroObservatory students gain access to a network of educational telescopes, that they control over the Internet, software analysis tools and an online community of users. An integral part of ASAP is to provide professional development opportunities for after-school workers. This promotes a self-sustainable implementation of ASAP long-term and fosters the creation of a cadre of after-school professionals dedicated to facilitating science-based programs.

Supervisor Involvement and Professional Development Needs Associated with SAE Programming and Safety

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lawver, Rebecca G.; Pate, Michael L.; Sorensen, Tyson J.

2016-01-01

This descriptive survey research study sought to gather evidence of school-based agriculture teachers' perceptions of community supervisor involvement with supervision and planning of students' Supervised Agricultural Experience (SAE) work activities and safety training professional development needs. Responding teachers indicated they agreed to…

The Early Childhood Coaching Handbook

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rush, Dathan D.; Shelden, M'Lisa L.

2011-01-01

Evidence-based and highly effective, "coaching" helps early childhood practitioners support other professionals and families as they enhance existing knowledge, develop new skills, and promote healthy development of young children. This hands-on guide shows professionals how to conduct skillful coaching in any setting--home, school, or community.…

"A Lifelong Classroom": Social Studies Educators' Engagement with Professional Learning Networks on Twitter

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Noble, Anna; McQuillan, Patrick; Littenberg-Tobias, Josh

2016-01-01

Growing numbers of educators are using social media platforms to connect with other educators to form professional learning networks. These networks serve as alternative sources of professional development for teachers who seek to enrich their professional growth beyond school-based programs. This study aims to add to the small but growing body of…

Professional Learning Communities: Assessment--Development--Effects.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hipp, Kristine Kiefer; Huffman, Jane Bumpers

This presentation addresses three topics: (1) the assessment of professional learning communities in schools; (2) the design and development of professional learning communities in schools; and (3) the effects of professional learning communities in schools. The purpose of this brief document is to share descriptions, processes, and materials…

Developing a Psychology of Learning in the Field: Pre-service Mentoring of At-Risk Middle School Students.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Navarro, Virginia

This narrative recounts the process of developing and implementing a field component in a preservice course on the psychology of teaching and learning at a large urban school of education. The professional development model of integrated school reform was used as a theoretical base. The field component of the course had two strands: reflective…

An Analysis of the Relationship between Professional Development, School Leadership, Technology Infrastructure, and Technology Use

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mishnick, Nicole

2017-01-01

This dissertation study investigates the relationship between professional development, school leadership, technology infrastructure and technology use. Three research questions were developed. The first examines the relationship between professional development and technology use, the second examines the relationship between school leadership and…

Problem Finding in Professional Learning Communities: A Learning Study Approach

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tan, Yuen Sze Michelle; Caleon, Imelda Santos

2016-01-01

This study marries collaborative problem solving and learning study in understanding the onset of a cycle of teacher professional development process within school-based professional learning communities (PLCs). It aimed to explore how a PLC carried out collaborative problem finding--a key process involved in collaborative problem solving--that…

Factors influencing Chinese college students' preferences for mental health professionals.

PubMed

Ip, Vitti; Chan, Fong; Chan, Jacob Yui-Chung; Lee, June Ka Yan; Sung, Connie; H Wilson, Emma

2016-01-01

Transition from high school to college can be particularly difficult and stressful for Chinese college students because of parent expectations. The purpose of this study was to examine therapist variables influencing Chinese college students' preferences for mental health professionals using conjoint analysis. Two hundred fifty-eight community college students in Hong Kong were asked to rate the profile of 55 mental health professionals representing a combination of therapist characteristics (i.e., gender, age, race/ethnicity, professional background, and training institutions) from the most to least preferred therapist from whom to seek psychological counselling. Results indicated that students' preference formation was based largely on professional background and training institution of the mental health professionals. Clinical psychologists and clinical social workers were preferred over educational psychologists (school psychologists), counsellors, and psychiatrists. Mental health professionals who received training from more prestigious schools were preferred over those trained at less prestigious schools. Understanding clients' preference formation for choosing mental health professionals could be the first step to gain insights for developing effective educational and outreach strategies to promote help seeking behavior and mental health service utilization among Chinese college students.

Teacher Education in Schools as Learning Communities: Transforming High-Poverty Schools through Dialogic Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Garcia-Carrion, Rocio; Gomez, Aitor; Molina, Silvia; Ionescu, Vladia

2017-01-01

Teachers' professional development in Schools as Learning Communities may become a key process for the sustainability and transferability of this model worldwide. Learning Communities (LC) is a community-based project that aims to transform schools through dialogic learning and involves research-grounded schools that implement Successful…

School and Library Media. Introduction; The Uniform Computer Information Transactions Act (UCITA): More Critical for Educators than Copyright Law?; Redefining Professional Growth: New Attitudes, New Tools--A Case Study; Diversity in School Library Media Center Resources; Image-Text Relationships in Web Pages; Aiming for Effective Student Learning in Web-Based Courses: Insights from Student Experiences.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fitzgerald, Mary Ann; Gregory, Vicki L.; Brock, Kathy; Bennett, Elizabeth; Chen, Shu-Hsien Lai; Marsh, Emily; Moore, Joi L.; Kim, Kyung-Sun; Esser, Linda R.

2002-01-01

Chapters in this section of "Educational Media and Technology Yearbook" examine important trends prominent in the landscape of the school library media profession in 2001. Themes include mandated educational reform; diversity in school library resources; communication through image-text juxtaposition in Web pages; and professional development and…

Principals' Perceptions of Professional Development in High- and Low-Performing High-Poverty Schools

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Moore, Sheila; Kochan, Frances

2013-01-01

This is the second part of a two-part study examining issues related to professional development in high-poverty schools. The findings from the initial study indicated that principals in high-poverty, high-performing schools perceived higher levels of implementation of quality professional development standards in their schools than did principals…

The Impact of the School Counselor Supervision Model on the Self-Efficacy of School Counselor Site Supervisors

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brown, Carleton H.; Olivárez, Artura, Jr.; DeKruyf, Loraine

2018-01-01

Supervision is a critical element in the professional identity development of school counselors; however, available school counseling-specific supervision training is lacking. The authors describe a 4-hour supervision workshop based on the School Counselor Supervision Model (SCSM; Luke & Bernard, 2006) attended by 31 school counselors from…

Ecological Psychology: Potential Contributions to Social Justice and Advocacy in School Settings

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Williams, Joseph M.; Greenleaf, Arie T.

2012-01-01

Inequities and disparities of various forms exist in public schools that significantly impact the academic success and healthy development of many students. The detrimental effects of social injustices within schools are often ignored by school-based professionals (SBPs) because an entrenched intrapsychic perspective dominates the professional…

Learning Challenges Involved in Developing Leading for Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Timperley, Helen S.

2006-01-01

The study in this article seeks to understand the learning challenges involved in developing learning-centered leadership in schools. It is based on Southworth's (1998, 2004) ideas of leadership for improving schools, which comprise promoting learning-centered improvement at all levels through professional development and a focus on the quality of…

Examining Changes in Beliefs and Practices: English Language Teachers' Participation in the School-Based Support Program

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chaaban, Youmen

2017-01-01

This article examines changes in teachers' beliefs and practices over the course of a professional development (PD) program concerned with the implementation of a constructivist-oriented pedagogy in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) classrooms. Grounded in situative theories of learning and development, the School-based Support Program places…

The importance of therapeutic processes in school-based psychosocial treatment of homework problems in adolescents with ADHD.

PubMed

Breaux, Rosanna P; Langberg, Joshua M; McLeod, Bryce D; Molitor, Stephen J; Smith, Zoe R; Bourchtein, Elizaveta; Green, Cathrin D

2018-05-01

To evaluate the importance of therapeutic processes in two brief school-based psychosocial treatments targeting homework problems in adolescents with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) as delivered by school mental health professionals. A sample of 222 middle school students (72% male; M age = 12.00 years, SD = 1.02) diagnosed with ADHD was randomized to receive either a contingency-management or a skills-based treatment for homework problems. Both treatments included 16 individual sessions (20-min each) and 2 parent/family meetings. Adolescents and school mental health professionals reported on the working alliance in the middle of the treatment; professionals rated adolescent involvement at each of the 16 sessions, parent involvement during both parent meetings, and parent commitment to carry out the established homework plan. Attendance at parent meetings was also recorded. Therapeutic processes predicted objective, parent-reported, and teacher-reported academic outcomes. Parent engagement was particularly important for the contingency-based treatment, whereas working alliance and adolescent involvement were most important for the skills-based treatment. Therapeutic processes such as developing a strong working alliance and engaging parents and students are key elements of treatment delivery and receipt in school-based mental health programming and should be explicitly trained and monitored. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

Modeling Technology Integration for Preservice Teachers: A PT3 Case Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hall, Leslie

2006-01-01

This case study describes the outcomes of 4 years of professional development funded by a PT3 grant. Participants included general education university faculty members, teacher education faculty members, school administrators, and K-12 teachers. All professional development activities were based on the "National Educational Technology…

Road Trip: Journey to Improvement Takes Twists and Turns

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Perconti, Ellen S.

2010-01-01

The Lewiston (Idaho) School District's picture of optimal professional learning is changing from one-shot, sit-and-get style workshops to learning with the expectation of implementation. The district, which serves approximately 4,950 students, has developed and is implementing a professional development model based on continuous improvement,…

Professional Development in Technology at High Achieving Schools

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ryan, Kevin D.

2017-01-01

This study analyzed educators' perception of professional development offered through schools in the area of technology implementation and tried to define its perceived effectiveness in meeting the professional development conceptual framework defined by Gardner, Baker, Vogt, and Hodel in "Four Approaches to Professional Development".…

School-Based In-Service Teacher Training in Japan: Perspectives on Teachers' Professional Development.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Arani, Mohammad Reza Sarkar

This paper uses the case study method to describe the characteristics of Japanese school-based inservice teacher training programs, which are designed to help teachers improve their competence and the quality of their teaching activities. Data come from observations of and interviews with teachers in classrooms within 10 public elementary schools.…

Building a Mentorship-Based Research Program Focused on Individual Interests, Curiosity, and Professional Skills at the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shoemaker, Sarah E.; Thomas, Christopher; Roberts, Todd; Boltz, Robin

2016-01-01

The North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics (NCSSM) offers students a wide variety of real-world opportunities to develop skills and talent critical for students to gain the essential professional and personal skills that lead to success in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) careers. One of the key avenues available…

The Perceived Effectiveness of Christian School Professional Development

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hicks, Kory G.

2012-01-01

The purpose of this study was to explore the effectiveness of professional development programs in Christian schools. This study compared the perceptions of Christian school and public schoolteachers towards their professional development to determine if any statistically significant differences existed among Learning Forward's 12 standards…

Professional Development: Perceptions of Benefits for Principals

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Blaik Hourani, Rida; Stringer, Patricia

2015-01-01

Schools in Abu Dhabi are going through change and reform. Abu Dhabi Education Council (ADEC) has initiated professional development for principals to facilitate change and school improvement. This paper explores principals' perception on the benefits of professional development received in light of managing school change and reforms.…

The Effect of a State Department of Education Teacher Mentor Initiative on Science Achievement

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pruitt, Stephen L.; Wallace, Carolyn S.

2012-06-01

This study investigated the effectiveness of a southern state's department of education program to improve science achievement through embedded professional development of science teachers in the lowest performing schools. The Science Mentor Program provided content and inquiry-based coaching by teacher leaders to science teachers in their own classrooms. The study analyzed the mean scale scores for the science portion of the state's high school graduation test for the years 2004 through 2007 to determine whether schools receiving the intervention scored significantly higher than comparison schools receiving no intervention. The results showed that all schools achieved significant improvement of scale scores between 2004 and 2007, but there were no significant performance differences between intervention and comparison schools, nor were there any significant differences between various subgroups in intervention and comparison schools. However, one subgroup, economically disadvantaged (ED) students, from high-level intervention schools closed the achievement gap with ED students from no-intervention schools across the period of the study. The study provides important information to guide future research on and design of large-scale professional development programs to foster inquiry-based science.

Meeting the Demands of Science Reforms: A Comprehensive Professional Development for Practicing Middle School Teachers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pringle, Rose M.; Mesa, Jennifer; Hayes, Lynda

2018-03-01

Preparing teachers to teach science consistent with current reforms in science education is a daunting enterprise given a lack of high-quality science professional development (PD) adaptable across various contexts (Wilson 2013). This study examines the impact of a comprehensive professional development program on middle school teachers' disciplinary content knowledge and instructional practices. In this mixed methods investigation, data sources included classroom observations, content knowledge assessments, surveys, and a range of interviews. The teachers in the program showed significant improvements in their disciplinary content knowledge and demonstrated through their enactment of a reform-based curriculum, a range of ability levels to translate their knowledge into instructional practices consistent with the principles espoused in the PD. We conclude that programs that attend to elements of effective PD identified in the literature can positively impact middle school science teachers' enactment of reform-based science teaching. Our findings extend these elements to include the strategic engagement of school and district leadership and the provision of a safe learning space for teachers to collectively engage in reciprocal learning and critical practice. This study has worldwide implications for designing PD for science teachers and for extending our understanding of the impact of each element.

An Ethnographic Case Study of the Professional Development Model in a Successful Elementary School within a Suburban Southeast Texas School District

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Petrzelka, Valerie

2012-01-01

This ethnographic case study was designed to investigate a successful professional development model, perceived effective professional learning and process for determining professional development for teachers. With eighty years of research on professional development, limited research was available on the process for determining professional…

Professional School Counselors' Career Development Practices and Continuing Education Needs

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Anctil, Tina M.; Smith, Carol Klose; Schenck, Paulette; Dahir, Carol

2012-01-01

This study explored the practices of professional school counselors in their delivery of career counseling. School counselors were found to spend significantly less time on career development than on personal-social and academic development. In addition, new professionals placed more priority on career counseling compared with their more…

Impact of Teachers' Professional Development on School Improvement--An Analysis at Bangladesh Standpoint

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hoque, Kazi Enamul; Alam, Gazi Mahabubul; Abdullah, Abdul Ghani Kanesean

2011-01-01

This study seeks to describe the teachers' professional development activities in Bangladesh and explores the hypotheses about the relationship between teachers' traditional professional development activities and school improvement. Data from a representative sample of City secondary schools from Bangladesh (n = 127) were gathered through…

Strategies for Improving Power in School-Randomized Studies of Professional Development

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kelcey, Ben; Phelps, Geoffrey

2013-01-01

Objectives: Group-randomized designs are well suited for studies of professional development because they can accommodate programs that are delivered to intact groups (e.g., schools), the collaborative nature of professional development, and extant teacher/school assignments. Though group designs may be theoretically favorable, prior evidence has…

School Nurse Summer Institute: A Model for Professional Development

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Neighbors, Marianne; Barta, Kathleen

2004-01-01

The components of a professional development model designed to empower school nurses to become leaders in school health services is described. The model was implemented during a 3-day professional development institute that included clinical and leadership components, especially coalition building, with two follow-up sessions in the fall and…

School-based suicide prevention: content, process, and the role of trusted adults and peers.

PubMed

Joshi, Shashank V; Hartley, Samantha N; Kessler, Moira; Barstead, Maura

2015-04-01

Suicide is a leading cause of preventable death in youth, and numerous curricula and other prevention and intervention programs have been developed in the last 15 years. Comprehensive suicide prevention planning should include the 4 components of health promotion, prevention/education, intervention, and postvention. School-based suicide prevention and mental health education programs have become more common as an efficient and cost-effective way to reach youth. Process considerations that are based on the principles of therapeutic engagement with patients and families can provide mental health professionals with strategies that can assist education professionals, students, and the larger school community simultaneously. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Professional development in photonics: the advanced technology education projects of the New England Board of Education

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Donnelly, Judith; Hanes, Fenna; Massa, Nicholas

2007-09-01

Since 1995, the New England Board of Education (NEBHE) has been providing curriculum and professional development as well as laboratory improvement in optics/photonics to middle school and high school teachers and college faculty across the United States. With funding from the National Science Foundation's Advanced Technology Education program, NEBHE's optics/photonics education projects have created a national network of educational and industry alliances resulting in opportunities in optics and photonics for students at participating schools and colleges. The cornerstone of NEBHE projects is collaboration among educational levels, career counselors and teachers/faculty, and industry and academia. In such a rich atmosphere of cooperation, participants have been encouraged to create their own regional projects and activities involving students from middle school through four-year universities. In this paper we will describe the evolution of teacher/faculty professional development from a traditional week-long summer workshop to a collaborative distance learning laboratory course based on adult learning principles and supported by a national network of industry mentors.

School-based youth health nurses: roles, responsibilities, challenges, and rewards.

PubMed

Barnes, Margaret; Courtney, Mary D; Pratt, Jan; Walsh, Anne M

2004-01-01

A case study and focus-group discussions were conducted with 10 youth health nurses (nurses) employed in the recently introduced School-Based Youth Health Nurse Program (SBYHNP) to identify their roles, responsibilities, and professional development needs. Major roles are support, referral, health promotion, and marketing. Clients include high school students, teachers, and parents; the majority of whom are female and aged 13-16 years. Health issues addressed during individual consultations are predominantly psychosocial but also include medical, sexual health and sexuality issues, health surveillance, and risk-taking behaviors. Nurses also provide clients with health information and promote enhanced personal skill development during these consultations. Health promotion strategies undertaken by nurses were predominantly health education and health information displays. Nurses reported marketing their role and function within the school to be an essential and often difficult aspect of their role. Professional development through the SBYHNP was excellent; however, there was concern relating to the availability of future educational opportunities. The SBYHNP provides nurses with a new, challenging, autonomous role within the school environment and the opportunity to expand their role to incorporate all aspects of the health-promoting schools' framework.

Seeking the Essential Superintendent.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hawley, Willis D.

1994-01-01

Although typical school administration program deserves criticism, it would be impossible for a university-based preparation program to cover all topics identified in AASA's "Professional Standards for Superintendents." Universities understandably stress theory and cannot substitute for rich professional development program in school…

Professional Development and Learning by General Teachers Implementing Functional Behavioural Assessment in Thai Inclusive Classrooms

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Opartkiattikul, Watinee; Arthur-Kelly, Michael; Dempsey, Ian

2016-01-01

Functional Behavioural Assessment (FBA) is identified as a research-based approach used in many Western schools to support student behaviour. This study aimed to assist Thai classroom teachers by providing a professional development and learning programme in FBA to develop an effective and efficient process to address behaviour problems and allow…

Supporting Statewide Implementation of the Learning School Initiative. Catalyst Schools Research Study Report

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hammer, Patricia Cahape

2016-01-01

This is the first in a series of reports based on a research study, Developing Effective Professional Learning Communities in Catalyst Schools, conducted between February 2015 and June 2016. "Catalyst schools" were elementary- and secondary-level schools selected to participate in a pilot project intended to explore how best to support…

76 FR 50199 - National Center To Enhance the Professional Development of School Personnel Who Share...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-08-12

... DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION [CFDA No. 84.325F] National Center To Enhance the Professional Development... of project period and waiver for the National Center to Enhance the Professional Development of... waiver enables the currently funded National Center to Enhance the Professional Development of School...

Professional Learning Communities: Teachers' Perceptions and Student Achievement

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Peters, Erica

2013-01-01

Professional Learning Communities (PLC's) are designed to help schools improve student achievement; all decisions are based on the needs of students. PLC's are an effective way to receive professional development (PD), allow for collaboration with fellow teachers, and offer timely intervention to all students. In a district known for PLC…

A Professional Learning Community Activity for Science Teachers: How to Incorporate Discourse-Rich Instructional Strategies into Science Lessons

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lewis, Elizabeth; Baker, Dale; Watts, Nievita Bueno; Lang, Michael

2014-01-01

In this article we describe current educational research underlying a comprehensive model for building a scientific classroom discourse community. We offer a professional development activity for a school-based professional learning community, providing specific science instructional strategies within this interactive teaching model. This design…

Professional Norms in School Leadership: Change Efforts in Implementation of Education for Sustainable Development

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Leo, Ulf; Wickenberg, Per

2013-01-01

This study identifies and analyses professional norms as a means of illuminating school cultures and how norms are distributed in the system. Of special interest is the role of school leaders and how they lead, organize and realise school development. The study research question is: What professional norms do school leaders highlight in change…

Use of a Journal Club for Professional Development: Outcomes in a School-Based Occupational Therapy Practice

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Szucs, Kimberly A.; Benson, Jeryl D.; Corturillo, Amanda

2016-01-01

This article investigates the outcomes of a journal club on the evidence-based practice (EBP) skills of school-based practitioners. Participants' knowledge, attitudes, and perceptions of EBP were collected using pre- and postsurveys following 6 monthly journal club sessions. Participants identified time, availability of articles, and decreased…

The effects of professional development related to classroom assessment on student achievement in science

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mazzie, Dawn Danielle

This study investigated the relationship between students' standardized test scores in science and (a) increases in teacher assessment literacy and (b) teacher participation in a Teacher Quality Research (TQR) project on classroom assessment. The samples for these studies were teachers from underperforming schools who volunteered to take part in a professional development program in classroom assessment. School groups were randomly assigned to the treatment group. For Study 1, teachers in the treatment received professional development in classroom assessment from a trained assessment coach. Teachers in the control received no professional development. For Study 2, teachers in Treatment 1 received professional development in classroom assessment from a trained assessment coach and teachers in Treatment 2 received professional development in classroom assessment from a facilitator with one day of training. Teachers in both groups completed a measure of assessment literacy, the Teacher Quality Research Test of Assessment Literacy Skills (TQR_TALS), prior to the beginning and then again at the conclusion of the four month professional development program. A hierarchical linear model (HLM) analysis was conducted to determine the relationship between students' standardized test scores in science and (a) increases in teacher assessment literacy and (b) teacher TQR status. Based upon these analyses, the professional development program increased teachers' assessment literacy skills; however, the professional development had no significant impact on students' achievement.

The Development and Exploration of the Psychometric Properties of the Assessment of School Counselor Needs for Professional Development Survey

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Burnham, Joy J.; Dahir, Carol A.; Stone, Carolyn B.; Hooper, Lisa M.

2008-01-01

The newly developed Assessment of School Counselor Needs for Professional Development (ASNPD; Dahir & Stone, 2003a, 2003b) survey measures school counselors' readiness to deliver comprehensive school counseling programs (ASCA National Model[R]; American School Counselor Association, 2005) and appraises school counselors' beliefs, priorities, and…

A Novel Approach to Professional Development in Middle School Science: Instructional Coaching by University Professors to Improve the Instructional Core

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mchenry, Nadine; Borger, Laurie; Liable-Sands, Louise

2017-01-01

The current study was constructed based on the recommendations of a previous study (McHenry & Borger, 2013). Though inquiry-based teaching has long been touted as an effective pedagogy, its application by middle school science teachers has been problematic. Using tools developed from the previous study in conjunction with professional…

School-Based Multidisciplinary Teacher Team-Building Combining On-Line Professional Development (ESSEA) and Field-Based Environmental Monitoring (GLOBE)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Low, R.

2003-12-01

The multidisciplinary nature of Earth system science provides a strong foundation for integrated science teaching at the K-12 level. In a Minneapolis-St. Paul based project, urban middle school teaching teams composed of language arts and math specialists as well as physical, Earth, and biological science teachers participate in the NASA Earth system science course (ESSEA) and in the international GLOBE environmental monitoring project. For students, the goal is to integrate science throughout the curriculum as well as involve classes from different subjects in a high-interest school science project. For teachers, the project provides greatly-needed classroom support and teacher team building, as well as professional development. The on-line course provides continuity and communication between the different team members. Face-to-face meetings with the instructors on site are conducted every 4 weeks. The problem-based learning approach to environmental issues developed in the ESSEA course lends itself to application to local environmental issues. New ESSEA modules developed for the project highlight environmental problems associated with flooding, introduced species, and eutrofication of lakes and rivers located near the participating schools. In addition, ESSEA participants are certified as GLOBE teachers, and assist their students in monitoring water quality. The synergistic partnership of ESSEA and GLOBE provides an attractive package upon which long-term school-based environmental monitoring projects can be based.

School-Based Screening to Identify At-Risk Students Not Already Known to School Professionals: The Columbia Suicide Screen

PubMed Central

Wilcox, Holly C.; Schonfeld, Irvin Sam; Davies, Mark; Hicks, Roger C.; Turner, J. Blake; Shaffer, David

2009-01-01

Objectives. We sought to determine the degree of overlap between students identified through school-based suicide screening and those thought to be at risk by school administrative and clinical professionals. Methods. Students from 7 high schools in the New York metropolitan area completed the Columbia Suicide Screen; 489 of the 1729 students screened had positive results. The clinical status of 641 students (73% of those who had screened positive and 23% of those who had screened negative) was assessed with modules from the Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Children. School professionals nominated by their principal and unaware of students' screening and diagnostic status were asked to indicate whether they were concerned about the emotional well-being of each participating student. Results. Approximately 34% of students with significant mental health problems were identified only through screening, 13.0% were identified only by school professionals, 34.9% were identified both through screening and by school professionals, and 18.3% were identified neither through screening nor by school professionals. The corresponding percentages among students without mental health problems were 9.1%, 24.0%, 5.5%, and 61.3%. Conclusions. School-based screening can identify suicidal and emotionally troubled students not recognized by school professionals. PMID:19059865

An Evaluation of Professional Development on Using Student Response Systems and Interactive Whiteboards for Formative Assessment in the Middle Schools of a Southeastern School District

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fuller, Julia Susanne

2011-01-01

The purchase of 21st-century technologies for each middle school teacher in my school system coinciding with a historic lack of significant professional development in technology integration provided the impetus for the study. To address the problem, professional development focused on helping teachers use student response systems and mobile…

Professional Development for School Library Media Professionals: Elements for Success

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brown, Carol A.; Dotson, Lana Kaye; Yontz, Elaine

2011-01-01

The American Association for School Librarians suggests an important mission for school librarians is to ensure personal growth through ongoing exposure to conferences, journal articles, webinars, presentations, and membership in professional organizations. As professional educators, School Librarians should exemplify the vision for being…

Design-Based Research for Professional Learning for "Cultural Mathematics"

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kravia, Geori; Owens, Kay

2014-01-01

Design-based research is being used to develop and refine the principles used in professional learning workshops with teachers from three different Papua New Guinean ecologies: highlands, coastal, and inland in a coastal province. The appropriateness of the design of principles for Papua New Guinean Elementary Schools is tried over several phases…

Efficacy of Self-Regulated Strategy Development Instruction for Developing Writers with and without Disabilities in Rural Schools: A Randomized Controlled Trial

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mason, Linda H.; Cramer, Anne Mong; Garwood, Justin D.; Varghese, Cheryl; Hamm, Jill; Murray, Allen

2017-01-01

A workshop with virtual consultation practice-based professional development model for self-regulated strategy development persuasive writing instruction was evaluated in a randomized controlled trial. Nineteen general education teachers and 564 Grade 5 and 6 students in 16 low-wealth rural schools participated. Following training, teachers…

Teachers' Professional Development from the Perspective of Teaching Reflection Levels

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zhao, Mingren

2012-01-01

This paper is a case study based on Habermas's theory of knowledge and human interest. We analyzed the written reflections of four teachers employed at a school and found that the teachers who had experienced advanced professional development tended to engage in practical and critical reflection, whereas those who had experienced average…

Impact of Professional Development on Teacher Practice: Uncovering Connections

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Buczynski, Sandy; Hansen, C. Bobbi

2010-01-01

An Inquiry Learning Partnership (ILP) for professional development (PD) was formed between a university, science centre, and two urban school districts to offer 4-6th grade teachers specific science content and pedagogical techniques intended to integrate inquiry-based instruction in elementary classrooms. From pre/post content exams, PD surveys,…

Censoring Freedom: Community-Based Professional Development and the Politics of Profanity

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Watson, Vajra M.

2013-01-01

The lack of strong literacy skills and practices among students is perhaps the clearest indicator that the education system continues to leave millions of children behind. To advance the reading, writing, and speaking skills of middle and high school students, this study examines a professional development model that brought trained…

Museum-Based Teacher Professional Development: Peabody Fellows in Earth Science

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pickering, Jane; Ague, Jay J.; Rath, Kenneth A.; Heiser, David M.; Sirch, James N.

2012-01-01

The Peabody Fellows in Earth Science program was a professional development opportunity for middle and high school teachers to enhance their knowledge of, and teaching skills in, the Earth sciences. It combined a summer institute and academic year workshops with the production of new curricular resources on the interpretation of landforms in…

The Relationship between Adequate Yearly Progress and the Quality of Professional Development

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wolff, Lori A.; McClelland, Susan S.; Stewart, Stephanie E.

2010-01-01

Based on publicly available data, the study examined the relationship between adequate yearly progress status and teachers' perceptions of the quality of their professional development. The sample included responses of 5,558 teachers who completed the questionnaire in the 2005-2006 school year. Results of the statistical analysis show a…

Curriculum Making as Novice Professional Development: Practical Risk Taking as Learning in High-Stakes Times

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Clayton, Christine D.

2007-01-01

This qualitative case study presents three novices in urban schools who enacted curricular projects as participants in a university-based professional development program. This experience created an opportunity for practical risk taking, enabling them to consider the consequences of curricular choices in personal terms. Such professional…

Supporting Learner-Centered ICT Integration: The Influence of Collaborative and Needs-Based Professional Development

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

MacDonald, Ronald

2009-01-01

A mixed-method study was carried out to investigate how teacher attitude and professional development influence learner-centered Information Communication Technology (ICT) integration. A questionnaire, interviews and observations were used to gather data in a school district in Nova Scotia, Canada. Teacher data were categorized by grade level,…

How Do Medical Schools Identify and Remediate Professionalism Lapses in Medical Students? A Study of U.S. and Canadian Medical Schools.

PubMed

Ziring, Deborah; Danoff, Deborah; Grosseman, Suely; Langer, Debra; Esposito, Amanda; Jan, Mian Kouresch; Rosenzweig, Steven; Novack, Dennis

2015-07-01

Teaching and assessing professionalism is an essential element of medical education, mandated by accrediting bodies. Responding to a call for comprehensive research on remediation of student professionalism lapses, the authors explored current medical school policies and practices. In 2012-2013, key administrators at U.S. and Canadian medical schools accredited by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education were interviewed via telephone or e-mail. The structured interview questionnaire contained open-ended and closed questions about practices for monitoring student professionalism, strategies for remediating lapses, and strengths and limitations of current systems. The authors employed a mixed-methods approach, using descriptive statistics and qualitative analysis based on grounded theory. Ninety-three (60.8%) of 153 eligible schools participated. Most (74/93; 79.6%) had specific policies and processes regarding professionalism lapses. Student affairs deans and course/clerkship directors were typically responsible for remediation oversight. Approaches for identifying lapses included incident-based reporting and routine student evaluations. The most common remediation strategies reported by schools that had remediated lapses were mandated mental health evaluation (74/90; 82.2%), remediation assignments (66/90; 73.3%), and professionalism mentoring (66/90; 73.3%). System strengths included catching minor offenses early, emphasizing professionalism schoolwide, focusing on helping rather than punishing students, and assuring transparency and good communication. System weaknesses included reluctance to report (by students and faculty), lack of faculty training, unclear policies, and ineffective remediation. In addition, considerable variability in feedforward processes existed between schools. The identified strengths can be used in developing best practices until studies of the strategies' effectiveness are conducted.

Simple Interactions: Piloting a Strengths-Based and Interaction-Based Professional Development Intervention for Out-of-School Time Programs

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Akiva, Thomas; Li, Junlei; Martin, Kelly M.; Horner, Christy Galletta; McNamara, Anne R.

2017-01-01

Background: Adult-child relational interactions constitute an essential component of out-of-school-time programs, and training staff to effectively interact with children is key to improving program quality. Efficient staff training, that meets the limited time availability of out-of-school time staff, is particularly needed. Objective: This pilot…

Counseling the Linguistically and Culturally Diverse Student: Meeting School Counselors' Professional Development Needs

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schwallie-Giddis, Pat; Anstrom, Kristina; Sanchez, Patricio; Sardi, Victoria A.; Granato, Laura

2004-01-01

This study used qualitative methods to investigate the challenges and professional development needs of elementary and secondary school counselors who work with linguistically and culturally diverse students and families, and their perceptions of the impact of a 9-month professional development program focused on improving school counselors'…

Preparing Teachers to Remediate Reading Disabilities in High School: What Is Needed for Effective Professional Development?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lovett, Maureen W.; Lacerenza, Lea; De Palma, Maria; Benson, Nancy J.; Steinbach, Karen A.; Frijters, Jan C.

2008-01-01

In this paper, we ask what constitutes effective professional development for teachers faced with struggling readers in high school. Metacognitive teacher training, instructional coaching, mentorship, and collaborative learning are considered. We describe a professional development model preparing high school teachers to teach PHAST PACES, a…

It takes a village: supporting inquiry- and equity-oriented computer science pedagogy through a professional learning community

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ryoo, Jean; Goode, Joanna; Margolis, Jane

2015-10-01

This article describes the importance that high school computer science teachers place on a teachers' professional learning community designed around an inquiry- and equity-oriented approach for broadening participation in computing. Using grounded theory to analyze four years of teacher surveys and interviews from the Exploring Computer Science (ECS) program in the Los Angeles Unified School District, this article describes how participating in professional development activities purposefully aimed at fostering a teachers' professional learning community helps ECS teachers make the transition to an inquiry-based classroom culture and break professional isolation. This professional learning community also provides experiences that challenge prevalent deficit notions and stereotypes about which students can or cannot excel in computer science.

Enhancing Teachers' Application of Inquiry-Based Strategies Using a Constructivist Sociocultural Professional Development Model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Brand, Brenda R.; Moore, Sandra J.

2011-05-01

This two-year school-wide initiative to improve teachers' pedagogical skills in inquiry-based science instruction using a constructivist sociocultural professional development model involved 30 elementary teachers from one school, three university faculty, and two central office content supervisors. Research was conducted for investigating the impact of the professional development activities on teachers' practices, documenting changes in their philosophies, instruction, and the learning environment. This report includes teachers' accounts of philosophical as well as instructional changes and how these changes shaped the learning environment. For the teachers in this study, examining their teaching practices in learner-centered collaborative group settings encouraged them to critically analyze their instructional practices, challenging their preconceived ideas on inquiry-based strategies. Additionally, other factors affecting teachers' understanding and use of inquiry-based strategies were highlighted, such as self-efficacy beliefs, prior experiences as students in science classrooms, teacher preparation programs, and expectations due to federal, state, and local mandates. These factors were discussed and reconciled, as they constructed new understandings and adapted their strategies to become more student-centered and inquiry-based.

Teachers as Researchers: Supporting Professional Development.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gennaoui, Michele; Kretschmer, Robert E.

1996-01-01

Contrasts traditional professional development and a teacher-as-researcher project implemented at the Saint Francis de Sales School for the Deaf. Discusses ways the project influenced the professional development of teachers, the effects on the school community of group collaboration among diverse professional staff, support mechanisms required,…

Exploring the Influence of Web-Based Portfolio Development on Learning To Teach Elementary Science.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Avraamidou, Lucy; Zembal-Saul, Carla

This study examined how Web-based portfolio development supported reflective thinking and learning within a Professional Development School (PDS). It investigated the evidence-based philosophies developed by prospective teachers as a central part of the Web-based portfolio task, noting how technology contributed to the portfolio task. Participants…

Teachers' Learning in School-Based Development

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Postholm, May Britt; Waege, Kjersti

2016-01-01

Background and purpose: Many researchers agree that teachers' learning processes are social and that teachers need to be brought together to learn from each other. Researchers have also stated that intellectual and pedagogical change requires professional development activities that take place over a period of time in school. The purpose of the…

Personal Agency in Leadership Learning Using an Australian Heuristic

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lovett, Susan; Dempster, Neil; Flückiger, Bev

2015-01-01

The starting point for this article is the lack of a robust research base regarding details of what works and why for school leaders' professional development. The article extends work undertaken for a recent commissioned literature review of selected international reports on supporting school leaders' development strategies. The authors reveal…

Improving Leadership Preparation Programs Through a School, University, and Professional Organization Partnership.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Peel, Henry A.; Wallace, Corinna; Buckner, Kermit G.; Wrenn, Steven L.; Evans, Ralph

1998-01-01

A North Carolina school system worked with NASSP and an area university to develop an improved administrator-preparation plan. Created by NASSP to unite key preparation elements, the "Potential Administrator Development Program" stresses field-based experiences via theory-to-practice classroom activities, mentoring opportunities,…

Strategies for Developing a Positive Parent-School Partnership.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wagonseller, Bill R.

A "grassroots" model for developing a parent-school partnership to help communities achieve the national Education 2000 goals is presented in this paper. The model is based on two assumptions about parenting: (1) parents are responsible for child-rearing; and (2) professionals are responsible for educating parents. Recommendations for a…

Universities, Schools, and Communities: A New Generation of Professional Development School Roles, Structures, and Governance

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Basile, Carole G.; Gutierrez, Cindy

2011-01-01

What differentiates the professional development school (PDS) from other schools are the people and the roles they have created to enact the functions or goals unique to the PDS model: preparation of teacher candidates; enhanced professional learning for educators; improved student achievement through the simultaneous renewal of university and…

How School Leaders Prioritize and Allocate Resources to Improve Teacher Quality through Teacher Professional Development: A Multiple Case Study in Suburban North Carolina

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tyson, Deonte Rashawn

2017-01-01

This multiple case study examined the methods by which school leaders determined and planned teacher professional development, as well as what teachers perceived as their professional development needs and how they believe school leaders take those needs into account. The study took place at two suburban elementary schools (1 traditional public, 1…

Creating Professional Learning Communities: The Work of Professional Development Schools

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Doolittle, Gini; Sudeck, Maria; Rattigan, Peter

2008-01-01

If professional learning communities offer opportunities for improving the teaching and learning process, then developing strong professional development school (PDS) partnerships establish an appropriate framework for that purpose. PDS partnerships, however, can be less than effective without proper planning and discussion about the aims of those…

Teacher's Experience from Collaborative Design: Reported Impact on Professional Development

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Svendsen, Bodil

2017-01-01

This article is based on a research and development project conducted in one upper secondary school in Norway. The participating teachers have been part of a three year longitudinal study, and the findings in the present study are from their third and final year of a professional development study. The aim of this study was to find out how…

Learner Orientation through Professional Development of Teachers? Empirical Results from Cascade Training in Anglophone Cameroon

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lange, Sarah

2014-01-01

This paper examines the effects of a professional development programme on the attitudes towards the teaching and learning of teachers in the Anglophone part of Cameroon. The development programme combines a multiplier system with school-based in-service training. The research compares the effects that the training had on the attitudes of three…

Do Online Web Resources Help Professionals to Work More Effectively? A Case Study Based on Three Sites

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chambers, Gary N.; Threlfall, John; Roper, Tom

2012-01-01

This article contains important messages for all those with an interest in enhancing the effectiveness of professional development supported by websites. It is informed by the findings of a Training and Development Agency for Schools (TDA) funded evaluation of the use and effectiveness of three websites whose development the TDA had supported.…

How Professional Organizations Can Help Meet the Professional Development Needs of Middle School Business and Technology Educators

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Crews, Tena B.

2007-01-01

Middle school business and technology educators were surveyed to examine how professional organizations could meet their professional development needs. A 26 percent response rate (n = 148) was received from middle school educators in 37 states. This research was designed to identify the business and technology courses being taught at the middle…

Model Accounting Program. Adopters Guide.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Beaverton School District 48, OR.

The accounting cluster demonstration project conducted at Aloha High School in the Beaverton, Oregon, school district developed a model curriculum for high school accounting. The curriculum is based on interviews with professionals in the accounting field and emphasizes the use of computers. It is suitable for use with special needs students as…

A Call to Action: Addressing the Childhood Obesity Epidemic through Comprehensive School Counseling Programs

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Belser, Christopher T.; Morris, Jessica A.; Hasselbeck, Jennifer M.

2012-01-01

The need for school-based interventions targeting the childhood obesity epidemic has been well documented. The risk factors associated with childhood obesity are physical, mental, psychosocial, academic, and economic. With training in developing comprehensive programs and interventions, professional school counselors are positioned to assist…

Excellence in Arts Based Education--One School's Story

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McMahon, Anne; Klopper, Christopher; Power, Bianca

2015-01-01

This article reports on the implementation and outcomes of a visual art pilot program undertaken at Connell State School in creative partnership with a research team from Griffith University's School of Education and Professional Studies. Employing a framework of the four lenses developed by Seidel et al. (2009)--(learning, pedagogy, community…

Mental Health Collaboration: A Survey of Practicing School Psychologists

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Villarreal, Victor

2018-01-01

Schools have become the primary setting for mental health service among youth. However, school-based providers are sometimes limited by lack of time, training, and other resources. Furthermore, problem-solving models emphasize the importance of developing partnerships with other professionals and agencies. Thus, it is critical to engage in…

First-Hand Participation: Illuminating Teachers' Self-Perceptions of Physical Activity Delivery

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Till, Jude; Ferkins, Lesley

2014-01-01

The study examines school-based physical activity in investigating teachers' perceptions of a physical activity-related professional development (PD) intervention in New Zealand primary schools. Eighteen semi-structured interviews with six teachers from two schools was the primary data collection method. Using a selected programme, teachers'…

Moving toward equitable, systemic science education reform: The synergy among science education and school-level reforms in an urban middle school

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kelly, Mary Kathryn

The purpose of this study was to develop an understanding of the relationships among school-level and science education reform efforts and how, collectively, they contribute to the progress of equitable, systemic science education reform. A case study research design was employed to gather both qualitative and quantitative data between 1995 and 1999. The site of this study is a non-selective, urban middle school in a large district that participated in several reform efforts. These reforms include both efforts focused on school-level change and efforts focused on change in science teaching and learning. Its program incorporates aspects of several school-level reforms---from the underlying Paideia philosophy, to structural characteristics of middle schools, to site-based decision-making, to its status as a magnet school, to its participation as a professional development school. Further, the participation of all science teachers in the intensive, standards-based professional development offered by Ohio's systemic reform of mathematics and science created a critical mass of reform-oriented teachers who supported one another as they incorporated reform-based practices into their teaching. The interplay of the reform efforts has manifested in a high level of science achievement in comparison to the school's district. Addressing the third component of O'Day and Smith's model for systemic reform, the need for school-level change to enable implementation of curriculum frameworks and aligned policies, this study illustrates two important points. First, the high-quality teacher professional development increased teachers' capacity to change their practices by enhancing their knowledge of and skills in implementing standards-based teaching practices. Second, because of the synchrony among the school-level reforms and between the school-level and science education reforms, the context of Webster provided a supportive environment in which lasting changes in science teaching and learning were implemented. Science education reform efforts were mediated by the school's context to create an environment in which the reform practices could be implemented and sustained. Using Kahle's (1998) Equity Metric, this study demonstrates that the synergy of the policies and practices of school-level and science education reforms can contribute to the progress of equitable, systemic science education reform.

Creating Conditions for Professional Practice in Education.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kepner, Henry S., Jr.; Nelson, Robert W.

Educators should know the components of the school situation before they enter the profession. To establish a work setting conducive to professional development, the educator must work within the community, the school district organization, the school itself, the teaching program, and professional development activities. These components should…

A Unique Partnership: Year 1 as a Professional Development School in an Urban Environment.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Himel, Mabel T.; Hall, Mary Lee; Henderson, Virginia; Floyd, Ruth

2000-01-01

Describes the first year of a Professional Development School initiative involving an urban university and local elementary school. The partnership began through the principal's efforts to provide professional development for her teachers and extra hands in the classroom. As interested people became involved, they conveyed the message of the power…

The Essence of the Principal's Role in a Professional Development School

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tilford, Keith L.

2007-01-01

My research study explored how principals make sense of their role in a Professional Development School. Previous research related to Professional Development Schools has focused on teachers and university students, while few empirical studies have been focused on principals and the role they play in K-12 and university partnerships. This…

10 Good Ways to Ensure Bad Professional Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Thomas, Laura R.

2013-01-01

The author spends a lot of time thinking about good professional learning vs. typical professional development. Based on her 20-plus years of experience, as well as a bit of inspiration from Reuben Duncan, assistant superintendent in School Administrative Unit 29 in Keene, N.H., she shares what she considers to be the ten best ways to waste…

Professional Development for Rural School Assistant Principals

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Enomoto, Ernestine K.

2012-01-01

Given rural school administrators' challenges and the need to support their leadership development, this qualitative study describes how one rural school district delivered professional development through a university-school partnership to prepare its assistant principals for their work. Methods: Eight assistant principals from nine schools…

Geoscience Education Research, Development, and Practice at Arizona State University

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Semken, S. C.; Reynolds, S. J.; Johnson, J.; Baker, D. R.; Luft, J.; Middleton, J.

2009-12-01

Geoscience education research and professional development thrive in an authentically trans-disciplinary environment at Arizona State University (ASU), benefiting from a long history of mutual professional respect and collaboration among STEM disciplinary researchers and STEM education researchers--many of whom hold national and international stature. Earth science education majors (pre-service teachers), geoscience-education graduate students, and practicing STEM teachers richly benefit from this interaction, which includes team teaching of methods and research courses, joint mentoring of graduate students, and collaboration on professional development projects and externally funded research. The geologically, culturally, and historically rich Southwest offers a superb setting for studies of formal and informal teaching and learning, and ASU graduates the most STEM teachers of any university in the region. Research on geoscience teaching and learning at ASU is primarily conducted by three geoscience faculty in the School of Earth and Space Exploration and three science-education faculty in the Mary Lou Fulton Institute and Graduate School of Education. Additional collaborators are based in the College of Teacher Education and Leadership, other STEM schools and departments, and the Center for Research on Education in Science, Mathematics, Engineering, and Technology (CRESMET). Funding sources include NSF, NASA, US Dept Ed, Arizona Board of Regents, and corporations such as Resolution Copper. Current areas of active research at ASU include: Visualization in geoscience learning; Place attachment and sense of place in geoscience learning; Affective domain in geoscience learning; Culturally based differences in geoscience concepts; Use of annotated concept sketches in learning, teaching, and assessment; Student interactions with textbooks in introductory courses; Strategic recruitment and retention of secondary-school Earth science teachers; Research-based professional development for STEM teachers; Design and evaluation of innovative transdisciplinary and online curricula; and Visitor cognition of geologic time and basic principles in Southwestern National Parks.

17,000 Islands, One Goal: Indonesia Turns to Online Resources to Create a Network of School-Based Coaches

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Burns, Mary

2010-01-01

Community has taken on a new meaning for several school-based coaches spread across Indonesia. For far too long in developing countries, educators have been forced to rely on one-shot centralized professional development for teachers and those who work with them. A shortage of money, locally trained staff, and access to learning materials has made…

School-Based Learning for Individual Diversity in Education: The SLIDE Project

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Harrington, Ingrid

2013-01-01

Whole-School Professional Development (PD) days held regularly in schools are designed to promote and up-skill school staff on relevant areas of educational policy and practice. An aim of PD days is to empower participants with new knowledges and skills, and to confirm that current practices and interpretations of education policy and procedure…

School-Based Teacher Collaboration in Sweden and Greece: Formal Cooperation, Deprivatized Practices and Personalized Interaction in Primary and Lower Secondary Schools

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kougioumtzis, Konstantin; Patriksson, Goran

2009-01-01

During recent years, educational restructuring efforts have commonly regarded schools as both learning communities and sites for teachers' professional development. A plethora of attributes influence prerequisites as well as outcomes of the efforts, while teachers' local cultures constitute a cornerstone. More specifically, enhanced school-based…

Professional Development for School Improvement: The Case of Indiana

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ruddy, Anne-Maree; Prusinski, Ellen

2012-01-01

Drawing on data collected during an evaluation of Indiana schools receiving Title I 1003(g) School Improvement Fund grants in the 2008-2009 school year, this article explores how professional development can be used to support school improvement efforts. This article upholds the conclusion that when activities support the development of a…

A School-Based Project in Five Kindergartens: The Case of Teacher Development and School Development

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ling Li, Yuen

2004-01-01

Kindergarten teachers in Hong Kong are blamed for not putting child-initiated learning theory into practice. Their competence is challenged. An earlier study ( Li, 2003 ) suggested that the professional development of kindergarten teachers was limited by their inability to extend thinking beyond their own personal concerns so that the needs of the…

An Investigation of Research-Based Teaching Practices through the Teacher Evaluations in Indiana Public Schools

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sargent, Michael Steven

2014-01-01

The purpose of this study was to identify if a relationship existed between the implementation of professional evaluation processes and the use of research-based teaching practices, factoring in both perceptions of principals and practicing teachers. The variables of professional development on the evaluation model and the principal's years of…

Recursive Model of a Methodical Competency Formation of a High School Teacher in the Context of Competency-Based Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

??lekhina, ??rina Borisovna

2015-01-01

The present study examines the professional development problems of a high school teacher. A high school teacher is both a scientist and a teacher. Teaching and research activities are integrated by using methodical activity. Methodical competency of a teacher is defined as a basis in the context of Competence-based Education. The methodical…

Fostering Self-Reflection and Meaningful Learning: Earth Science Professional Development for Middle School Science Teachers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Monet, Julie A.; Etkina, Eugenia

2008-01-01

This paper describes the analysis of teachers' journal reflections during an inquiry-based professional development program. As a part of their learning experience, participants reflected on what they learned and how they learned. Progress of subject matter and pedagogical content knowledge was assessed though surveys and pre- and posttests. We…

Assessing the Ability of an Online Environment to Facilitate the Critical Features of Teacher Professional Development

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Surrette, Timothy N.; Johnson, Carla C.

2015-01-01

Providing teachers effective professional development (PD) is an ongoing challenge in the field of education. Emergence of technological innovations in the form of computer-based asynchronous and synchronous communication has provided new opportunities to improve and expand teacher PD opportunities beyond the physical walls of a school. The…

The Professional Development Needs of Education Welfare Officers on the Management of School Attendance

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Reid, Ken

2006-01-01

This article is based upon an analysis of a questionnaire sent to 431 education welfare officers throughout local education authorities in England and Wales and follow-up interviews with 59 (13.7%) of the respondents. The questionnaire focused upon profiling the initial induction and continuing professional development needs of the staff. The…

CSI: Creating Student (and Teacher) Investigators--Using Popular Culture in Professional Development

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yanowitz, Karen L.; McKay, Tanja; Ross, C. Ann; Vanderpool, Staria S.

2010-01-01

The goal of this article is to present a description of a professional development program designed to immerse middle and high school teachers in an inquiry-based learning environment using a forensic science context and the consequent impact participating in this program had on teachers' pedagogy. Teachers participated in a year-long program…

Teaching Aquatic Science as Inquiry through Professional Development: Teacher Characteristics and Student Outcomes

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Duncan Seraphin, Kanesa; Harrison, George M.; Philippoff, Joanna; Brandon, Paul R.; Nguyen, Thanh Truc T.; Lawton, Brian E.; Vallin, Lisa M.

2017-01-01

We present an inquiry-based, aquatic science professional development (PD) for upper-elementary, middle, and high school teachers and examine changes in student outcomes in light of participating teachers' characteristics and the grade band of the students. Our study lends support to the assertion that inquiry- and content-focused PD, paired with…

The Design and Validation of an Instrument to Measure Teachers' Professional Development at Work

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Evers, Arnoud T.; Kreijns, Karel; Van der Heijden, Béatrice I. J. M.

2016-01-01

After graduation, it is essential for teachers to continue working on their professional development since they need to be prepared for the requirements of tomorrow's knowledge- and technology-based society, a more varied student and pupil population creating new responsibilities, and higher social expectations from schools and the society as a…

The Black Teacher Project: How Racial Affinity Professional Development Sustains Black Teachers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mosely, Micia

2018-01-01

The Black Teacher Project (BTP) is an organization that supports, develops and sustains Black teachers for schools in the United States. The organization is building a Black teaching force that reflects the diversity and excellence of Black people in the United States. In our pilot year, BTP offered racial affinity-based professional development…

Reframing Professional Development for South African Schools: An Appreciative Inquiry Approach

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Steyn, G. M.

2012-01-01

Often research on the professional development (PD) of staff is framed within a problem-based context that focuses on the PD-related problems experienced by staff. This study pursued a different approach by using the appreciative inquiry (AI) theoretical perspective to study the positive experiences of staff in respect of PD and their desire to…

Neuroscience in Middle Schools: A Professional Development and Resource Program that Models Inquiry-Based Strategies and Engages Teachers in Classroom Implementation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

MacNabb, Carrie; Schmitt, Lee; Michlin, Michael; Harris, Ilene; Thomas, Larry; Chittendon, David; Ebner, Timothy J.; Dubinsky, Janet M.

2006-01-01

The Department of Neuroscience at the University of Minnesota and the Science Museum of Minnesota have developed and implemented a successful program for middle school (grades 5-8) science teachers and their students, called Brain Science on the Move. The overall goals have been to bring neuroscience education to underserved schools, excite…

Exploring the Influence of Web-Based Portfolio Development on Learning to Teach Elementary Science

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Avraamidou, Lucy; Zembal-Saul, Carla

2006-01-01

This qualitative case study examined web-based portfolio development in the service of supporting reflective thinking and learning within the innovative context of Professional Development Schools. Specifically, this study investigated the nature of the evidence-based philosophies developed by prospective teachers as the central part of the…

STEM professional development: What's going on from the presenters' and participants' perspectives?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Williams, Randi

This study was designed to explore elementary STEM professional development viewed from the presenters' and participants' perspectives. Numerous committees and educational organizations recommend investing in STEM professional development at the local, state, and national level. This investment must begin with research that inquires how STEM professional development is structured and what is needed for teacher and student success. Since there is a recent STEM education push in schools, elementary teachers need effective professional development in order to gain the necessary content, skills, confidence, and pedagogy required for those changing demands. This qualitative study embraced. Yin's case study methodology by observing short-duration STEM professional development for elementary teachers within a large metropolitan school system and an educational professional development agency. The study discussed the analysis and findings in the context of Bandura's sources of efficacy and Desimone's critical features of professional development. Data were gathered form professional development observations, presenter interviews, and participant interviews. The research questions for this study included: (a) based on Desimone's (2009) framework for professional development, what does content focused, active learning, coherence, duration, and collective participation look like in initial STEM professional development for elementary teachers? (b) are Bandura's (1997) four sources of self- efficacy: mastery experiences, vicarious experiences, social persuasion, and affective states evidenced within the short duration professional development? and (c) how do these two frameworks align between presenter and participant thoughts and actions? This study uncovered additional sources of efficacy are present in short-duration STEM professional development. These found sources include coherence, content, and active learning delivered in a definitive order. The findings of this study have implications for educators, policy makers, and developers of professional development. Future research is needed to add to the small body of literature about STEM professional development, specifically research to fully understand the structure of STEM professional development and how this differs for other areas of learning.

Reform-based science teaching: A mixed-methods approach to explaining variation in secondary science teacher practice

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jetty, Lauren E.

The purpose of this two-phase, sequential explanatory mixed-methods study was to understand and explain the variation seen in secondary science teachers' enactment of reform-based instructional practices. Utilizing teacher socialization theory, this mixed-methods analysis was conducted to determine the relative influence of secondary science teachers' characteristics, backgrounds and experiences across their teacher development to explain the range of teaching practices exhibited by graduates from three reform-oriented teacher preparation programs. Data for this study were obtained from the Investigating the Meaningfulness of Preservice Programs Across the Continuum of Teaching (IMPPACT) Project, a multi-university, longitudinal study funded by NSF. In the first quantitative phase of the study, data for the sample (N=120) were collected from three surveys from the IMPPACT Project database. Hierarchical multiple regression analysis was used to examine the separate as well as the combined influence of factors such as teachers' personal and professional background characteristics, beliefs about reform-based science teaching, feelings of preparedness to teach science, school context, school culture and climate of professional learning, and influences of the policy environment on the teachers' use of reform-based instructional practices. Findings indicate three blocks of variables, professional background, beliefs/efficacy, and local school context added significant contribution to explaining nearly 38% of the variation in secondary science teachers' use of reform-based instructional practices. The five variables that significantly contributed to explaining variation in teachers' use of reform-based instructional practices in the full model were, university of teacher preparation, sense of preparation for teaching science, the quality of professional development, science content focused professional, and the perceived level of professional autonomy. Using the results from phase one, the second qualitative phase selected six case study teachers based on their levels of reform-based teaching practices to highlight teachers across the range of practices from low, average, to high levels of implementation. Using multiple interview sources, phase two helped to further explain the variation in levels of reform-based practices. Themes related to teachers' backgrounds, local contexts, and state policy environments were developed as they related to teachers' socialization experiences across these contexts. The results of the qualitative analysis identified the following factors differentiating teachers who enacted reform-based instructional practices from those who did not: 1) extensive science research experiences prior to their preservice teacher preparation; 2) the structure and quality of their field placements; 3) developing and valuing a research-based understanding of teaching and learning as a result of their preservice teacher preparation experiences; 4) the professional culture of their school context where there was support for a high degree of professional autonomy and receiving support from "educational companions" with a specific focus on teacher pedagogy to support student learning; and 5) a greater sense of agency to navigate their districts' interpretation and implementation of state polices. Implications for key stakeholders as well as directions for future research are discussed.

Self-Directed Teacher Learning in Collaborative Contexts

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Slavit, David; Roth McDuffie, Amy

2013-01-01

Two related case studies of secondary mathematics teachers examine the roles and conditions helpful in initiating, directing, and/or supporting teachers' own professional development. Using multiple data sources from school-based and professional settings, we applied analytic induction to identify patterns of similarities and differences in…

Toward Fidelity: Simulation-Based Learning for School Principal Preparation and Professional Development

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shakeshaft, Charol; Becker, Jonathan; Mann, Dale; Reardon, Martin; Robinson, Kerry

2013-01-01

The authors describe a simulation-based set of full-motion video scenarios which require students studying educational leadership to make decisions that solve problems presented in "A Year in the Life of a Middle School Principal." The decision points were designed to reflect the proficiencies emphasized in ISLLC [Interstate School…

The theory of planned behaviour in medical education: a model for integrating professionalism training.

PubMed

Archer, Ray; Elder, William; Hustedde, Carol; Milam, Andrea; Joyce, Jennifer

2008-08-01

Teaching and evaluating professionalism remain important issues in medical education. However, two factors hinder attempts to integrate curricular elements addressing professionalism into medical school training: there is no common definition of medical professionalism used across medical education, and there is no commonly accepted theoretical model upon which to integrate professionalism into the curriculum. This paper proposes a definition of professionalism, examines this definition in the context of some of the previous definitions of professionalism and connects this definition to the attitudinal roots of professionalism. The problems described above bring uncertainty about the best content and methods with which to teach professionalism in medical education. Although various aspects of professionalism have been incorporated into medical school curricula, content, teaching and evaluation remain controversial. We suggest that intervening variables, which may augment or interfere with medical students' implementation of professionalism knowledge, skills and, therefore, attitudes, may go unaddressed. We offer a model based on the theory of planned behaviour (TPB), which describes the relationships of attitudes, social norms and perceived behavioural control with behaviour. It has been used to predict a wide range of behaviours, including doctor professional behaviours. Therefore, we propose an educational model that expands the TPB as an organisational framework that can integrate professionalism training into medical education. We conclude with a discussion about the implications of using this model to transform medical school curricula to develop positive professionalism attitudes, alter the professionalism social norms of the medical school and increase students' perceived control over their behaviours.

Factors that Influence Acceptance of Web-Based E-Learning Systems for the In-Service Education of Junior High School Teachers in Taiwan

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chen, Hong-Ren; Tseng, Hsiao-Fen

2012-01-01

Web-based e-learning is not restricted by time or place and can provide teachers with a learning environment that is flexible and convenient, enabling them to efficiently learn, quickly develop their professional expertise, and advance professionally. Many research reports on web-based e-learning have neglected the role of the teacher's…

The Power of Reflective Professional Development in Changing Elementary School Teachers' Instructional Practices

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cavedon, Carolina Christmann

With the new goal of K-12 education being to prepare students to be college and career ready at the end of high school, education needs to start changing at the elementary school level. The literature suggests that teachers need reflective professional development (PD) to effectively teach to the new standards and to demonstrate change to their current instructional practices. This mixed-method multiple-case study investigated the impacts of a reflective professional development (PD) in changing elementary school teachers' instructional practices. Teachers Instructional Portfolios (TIPs) were scored with a TIP rubric based on best practices in teaching mathematics problem-solving and science inquiry. The TIPs were also analyzed with a qualitative coding scheme. Case descriptions were written and all the collected data were used to explain the impacts of the reflective PD on changes in teachers' instructional practices. While we found no predictive patterns in relation to teachers changing their classroom practices based on the reflective PD, we claim that teachers' desire to change might contribute to improvements in instruction. We also observed that teachers' self-assessment scores tend to be higher than the actual TIP scores corroborating with the literature on the usage of self-assessment to evaluate teachers' instructional practices.

Educative practices and attitudes within the pre-school environment: evaluating the education professionals.

PubMed

Antunes, Leonardo dos Santos; Antunes, Lívia Azeredo Alves; Corvino, Marcos Paulo Fonseca

2008-01-01

School and family together play an important role in the individual development of children. Therefore, this study aimed at evaluating the practices and attitudes towards oral health care of 245 education professionals working in 24 public municipal pre-schools in Niterói, State of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The data were obtained from self-questionnaires consisting of both open and closed questions. The methodology was both quantitative and qualitative, and the quantitative analysis was based on frequency (%). Regarding oral health practices, it was observed that the majority of the education professionals emphasized toothbrushing as a vital method of oral hygiene. In addition, 70.7% of the education professionals performed other types of oral hygiene activities with the schoolchildren, and 17.1% did so with the children's families. All the participants of the study considered that education professionals have a key role in promoting healthy oral habits amongst the schoolchildren and they believe that involving the dentist in educative programs is important. It was therefore concluded that the education professionals surveyed have positive practices and attitudes regarding the children's care, and they recognize their role in fostering healthy habits and developing integrated pedagogic oral health programs.

A professional learning community model: a case study of primary teachers community in west Bandung

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sari, A.; Suryadi, D.; Syaodih, E.

2018-05-01

The purpose of this study is to provide an alternative model of professional learning community for primary school teachers in improving the knowledge and professional skills. This study is a qualitative research with case study method with data collection is an interview, observation and document and triangulation technique for validation data that focuses on thirteen people 5th grade elementary school teacher. The results showed that by joining a professional learning community, teachers can share both experience and knowledge to other colleagues so that they can be able to continue to improve and enhance the quality of their learning. This happens because of the reflection done together before, during and after the learning activities. It was also revealed that by learning in a professional learning community, teachers can learn in their own way, according to need, and can collaborate with their colleagues in improving the effectiveness of learning. Based on the implementation of professional learning community primary school teachers can be concluded that teachers can develop the curriculum, the students understand the development, overcome learning difficulties faced by students and can make learning design more effective and efficient.

Working with Multilingual Learners and Vocabulary Knowledge for Secondary Schools: Developing Word Consciousness

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cox, Robyn; O'Brien, Katherine; Walsh, Maureen; West, Helen

2015-01-01

This paper reports on a 10 week vocabulary focused intervention based on the Word Generation program (Snow, 2002, 2010; SERP, 2011) in primary and secondary schools, which demonstrated clear improvements, particularly with students who are EAL/D learners. Teachers across English, Science, Maths and Social Sciences developed professional learning…

Mathematics Pedagogical Standards: A Suggested Model of Instruction in Enhancing the Mathematics Teacher’s Quality of Instruction

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Saad, N. S.; Jemali, M.; Zakaria, Z. Hj; Yusof, Q.

2018-01-01

The paper aims at identifying the standards for teaching and learning of mathematics based on National Council of Teacher of Mathematics (NCTM, 2000), The Australian Association of Mathematics Teachers (AAMT, 2006) and Training and Development Agency for School (TDA, 2007). These known standards were used as a guide in identifying the constructs of the mathematics teacher’s instruction in the classroom. The survey method used in which a questionnaire instrument encompassed on the four identified constructs on the standards for teaching and learning of mathematics, namely professional practices, professional attributes, professional knowledge, and professional instructional processes. The instrument was tested during a pilot study and a Cronbach’s Alpha reliability index of greater than 0.85 was obtained. The actual research was carried out in Peninsular Malaysia involving 224 secondary schools with 1.120 mathematics teachers and 108 primary schools with 540 mathematics teachers. From the selected schools, only 820 secondary mathematics teachers (73.2%) and 361 primary teachers (66.9%) gave a response to the mailed questionnaires. The findings of the study revealed that the secondary and primary mathematics teachers strongly agreed on three constructs; professional practices, professional attributes and professional instructional processes.

Online Professional Development for K-12 Educators: Benefits for School Districts with Applications for Community College Faculty Professional Development

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fenton, Celeste; Watkins, Brenda Ward

2007-01-01

Hillsborough Community College's IT3-Professional Development Services makes available to educators in the school district of Hillsborough County a series of online courses focused on professional development. The program boasts a retention rate exceeding 78%, with over 500 educators served. The program is self funded and pays for itself and an…

Approaches and Activities of Professional Development During Graduate/Postdoctoral Summer Workshops

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gross, N. A.; Wiltberger, M. J.; Hughes, W. J.; Bhattacharjee, A.; Schrijver, K.; Bagenal, F.; Sojka, J. J.; Munoz-Jaramillo, A.

2017-12-01

NSF and NASA each fund a space physics summer school - the Space Weather Summer School (https://www2.hao.ucar.edu/CISM-Summer-School) and the Heliophysics Summer School (https://cpaess.ucar.edu/heliophysics/summer-school) - each of which provide a comprehensive introduction to their fields at the conceptual and quantitative level for graduate and postdoctoral researchers. Along with specific content goals, each summer school also recognizes professional development goals for the students. Each school intentionally develops community among the summer school students to promote professional networking between the students and between students and instructors. Community is promoted both as part of the formal program and through informal gatherings and outings. Social media is intentionally used for this purpose as well. The summer schools also promote practice with discussing science concepts in small groups through peer instruction, practice presenting in small groups, and discussing results with minimal preparation. Short formal student presentations and poster sessions are organized as part of the formal schedule of one of the summer schools. Much of the professional development work is informed by improvisational theater approaches. Group improv training focuses on the development of the group or the community rather than the individual. Group improv activities are used to build the group and encourage full participation. This talk will outline the professional development activities in each school and how they are informed by improv.

School nurse summer institute: a model for professional development.

PubMed

Neighbors, Marianne; Barta, Kathleen

2004-06-01

The components of a professional development model designed to empower school nurses to become leaders in school health services is described. The model was implemented during a 3-day professional development institute that included clinical and leadership components, especially coalition building, with two follow-up sessions in the fall and spring. Coalition building is an important tool to enhance the influence of the school nurse in improving the health of individuals, families, and communities. School nurses and nursing educators with expertise in the specialty of school nursing could replicate this model in their own regions.

Professional Development Issues for School Psychologists: "What's Hot, What's Not in the United States"

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wnek, Andrew C.; Klein, Gabrielle; Bracken, Bruce A.

2008-01-01

This study queried practicing school psychologists in the United States about the extent to which advances in the field have improved their individual service provision and fostered a desire for additional professional development. The researchers surveyed 1,000 members of the largest professional organization for school psychologists in the…

Experiences and Perceptions of Professional Development Facilitators in a Job-Embedded School Initiative

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mashariki, Kaia Mariama

2017-01-01

Recent legislation and accountability efforts in K-12 schools have increased the need to support and maintain high-quality teachers through enhanced professional development and teacher training efforts. As districts and schools seek new and innovative ways to provide professional learning opportunities that are real-time and effective,…

School Personnel Perceptions of Professional School Counselor Role and Function

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Coles, Caron N.

2013-01-01

The purpose of this research study was to examine the attitudes held by school-based administrators, teachers, and professional school counselors regarding ideal and actual roles of the professional school counselor. The survey instrument utilized in this research study, the PSCRFA, is grounded in the ASCA model and reflective of current school…

Success for Minnesota: Success for All Schools in Minnesota Continue To Gain on MCA

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Success for All Foundation, 2004

2004-01-01

Success for All is the most extensively researched of all comprehensive reform models for Title I elementary schools. It incorporates scientifically based principles of reading, cooperative learning, professional development, tutoring, and family support. Minnesota elementary schools using the Success for All reading program have once again made …

Lighting the Fire: Finding Commitment and Purpose in Middle School

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fuchs, Janet

2013-01-01

This article describes the results of a three-day professional development workshop for newer teachers (with less than six years of experience) and more experienced teachers trained in design of skills-based, year-long themes with rich interdisciplinary connections at Charles River School (Massachusetts). For the three days, the school was buzzing…

Iterative and Event-Based Frameworks for University and School District Technology Professional Development Partnerships

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Winslow, Joseph; Dickerson, Jeremy; Weaver, Carmen; Josey, Fair

2016-01-01

Forming technology partnerships between universities and public schools in an era of competition and economic difficulty is a challenge. However, when these partnerships are formed and sustained, the benefits for both are extremely valuable. For a university instructional technology graduate program and school partnership to be successful, the…

The Gold Medal Fitness Program: A Model for Teacher Change

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wright, Jan; Konza, Deslea; Hearne, Doug; Okely, Tony

2008-01-01

Background: Following the 2000 Sydney Olympics, the NSW Premier, Mr Bob Carr, launched a school-based initiative in NSW government primary schools called the "Gold Medal Fitness Program" to encourage children to be fitter and more active. The Program was introduced into schools through a model of professional development, "Quality…

Contradictions in Collaboration: New Thinking on School/University Partnerships.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Johnston, Marilyn A.

This book is based on a 6-year longitudinal study of collaboration in a professional development school (PDS) project involving 45 educators. Teachers and principals from the schools and faculty and doctoral students from the university work together to plan, implement, and evaluate a Master's of Education program. Part 1: "Issues and Challenges…

Through the eyes of professional developers: Understanding the design of learning experiences for science teachers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Higgins, Tara Eileen

Professional development is important for improving teacher practice and student learning, particularly in inquiry-oriented and technology-enhanced science instruction. This study examines professional developers' practices and their impact on teachers' classroom instruction and student achievement. It analyzes professional developers designing and implementing a five-year professional development program designed to support middle school science teachers. The professional developers are four university-based researchers who worked with sixteen science teachers over three years, setting program goals, facilitating workshops, providing in-classroom support for teachers, and continually refining the program. The analysis is guided by the knowledge integration perspective, a sociocognitive framework for understanding how teachers and professional developers integrate their ideas about teaching and learning. The study investigates the professional developers' goals and teachers' interpretations of those goals. It documents how professional developers plan teacher learning experiences and explores the connection between professional development activities and teachers' classroom practice. Results are based on two rounds of interviews with professional developers, audio recordings of professional developers' planning meetings and videotaped professional development activities. Data include classroom observations, teacher interviews, teacher reflections during professional development activities, and results from student assessments. The study shows the benefit of a professional development approach that relies on an integrated cycle of setting goals, understanding teachers' interpretations, and refining implementation. The professional developers based their design on making inquiry and technology accessible, situating professional development in teachers' work, supporting collaboration, and sustaining learning. The findings reflect alignment of the design goals with the perspective guiding the curriculum design, and consider multiple goals for student and teacher learning. The study has implications for professional development design, particularly in supporting inquiry-oriented science and technology-enhanced instruction. Effective professional developers formulate coherent conceptions of program goals, use evidence of teacher outcomes to refine their goals and practices, and connect student and teacher learning. This study illustrates the value of research on the individuals who design and lead professional development programs.

Breathing the Professional Development School Spirit into All Schools.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Parsons, Beverly; Renyi, Judith

1999-01-01

Examines findings from work the National Foundation for the Improvement of Education has conducted with schools and teachers' associations nationwide to suggest ways that Professional Development Schools could improve results for teachers in schools. The paper focuses on incorporating peer assistance, using teachers' associations as collaborators,…

Training to Teach Physical Education in a Grammar School for Boys: Female Narratives and Mentor Perspectives

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stidder, Gary

2014-01-01

This research examines the school-based training experiences of a female trainee teacher of physical education (Emily) at a grammar school for boys. The purpose of this research is to consider whether the sex of the trainee teacher either inhibits or advances the professional development of trainee teachers in an opposite-sex school. Emily…

Schools' Capacity to Absorb a "Healthy School" Approach into Their Operations: Insights from a Realist Evaluation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Deschesnes, Marthe; Drouin, Nathalie; Tessier, Caroline; Couturier, Yves

2014-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to understand how a Canadian intervention based on a professional development (PD) model did or did not influence schools' capacities to absorb a Healthy School (HS) approach into their operations. This study is the second part of a research project: previously published results regarding this research…

Can Professional Development Improve School Leadership? Results from a Randomized Control Trial Assessing the Impact of McREL's Balanced Leadership Program on Principals in Rural Michigan Schools

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Miller, Robert James; Goddard, Roger D.; Kim, Minjung; Jacob, Robin; Goddard, Yvonne; Schroeder, Patricia

2016-01-01

Purpose: This multiyear experimental study was designed to examine (1) the causal impact of McREL International's Balanced Leadership® Professional Development (BLPD) program on school principals' learning, beliefs, and behaviors and (2) whether there were differences in the types of outcomes the professional development influenced. Outcomes…

The Assimilation of Beginning Teachers into an Established School Improvement Project: A Qualitative Case Study Examining Formats of Job-Embedded Professional Development

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fuller, Lynn A.

2016-01-01

This dissertation examined formats of job-embedded professional development that were experienced by beginning teachers at a high-poverty, high-mobility elementary school in the third year of a School Improvement Grant. A qualitative case study was conducted to examine formats of job-embedded professional development that were most useful to help…

Teacher change and professional development: A case study of teachers engaged in an innovative constructivist science curriculum

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Akura, Okong'o. Gabriel

This study examined both the changes that elementary school teachers experienced when they implemented a reform-based science curriculum and the impact of professional development on this transformation. The research involved a case study of three purposefully selected teachers implementing the Linking Food and the Environment (LIFE) program during the 2002--2003 school year. The LIFE program is a curriculum designed to enhance science literacy among learners from high poverty urban environments. While the study was grounded in the tradition of critical theory (Carspecken, 1996), the theoretical perspective of hermeneutic phenomenology (van Manen, 1990) guided data collection and analysis. Extensive observations of the teachers were made in order to capture and record the teacher change phenomenon. Data were recorded by means of field notes, audio and videotapes, semi-structured interviews, classroom observations, and video Stimulated Recall (SR) interviews. Emerging themes relating to teacher change, knowledge interests, constructivist pedagogy, and professional development illustrated how teachers grapple with various aspects of implementing a reform-based science curriculum. The teachers in this study were similar to those in earlier investigations, which found that sustained professional development programs involving mentoring and constant reflection enable elementary science teachers to change their instructional strategies from the technical-realist orientation towards the practical-hermeneutic and emancipatory-liberatory orientations. The study has implications for science curriculum developers and designers of professional development programs.

Elementary School Teacher and Principal Perceptions of the Principal's Leadership Role in Professional Learning Communities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hillery, Patricia L.

2013-01-01

As school districts' professional development trends shift to meet annual budget requirements, it is worthy to explore the benefits of professional learning communities as they are a potential means for job-embedded professional development. As an advocate for professional learning, Hirsh (2009) stated that every teacher should engage in…

Building Learning into the Teaching Job.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Renyi, Judith

1998-01-01

A two-year study of professional development recommended that schools build professional development into school life via flexible scheduling and extended time blocks; help teachers assume responsibility for their own professional development; find common ground with the community via resource sharing; and find revenues to support professional…

'Part of the team': professional identity and social exclusivity in medical students.

PubMed

Weaver, Roslyn; Peters, Kath; Koch, Jane; Wilson, Ian

2011-12-01

Medical students must develop not only their professional identity but also inclusive social attitudes for effective medical practice in the future. This study explores the elements that contribute to medical students' sense of professional identity and investigates the concept of social exclusivity and how this might relate to students' development of their identity as medical professionals. The study is based on qualitative data gathered in telephone interviews with 13 medical students enrolled in Years 1 or 3 at an undergraduate medical school at a university in Australia. The questions were open-ended and asked students about their experiences in medical school, sense of identity and social connections. Two main components contributed to a strong sense of professional identity in medical students: professional inclusivity and social exclusivity. Students experienced professional inclusivity when they attended clinical placements and when they were treated as future medical professionals by lecturers, doctors and patients. Social exclusivity was demonstrated by participants' perceptions of themselves as socially separate from non-medical students and isolated from students in other disciplines. Students described a sense of peer unity and a shared sense of identity as medical students within the medical school. It is important to understand how students develop their sense of identity as medical professionals and the ways in which medical education and clinical placements can influence this professional identity. Although this study noted a very strong sense of social exclusivity in its findings, there were also high levels of intra-discipline inclusivity. These results suggest that there is a reciprocal and reinforcing relationship between student experiences of professional inclusivity and social exclusivity that creates a defined sense of professional identity. © Blackwell Publishing Ltd 2011.

Leading from the Middle: Enhancing Professional Practice through Peer Coaching

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Marchese, Joe

2012-01-01

In the fall of 2007--aware that the continuing professional development of teachers is paramount to quality education--John Baird, head of Westtown School (Pennsylvania), asked the faculty Professional Development Committee (PDC), consisting of faculty representatives from all three divisions of the school, to design a "professional growth…

Development to Learning: Semantic Shifts in Professional Autonomy and School Leadership

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stevenson, Michael; Hedberg, John G.; O'Sullivan, Kerry-Ann; Howe, Cathie

2015-01-01

In the digital age, technology is playing an important role in changing the nature of professionalism. Newer forms of "professional learning" stand in contrast to more traditional forms of "professional development." The shifting paradigm has implications for school leaders in all contexts. This study sought to qualitatively…

School-Based Mental Health Professionals' Bullying Assessment Practices: A Call for Evidence-Based Bullying Assessment Guidelines

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Blake, Jamilia; Banks, Courtney S.; Patience, Brenda A.; Lund, Emily M.

2014-01-01

A sample of 483 school-based mental health professionals completed a survey about the training they have received related to conducting bullying assessments in schools, competence in conducting an assessment of bullying, and the bullying assessment methods they used. Results indicate that school counselors were usually informed about incidents of…

The Development and Testing of a Model for a Nationally Based Vehicle Dedicated to the Continuing Professional Growth of School Administrators. Final Report.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Knezevich, Stephen J.

The primary objectives of the study were to develop a model for a National Academy for School Executives (NASE), to determine the receptivity of school administrators to such a program, and to determine the feasibility of implementing the model within the near future. Four academic task forces studied the structural elements, fiscal requirements,…

Accountability Effects of Integrating Technology in Evolving Professional Development Schools.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Denton, Jon J.; Manus, Alice L.

This analysis aimed at determining whether implemented technology systems and staff development with those systems at professional development schools have affected the academic performance of learners. Eight Texas elementary and secondary schools that in 1994-95 enrolled 5,337 students across 5 school districts comprised the sample for the study.…

Tracking Perceived and Observed Growth of Inquiry Practice: A Formative Plan to Improve Professional Development Experiences

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Marshall, Jeff C.; Smart, Julie; Horton, Robert M.

2011-01-01

The authors worked with 22 middle school math and science teachers for one year with the goal of improving the quantity and quality of inquiry-based instruction implemented in the classroom. The professional development experience was framed by the 4E x 2 Instruction Model, which combines key components of inquiry instruction (Engage, Explore,…

Excerpts from inside the Black Box School District Spending on Professional Development in Education: Lessons from Five Urban Districts

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Miles, Karen Hawley; Odden, Allan; Fermanich, Mark; Archibald, Sarah

2005-01-01

As districts struggle to meet the demands of standards-based reform and requirements for "highly qualified" teachers in the face of increasing fiscal constraints, professional development has the potential to be a significant part of a district's improvement strategy. To use dollars effectively, districts need to think about how to best integrate…

A Unique Marine and Environmental Science Program for High School Teachers in Hawai'i: Professional Development, Teacher Confidence, and Lessons Learned

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rivera, Malia Ana J.; Manning, Mackenzie M.; Krupp, David A.

2013-01-01

Hawai'i is a unique and special place to conduct environmental science inquiry through place based learning and scientific investigation. Here, we describe and evaluate a unique professional development program for science teachers in Hawai'i that integrates the traditional approach of providing training to improve content knowledge, with the…

The Effect of Face-to-Face versus Online Pedagogy-Based Professional Development on Student Learning Outcomes

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rock, Heidi Marie

2017-01-01

The purpose of this quantitative retrospective causal-comparative study was to determine to what extent the form of professional development (face-to-face or online) or the level of instruction (elementary or high school) has on classroom teaching practices as measured by student learning outcomes. The first research question sought to determine…

Using Computer-Based Continuing Professional Education of Training Staff to Develop Small- and Medium-Sized Enterprises in Thailand

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sooraksa, Nanta

2012-01-01

This paper describes a career development program for staff involved in providing training for small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Thailand. Most of these staff were professional vocational teachers in schools. The program uses information communication technology (ICT), and its main objective is to teach Moodle software as a tool for…

Assessing the Learning Needs of Student Teachers in Texas regarding Management of the Agricultural Mechanics Laboratory: Implications for the Professional Development of Early Career Teachers in Agricultural Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Saucier, P. Ryan; McKim, Billy R.

2011-01-01

Skills needed to manage a laboratory are essential knowledge for all school-based, agriculture teachers who instruct agricultural mechanics curriculum (Saucier, Terry, & Schumacher, 2009). This research investigated the professional development needs of Texas agricultural education student teachers regarding agricultural mechanics laboratory…

Oral language supports early literacy: a pilot cluster randomized trial in disadvantaged schools.

PubMed

Snow, Pamela C; Eadie, Patricia A; Connell, Judy; Dalheim, Brenda; McCusker, Hugh J; Munro, John K

2014-10-01

This study examined the impact of teacher professional development aimed at improving the capacity of primary teachers in disadvantaged schools to strengthen children's expressive and receptive oral language skills and early literacy success in the first 2 years of school. Fourteen low-SES schools in Victoria, Australia were randomly allocated to a research (n = 8) or control arm (n = 6), resulting in an initial sample of 1254 students, (n = 602 in research arm and n = 652 in control arm). The intervention comprised 6 days of teacher and principal professional development (delivered by language and literacy experts), school-based continuing contact with the research team and completion by one staff member of each research school of a postgraduate unit on early language and literacy. Schools in the control arm received standard teaching according to state auspiced curriculum guidelines. Full data were available on 979 students at follow-up (time 2). Students in the research arm performed significantly better on Test of Language Development: Primary (Fourth Edition) sub-tests (p ≤ .002) and the Reading Progress Test (F = 10.4(1); p = .001) than students in the control arm at time 2. Narrative scores were not significantly different at time 2, although students in research schools showed greater gains. Findings provide "proof of concept" for this approach, and are discussed with respect to implications for teacher professional development and pre-service education concerning the psycholinguistic competencies that underpin the transition to literacy.

A Multi-Case Study of Professional Ethics in Alternative Education: Exploring Perspectives of Alternative School Administrators

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Duke, Richard T. RT, IV

2017-01-01

This qualitative case study explored perspectives of alternative school leaders regarding professional ethics and standards. The study researched two components of alternative school leadership: effective alternative school characteristics based on professional standards and making decisions around the best interests of students. This study…

School Leadership and Professional Learning Community: Case Study of Two Senior High Schools in Northeast China

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wang, Ting

2016-01-01

This article presents findings of a qualitative study on school leadership and professional learning community in two high achieving senior high schools in Northeast China. The findings show that teachers participated in school-based communities of professional learning, such as Teaching and Research Groups, Lesson Preparation Groups, and Grade…

Authentic Professional Development

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kenneson, Paula M.

1999-01-01

Choosing Higher Options in Community Education (CHOICE) Alternative School is devoted to professional development. This report documents the need for and planning of sustained and supported professional development for 4 staff members at the CHOICE Alternative School in Jamestown, New York. There was no focused plan or vision for staff development…

Affirm Gender and Sexual Diversity within the School Community

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Leonardi, Bethy; Staley, Sara

2015-01-01

Schools tend to be unsafe, unsupportive places for LGBTQ youth. Generally, teachers and administrators are provided little professional development (professional development) focused on gender and sexual diversity. Efforts to provide educators with gender and sexual diversity-focused professional development are slowly expanding, but still too…

Professional Development for Culturally Responsive and Relationship-Based Pedagogy. Black Studies and Critical Thinking. Volume 24

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sleeter, Christine E., Ed.

2011-01-01

The work presented here is a large-scale evaluation of a theory-driven school reform project in New Zealand, which focuses on improving the educational achievement of Maori students in public secondary schools. The project's conceptual underpinnings are based on Kaupapa Maori research, culturally responsive teaching, student voice, and…

76 FR 11837 - Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) Request for Grant Proposals: Youth Leadership...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-03-03

... for Grant Proposals: Youth Leadership and Teacher Professional Development Program With Bosnia and... Cultural Affairs announces an open competition for the Youth Leadership and Teacher Professional....-based exchange activities on civic education, leadership, and community service for high school students...

Death Education for the Health Professional.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Benoliel, Jeanne Quint, Ed.

The perspectives of a number of health professionals based on their experiences in providing death education courses are presented in essays. In "Interdisciplinary Death Education in a Nursing School" (Helen L. Swain and Kathleen V. Cowles), the development of an undergraduate elective course in death, dying, and bereavement at the…

Preparing School Leaders: The Professional Development Needs of Newly Appointed Principals

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ng, Shun-wing; Szeto, Sing-ying Elson

2016-01-01

In Hong Kong, there is an acute need to provide newly appointed principals with opportunities for continuous professional development so that they could face the impact of reforms and globalization on school development. The Education Bureau has commissioned the tertiary institutions to provide structured professional development courses to cater…

Rural school nurse perception of book studies as an effective method for professional development.

PubMed

Gray, Lorali

2014-05-01

School nurses who serve public school districts in rural Northwest Washington face barriers in accessing Continuing Education (CE) for professional development as they often practice in remote, isolated school communities. Acknowledging these barriers, the author discusses the inclusion of book studies within an existing training structure as an innovative method of providing professional development. By utilizing training that is already attended by rural school nurses, CE can be enhanced without incurring additional travel, cost, or training time. The school nurse's perception of the effectiveness of book studies as a CE method was examined per a descriptive, qualitative program evaluation. Over a period of 5 years, evaluation and feedback data from 12 rural school nurses were compiled from nine individual school nurse book study evaluations and one general satisfaction survey. Findings indicated overall school nurse satisfaction and belief that school nurse book studies are an effective and beneficial method for the delivery of professional development--a method that promotes collaborative learning and collegiality, informs practice, and provides insight into the broader health and social issues impacting today's students.

Staff Development for Raising Attainment: A Practitioner's View of What Works

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bates, Sharon; Watt, Laura

2016-01-01

This paper offers a practitioner's view of how continuing professional development (CPD) can help raise achievement in schools. It is one of four papers in this issue linked to a research project in Stoke-on-Trent seeking to raise attainment in schools in deprived communicates. Based on over 20 years' experience working in and with different…

K-5 Mentor Teachers' Journeys toward Reform-Oriented Science within a Professional Development School Context

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Manno, Jacqueline L.

2011-01-01

Reform-oriented science teaching with a specific focus on evidence and explanation provides a student-centered learning environment which encourages children to question, seek answers to those questions, experience phenomena, share ideas, and develop explanations of science concepts based on evidence. One of the ways schools have risen to meet the…

Meeting the Learning Needs of Students: A Rural High-Need School District's Systemic Leadership Development Initiative

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Browne-Ferrigno, Tricia; Maynard, Brenda

2005-01-01

The Principals Excellence Program (PEP), a cohort-based professional development project for administrator-certified practitioners, is one of 24 projects across the United States supported by federal funds from the No Child Left Behind legislation. The three-year program is conducted through a partnership between Pike County School District, a…

Challenges in adopting evidence-based school drug education programmes.

PubMed

Cahill, Helen W

2007-11-01

The paper discusses the school-based challenges that may moderate the implementation of evidence-based drug education in schools. Knowledge about what constitutes an effective evidence-based drug education programme is discussed in relation to the challenge of delivery in the school setting. Research demonstrates that drug education should be engaging, incorporate interactive learning strategies, stimulate higher-order thinking, promote learning and be transferable to real life circumstances. This may difficult to accomplish in practice, as a range of contextual challenges and ideological assumptions may moderate the teacher's capacity to deliver a programme of this nature. Collaborative learning strategies are not the norm in schools and therefore teachers may find interactive drug education programmes difficult to adopt. Conflicting ideological assumptions about effective epistemological approaches to drug education may also direct the way in which teachers modify programmes in the local context. Teachers need professional training and support if they are to adopt successfully evidence-based school drug education programmes. This support may be enhanced if it includes whole school approaches to effective pedagogy and the development of pro-social classroom environments. Drug education research should take account of the complexities of implementation in the school setting and investigate further the professional and organisational support that teachers require in order to maintain high-quality provision in the school context.

Multilevel Boundary Crossing in a Professional Development School Partnership

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Akkerman, Sanne; Bruining, Ton

2016-01-01

This study aims to understand the recurrent challenges of professional development school (PDS) partnerships experienced by many countries. It does so by conceptualizing PDS partnerships as endeavors to cross institutionally and epistemologically developed boundaries between teacher education, schooling, and academic research. After introducing…

Institutionalizing Professional Development Schools: Supporting the Principal.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bowen, Gail; Adkison, Judith

Professional-development schools are collaborations between universities and public schools to improve the nation's teaching force. Prospective teachers are assigned to K-12 schools for formal instruction, planned experiences in classrooms, and mentoring from master teachers. This paper presents findings of a qualitative study that described the…

Establishing a Framework for Quality

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lehman, Kirby

2006-01-01

The Jenks School District applies a continuous improvement approach that focuses on academics, arts, activities, athletics and attitude, weaving in leadership, professional development, technology and data-based decision making to prepare all learners to be productive, responsible citizens. Since 1998, the Jenks School District has embraced a…

Indications for Seeking a Medical Consultation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wodrich, David L.; Kaplan, Allen M.

2006-01-01

Recognizing barriers to academic success and full student development, some of which are medical in nature, is a primary task of school psychologists. Expanding biomedical information compels school-based psychologists to collaborate with medical professionals when their input can clarify diagnostic issues and expand treatment choices. This…

"Staying Woke" on Educational Equity through Culturally Responsive Teaching

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Affolter, Emily Alicia

2017-01-01

The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of a culturally responsive professional development intervention for teachers and school leaders in a K-5 school setting. This qualitative case study involved a five-month long professional development intervention called the Culturally Responsive Professional Development (CRPD) series, largely…

Professional Development: What Works. Second Edition

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zepeda, Sally J.

2012-01-01

This top-selling book will serve as the compass and road map to your school's professional development journey. A comprehensive and authoritative resource you will go to again and again, this book helps guide principals, directors of professional development, school/district committees, and other leaders in creating an effective professional…

Analyzing Principal Professional Development Practices through the Lens of Adult Learning Theory

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zepeda, Sally J.; Parylo, Oksana; Bengtson, Ed

2014-01-01

This qualitative study sought to identify current principal professional development practices in four school systems in Georgia and to examine them by applying the principles of adult learning theory. The cross-case analysis of principal professional development initiatives in four school districts revealed nine common practices: connecting…

Professional Development Which Provides an Icing on the Pedagogical Cake.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gardner, Jenny

Because the quality of teachers determines the quality of the school system, teachers must be provided with high-caliber inservice programs. During the 1980s, responsibility for the provision of professional development in Australia shifted to local schools. Under the current National Professional Development Program (NPDP), the Australian…

All Together Now: Authentic University-School Partnerships for Professional Development

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Crawford, Patricia A.; Roberts, Sherron Killingsworth; Hickman, Rosemary

2008-01-01

Opportunities for professional development can benefit the practice of teaching, the learning of students, and the culture of schooling. Thus, considerable attention has been given to effective professional development programs and many reform agendas have made such initiatives a priority (No Child Left Behind, 2002; National Board for…

Impacts of Professional Development in Classroom Assessment on Teacher and Student Outcomes

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Randel, Bruce; Apthorp, Helen; Beesley, Andrea D.; Clark, Tedra F.; Wang, Xin

2016-01-01

The authors describe an impact study of Classroom Assessment for Student Learning (CASL), a widely used professional development program in classroom and formative assessment. Researchers randomly assigned 67 elementary schools to receive CASL materials or continue with regularly scheduled professional development. Teachers in CASL schools formed…

Delivering Online Professional Development in Mathematics to Rural Educators

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cady, Jo; Rearden, Kristin

2009-01-01

Rural school districts struggle to attract, retain, and support highly qualified mathematics teachers. A series of four online professional development courses in the form of integrated mathematics content and pedagogy courses was designed to meet the professional development needs of rural middle school mathematics teachers. Changes in teachers'…

Participatory Research in an Arts Integration Professional Development Program

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cawthon, Stephanie W.; Dawson, Kathryn M.; Judd-Glossy, Laura; Ihorn, Shasta

2012-01-01

Drama for Schools (DFS) is an arts integration professional development program rooted in critical pedagogy and constructivism that emphasizes partnerships between school districts and a major research university. As a part of the research initiative embedded in this professional development program, DFS began an Arts integration Research Teacher…

Taking a Step to Identify How to Create Professional Learning Communities--Report of a Case Study of a Korean Public High School on How to Create and Sustain a School-Based Teacher Professional Learning Community

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ahn, Joonkil

2017-01-01

This study intends to identify some key factors in creating and sustaining school-based teacher professional learning communities (PLCs) through a case study of a South Korean public high school. To achieve this, the study identified some essential infrastructure, preparation, and necessary social organization for creating PLCs. The ideal unit and…

Growing on the Job: Professional Development for the School Librarian.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Boardman, Edna M.

This guide presents a series of articles which give pointers, hints, and examples of day-to-day development activities school librarians can use to hone their professionalism. The first of five sections describes ways in which librarians can provide professional service and lists some markers of professionalism. The second section presents one…

Is Authentic Cross-Cultural Collaboration Possible between Universities and Public Schools within a Professional Development School Model? Perceptions from the Field

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Parkinson, Debra D.; Muir Welsh, Kate

2009-01-01

In 2003, a state in the Rocky Mountain region combined the concept of partner schools (Goodlad, 1993) and the model of a professional development school (Holmes Group, 1986, 1995) to develop four university public school partnerships. This study asked two guiding questions: Is authentic cross-cultural collaboration possible between a university…

Constructing a School-Wide Professional Community: The Negotiated Order of a Performing Arts School.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Talbert, Joan E.

This qualitative account of a magnet school, California's Ibsen School (grades 4-12), addresses teachers' professional identities and the shaping of them. In most high schools, teachers' professional identities are shaped by subject cultures. At Ibsen, a schoolwide community has developed because of its mission and in the leadership of its…

The Emerging Landscape of School-Based Professional Learning Communities in South Korean Schools

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lee, Moosung; Kim, Jihyun

2016-01-01

Over the last decade, school-based professional learning communities (PLCs) have emerged as a key feature of the education system in South Korea. To understand this relatively new phenomenon in the context of South Korea, we provide a review of research on school-based PLCs in South Korea and an empirical analysis of the Teaching and Learning…

Peer Observation of Teaching: Perceptions and Experiences of Teachers in a Primary School in Cyprus

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Karagiorgi, Yiasemina

2012-01-01

This article examines teachers' perceptions of, and experiences with, professional development opportunities involving a school-based project on peer observation of teaching. The study aims to reveal the ways in which seven teachers in one primary school in Cyprus see themselves as agents improving their own and peers' teaching through informal…

School-Based Learning for Individual Diversity in Education: The SLIDE Project

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Harrington, Ingrid

2013-01-01

Whole-School Professional Development (PD) days held regularly in schools are designed to promote and up-skill teaching and administrative staff on relevant areas of educational policy and practice. An aim of PD days is to empower participants with new knowledges and skills, and to confirm that current practices and interpretations of education…

Kulintja Nganampa Maa-kunpuntjaku (Strengthening Our Thinking): Place-Based Approaches to Mental Health and Wellbeing in Anangu Schools

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Osborne, Sam

2013-01-01

MindMatters, implemented by Principals Australia Institute, is a resource and professional development initiative supporting Australian secondary schools in promoting and protecting the mental health and social and emotional wellbeing of members of school communities, preferring a proactive paradigm (Covey, 1989) to the position of "disaster…

Coping Successfully with Dyslexia: An Initial Study of an Inclusive School-Based Resilience Programme

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Firth, Nola; Frydenberg, Erica; Steeg, Charlotte; Bond, Lyndal

2013-01-01

A dyslexia coping programme entitled "Success and Dyslexia" was implemented in two primary schools within a whole-class coping programme and whole-school dyslexia professional development context. One hundred and two year 6 students, 23 of whom had dyslexia, undertook surveys pretest, post-test and at 1-year follow-up. Effectiveness of…

Arguments for the need of mining education continuity and development in Romania

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bud, I.; Duma, S.; Pasca, I.; Gusat, D.

2018-01-01

Mining is considered the oldest conscious man activity. In the beginning, man searched for hard rocks in the outskirts area and used it to make weapons and ornaments. Subsequently, civilizations evolved through the development of infrastructure, buildings and monuments and finally, weapons. For all these it was necessary to have mineral raw materials obtained under increasingly difficult conditions, through increasingly evolved techniques. In this way, the art of mining and metallurgy was born, which led to the formation of scientific bases. The mining activity was equally art and science. The art and the science have been learned and taught in schools since ancient times and continue today in large universities with mining engineering, metallurgy, mining topography, mining environmental protection, and geology. Lately, in Romania, the mining high school has reached a deadlock and the middle and professional school has collapsed. The development of infrastructure, construction, etc. requires the exploitation and valorisation of mineral resources based on specialists. The paper warns against the danger of losing tradition and skills in mining engineers formation and militate for the re-establishment of professional and technical schools.

Portraits of Twelve High School Partner Schools in the National Network for Educational Renewal. National Network for Educational Renewal Reflections on Practice Series: No. 3.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Washington Univ., Seattle. Center for Educational Renewal.

In the portraits of this collection, school- and university-based educators document their efforts to establish and sustain secondary partner schools that accomplish four purposes: educating children and youth; preparing new educators; providing professional development to current educators; and conducting inquiry. The 12 papers are as follows: "A…

Toward a Model of Professional Social Media Use for Teachers' Informal Professional Development: A Delphi Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kaiser, Heather

2017-01-01

The effectiveness of teacher professional development (PD) has been scrutinized for decades. Although scholars generally agree that collaboration is a critical component of sustainable PD, among schools in the United States, time for collaboration embedded within the school day is lacking. In the most recent era of social media, school districts…

The "U" in UTEP: Development of the Urban Curriculum and Its Delivery. Second Year Report to the Indiana Department of Education, Teacher Training and Licensing Advisory Committee.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sandoval, Pamela A.

This report provides an outline of the Urban Teacher Education Program (UTEP), describes curriculum development and delivery, and discusses the progress that has been made toward program goals. UTEP is a school district/university consortium for school-based professional preparation and development. Members of the consortium include: Indiana…

School Social Work: Increasing the Legitimacy of the Profession

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Altshuler, Sandra J.; Webb, Jennifer Reid

2009-01-01

School social workers often face challenges of having to legitimize their presence as a school professional, especially as compared to school psychologists and school counselors. Why are school social workers more often vulnerable to being underappreciated and not understood by school personnel than other mental health-based school professionals?…

The Relationship between Transformational Leadership Practices and Developing a Professional Learning Community

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wiestling, Troy L.

2010-01-01

This quantitative study investigated self-perception of elementary school principals' leadership practices and the impact of these practices on developing and fostering a professional learning community within their schools. Fifty-nine elementary school principals, from school districts located in south central Pennsylvania, participated in this…

Hillsborough County Public Schools and the University of South Florida: Better Together

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dennis, Danielle; Jacobs, Jennifer; West Burns, Rebecca; Davis, Jeni; Van Ingen, Sarah; Tricarico, Katie; Yendol-Hoppey, Diane

2015-01-01

The 2014 Professional Development Schools National Conference recognized the partnership between the University of South Florida and Hillsborough County Public Schools for its outstanding collaborative accomplishments, and so named it one of the four recipients of the National Association for Professional Development Schools Exemplary Professional…

Continued Effort and Success: An Urban Professional School Development Program

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Corrigan, Diane G.; Weber, Edward J.; Francis, Kiffany

2013-01-01

The PDS partnership between the Cleveland State University Master of Urban Secondary Teaching (MUST) program and the Cleveland School of Science and Medicine (CSSM) has an established history of preparing educators to teach in urban schools. Recently awarded the NAPDS Award for Exemplary Professional Development School Achievement, this…

Marketable job skills for high school students: what we learned from an evaluation of After School Matters.

PubMed

Alexander, Kendra P; Hirsch, Barton J

2012-01-01

This article summarizes findings from an experimental evaluation of After School Matters (ASM), a paid, apprenticeship-based, after-school program in Chicago for high school students. Analysis of quantitative data from a mock job interview revealed that ASM participants did not demonstrate more marketable job skills than youth in the control group. Qualitative data suggested that the nature of interpersonal interactions and the degree of professional orientation in apprenticeships contributed to variation in marketable job skills across apprenticeships. The article considers the perspective of human resource professionals who participated in the evaluation and describes an interviewing skills curriculum developed in response to the evaluation findings. Copyright © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc., A Wiley Company.

Evidence-Based Practice and School Libraries: Interconnections of Evidence, Advocacy, and Actions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Todd, Ross J.

2015-01-01

This author states that a professional focus on evidence based practice (EBP) for school libraries emerged from the International Association of School Librarianship conference when he presented the concept. He challenged the school library profession to actively engage in professional and reflective practices that chart, measure, document, and…

Peer Networking as Professional Development for Out-of-School Time Staff

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Peter, Nancy E.

2012-01-01

Out-of-school time (OST) is a growing field that includes afterschool, evening, weekend, summer, school-age care, childcare, positive youth development, and workforce development programs (NIOST, 2000). Research demonstrates that OST professional development is critical to program quality and student impact (Weiss, 2005/2006). In an effort to…

Fieldwork Using the Professional Development Schools Model: Developing a Social Justice Orientation and Multicultural Competency

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cook, Amy L.; Krell, Megan M.; Hayden, Laura A.; Gracia, Robert; Denitzio, Kari

2016-01-01

Practicum fieldwork was conducted in an urban high school setting using a Professional Development Schools (PDS) model, with a focus on multicultural and social justice counseling competencies (MSJCC). Interpretative phenomenological analysis was used to analyze the journal responses of 16 counseling students to ascertain MSJCC development during…

Professionalism, Portfolios and the Development of School Leaders.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wildy, Helen; Wallace, John

1998-01-01

Describes how two reforms--portfolio culture and teacher professionalism--converge in a systemwide program for school leaders' professional development. Investigates use of portfolios to help (Australian) principals, deputy principals, and department heads improve their performance and accountability. Participants used portfolios as evidence of…

Developing a Deeper Understanding of Community-Based Pedagogies with Teachers: Learning with and from Teachers in Colombia

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sharkey, Judy; Clavijo Olarte, Amparo; Ramírez, Luz Maribel

2016-01-01

Here we share findings from a 9-month qualitative case study involving a school-university professional development inquiry into how teachers develop, implement, and interpret community-based pedagogies (CBPs), an asset-based approach to curriculum that acknowledges mandated standards but begins with recognizing and valuing local knowledge. After…

Evaluation of a Core Team Centred Professional Development Programme for Building a Whole-School Cooperative Problem Solving Approach to Conflict

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

White, Andrew Jonathan; Wertheim, Eleanor H.; Freeman, Elizabeth; Trinder, Margot

2013-01-01

This study evaluated a professional learning approach using a core team (CT) model to assist primary (elementary) schools to develop whole-school collaborative conflict resolution processes. Thirteen schools were matched and randomly assigned to the enhancing relationships in school communities programme ("n"?=?10) or a non-programme…

The Financing and Governance of Professional Development or Partner Schools. Occasional Paper No. 10.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Theobald, Neil D.

The purpose of this paper is to: (1) discuss the requisite financial and organizational components of partner schools or professional development schools; and (2) identify structures and processes which will allow these schools to contribute to the simultaneous reconstruction and renewal of the public schools in which teachers work and the…

Teacher Professional Development by Selected Teacher and School Characteristics: 2011-12. Stats in Brief. NCES 2017-200

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rotermund, Susan; DeRoche, John; Ottem, Randolph

2017-01-01

This Statistics in Brief provides a snapshot of the state of teacher professional development activities among U.S. public school teachers using data collected through the 2011-12 Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS) Public School Teacher Questionnaire. This report relies on data provided by public school teachers about their professional…

Transforming Our Schools: Lessons from the Jefferson County Public Schools/Gheens Professional Development Academy, 1983-1991.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kyle, Regina M. J.

A school/community partnership in Louisville, Kentucky, the Jefferson County Public Schools/Gheens Professional Development Academy, is described. This report provides a framework for assessing Jefferson County School System reforms in the past 8 years or more designed to enhance student success in learning. A Spiral of Assessment was used to…

Enhancing Teacher Beliefs through an Inquiry-Based Professional Development Program

PubMed Central

McKeown, Tammy R.; Abrams, Lisa M.; Slattum, Patricia W.; Kirk, Suzanne V.

2017-01-01

Inquiry-based instructional approaches are an effective means to actively engage students with science content and skills. This article examines the effects of an ongoing professional development program on middle and high school teachers’ efficacy beliefs, confidence to teach research concepts and skills, and science content knowledge. Professional development activities included participation in a week long summer academy, designing and implementing inquiry-based lessons within the classroom, examining and reflecting upon practices, and documenting ways in which instruction was modified. Teacher beliefs were assessed at three time points, pre- post- and six months following the summer academy. Results indicate significant gains in reported teaching efficacy, confidence, and content knowledge from pre- to post-test. These gains were maintained at the six month follow-up. Findings across the three different time points suggest that participation in the professional development program strongly influenced participants’ fundamental beliefs about their capacity to provide effective instruction in ways that are closely connected to the features of inquiry-based instruction. PMID:29732236

Enhancing Teacher Beliefs through an Inquiry-Based Professional Development Program.

PubMed

McKeown, Tammy R; Abrams, Lisa M; Slattum, Patricia W; Kirk, Suzanne V

2016-01-01

Inquiry-based instructional approaches are an effective means to actively engage students with science content and skills. This article examines the effects of an ongoing professional development program on middle and high school teachers' efficacy beliefs, confidence to teach research concepts and skills, and science content knowledge. Professional development activities included participation in a week long summer academy, designing and implementing inquiry-based lessons within the classroom, examining and reflecting upon practices, and documenting ways in which instruction was modified. Teacher beliefs were assessed at three time points, pre- post- and six months following the summer academy. Results indicate significant gains in reported teaching efficacy, confidence, and content knowledge from pre- to post-test. These gains were maintained at the six month follow-up. Findings across the three different time points suggest that participation in the professional development program strongly influenced participants' fundamental beliefs about their capacity to provide effective instruction in ways that are closely connected to the features of inquiry-based instruction.

Providing Support to Inner-city Students and Teachers Through the Physics Van Inservice Institute

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sabella, Mel S.

2007-02-01

There are many programs for the professional development of high school physics teachers that have proven to be effective in preparing these teachers to conduct inquiry-based activities in the classroom. In this paper, we describe a small-scale professional development program called the Physics Van Inservice Institute. During the program, teachers are engaged in inquiry-based physics modules and are then able to borrow the equipment so that they can conduct the activities in their own classes.

Standards-Based Reform in the United States: History, Research, and Future Directions

DTIC Science & Technology

2008-12-01

conducted by professional organizations such as the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics . Although notions of what constitutes effective SBR have...some states and by various professional organizations, such as the curriculum standards developed by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics ... NCTM ). The mathematics content frameworks developed in California in the 1980s and the 1989 NCTMCurriculum and Evaluation Standards for School

PHOTON2: A web-based professional development model for photonics technology education

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Massa, Nicholas M.; Washburn, Barbara A.; Kehrhahn, Marijke; Donnelly, Judith F.; Hanes, Fenna D.

2004-10-01

In this paper, we present a web-based teacher professional development model for photonics technology education funded by the National Science Foundation Advanced Technology Education (ATE) program. In response to the rapidly growing demand for skilled photonics technicians, the PHOTON2 project will increase the number of high school teachers and community college faculty across the US proficient in teaching photonics technology at their own institutions. The project will also focus on building the capacity of educators to engage in lifelong learning through web-based professional development. Unlike the traditional professional development model whereby educators receive training through intensive short-term workshops, the PHOTON2 project team has developed a pedagogical framework designed specifically for adult learners in which technical content, curriculum development, and learner self-regulatory development are integrated into an active, collaborative, and sustained online learning environment. In Spring 2004, two cohorts of science and technology educators, career/guidance counselors, and industry mentors from eleven states including California, Pennsylvania, Texas, Arizona, Hawaii, and the six New England states commenced participation in the three-year project. Qualitative and quantitative research, focused on individual and environmental factors related to web-based learning, will examine the viability of web-based teacher/faculty professional development in engineering technology education.

Sexting: New Challenges for Schools and Professional School Counselors

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McEachern, Adriana G.; McEachern-Ciattoni, Renee T.; Martin, Filomena

2012-01-01

Sexting, the practice of sending sexually explicit messages or photographs of oneself or others on digital electronic devices, presents challenges for schools and professional school counselors. The implications of sexting for schools, school counselors, students, and parents are discussed. School counselor interventions, developing school…

Managing Community: Professional Community in Charter Schools Operated by Educational Management Organizations

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bulkley, Katrina E.; Hicks, Jennifer

2005-01-01

This article examines ways in which entities external to schools, in this case for-profit educational management organizations (EMOs), can influence development of school professional community. Drawing on case studies of six charter schools operated by three EMOs, we examine the five elements of professional community described by Kruse, Louis,…

Professional Development Schools and Transformative Partnerships

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Polly, Drew, Ed.; Heafner, Tina, Ed.; Chapman, Marvin, Ed.; Spooner, Melba, Ed.

2015-01-01

School-university partnerships have the potential to greatly benefit teaching and learning in PK-12 environments, as well as educator preparation programs. This collaboration is advantageous to teachers, counselors, and administrators. "Professional Development Schools and Transformative Partnerships" provides a comprehensive look at the…

Professional Development through Teacher Collaboration: An Approach to Enhance Teaching and Learning in Science and Mathematics in Tanzania

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kafyulilo, Ayoub Cherd

2013-01-01

This study introduces "teachers' collaboration" as an approach to teachers' professional development geared at enhancing science and mathematics teaching in Tanzania secondary schools. Teachers' professional development through teachers' collaboration has been reported to be effective for the improvement of schools' performance and…

The Use of Science Kits in the Professional Development of Rural Elementary School Teachers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sherman, Ann; MacDonald, A. Leo

2008-01-01

This study reports on a science professional development initiative with elementary school teachers in Canada. Grades 4 and 5 teachers were involved in the implementation and modification of science kits, together with corresponding professional development activities. Each kit was aligned to specific outcomes in the curriculum and provided a…

We Modify Each Other's Lessons: The Role of Literacy Work Circles in Developing Professional Community

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wardrip, Peter Samuelson; Gomez, Louis M.; Gomez, Kimberley

2015-01-01

To address teacher isolation in schools, more reform leaders are finding hope in establishing professional communities as a way to promote continuous school improvement. This case study presents one approach for developing teacher professional community: a teacher work circle. Using the characteristics of professional community created by Kruse,…

What Impedes the Development of Professional Learning Communities in China? Perceptions from Leaders and Frontline Teachers in Three Schools in Shanghai

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zhang, Jia; Yuan, Rui; Yu, Shulin

2017-01-01

Using qualitative data collected from three high schools in Shanghai, this study explored the barriers to the development of professional learning communities (PLCs) in Chinese schools from the perspectives of school leaders and teachers. Results indicate that the barriers identified by teachers in the development of PLCs include insufficient…

Five Steps for Developing Effective Transition Plans for High School Students with Autism Spectrum Disorder

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Szidon, Katherine; Ruppar, Andrea; Smith, Leann

2015-01-01

Lakeview High School is a medium sized high school in a rural farming community. The staff at Lakeview meets at the beginning of each school year to discuss building-level professional development plans. This year, Lakeview's special education team has requested to focus its professional development time on improving special education services for…

Understanding Teacher Perceptions in a Professional Development Program for a Middle Grade Science

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Deloney, Dericka B.

The standards-based framework requires teachers to evaluate and in some cases change their instructional approach to more student-centered and inquiry-based in an effort to help students meet the standards. The rationale for this study was to determine the skills needed for teachers to be effective in a standard-based, problem-based learning (PBL) constructivist classroom. Traditionally, teachers in this school district transitioning from teacher to student-centered classrooms need new skills when implementing this type of instruction. A qualitative case study design served to highlight the research questions for this project study. The participants in this study participated in data collection activities that include a multiple-choice survey, an interview, and the sharing of their PBL units. Artifacts, professional development teaching resources, from the workshop added credence to the survey and interview responses. The findings from each research question addressed the teachers' perception of their understanding and the obstacles of instructional design, development, and implementation the participants encountered. The results of this study indicated that teachers had problems with designing and implementing this instructional strategy due to lack of time and resources. This data assisted the development of district specific PBL sustainable professional development program that could be adaptable to other curriculums and school systems. Social change resulting from this study could include a framework for developing K-12 professional development as well as instructional programs that incorporates PBL curriculum design to enhance the student's inquiry, problem-solving, and decision-making skills that in turn should change their academic achievement and scores on high stakes test in science.

A School-Based Fusion of East and West: A Case Study of Modern Curriculum Innovations in A Chinese Kindergarten

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yang, Weipeng; Li, Hui

2018-01-01

School-based curriculum innovations have been widely implemented in Chinese kindergartens since the turn of the new millennium. However, in the absence of professional guidance, Chinese kindergartens have been forced to "ride a blind horse" when developing curriculum. The aim of this study was to understand the nature of and mechanisms…

The Impact of Curriculum-Based Professional Development on Science Instruction: Results from a Cluster-Randomized Trial

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Taylor, Joseph; Kowalski, Susan; Getty, Stephen; Wilson, Christopher; Carlson, Janet

2011-01-01

This research is part of a larger, IES-funded study titled: "Measuring the Efficacy and Student Achievement of Research-based Instructional Materials in High School Multidisciplinary Science" (Award # R305K060142). The larger study seeks to use a cluster-randomized trial design, with schools as the unit of assignment, to make causal…

Enacting Curriculum Reform through Lesson Study: A Case Study of Mathematics Teacher Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ni Shuilleabhain, Aoibhinn; Seery, Aidan

2018-01-01

Based in a time of major curriculum reform, this article reports on a qualitative case study of teacher professional development (PD) in the Republic of Ireland (ROI). Five mathematics teachers in an Irish secondary school were introduced to and participated in successive cycles of school-based lesson study (LS) over the course of one academic…

Facilitation for Professional Learning Community Conversations in Singapore

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Salleh, Hairon

2016-01-01

Professional Learning Community (PLC) has steadily grown in importance over the last decade. The growing importance of PLCs lies in its potential to act as a lever for school-based curriculum development and innovation so as to provide diverse learning experiences to satisfy broader learning outcomes beyond academic achievements (e.g., the…

Professional Development, Promotion, and Pay Differences Between Women and Men in Educational Psychology.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ekstrom, Ruth B.

A questionnaire about graduate school and professional experiences was completed by 235 white females, 10 minority females, 198 white males, and 12 minority males who hold the doctoral degree and are members of the American Psychological Association, Division of Educational Psychology. Tentative findings, based on simple descriptive statistics,…

Analysis of Video-Based Training Approaches and Professional Development

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Leblanc, Serge

2018-01-01

The use of videos to analyze teaching practices or initial teacher training is aimed at helping build professional skills by establishing more explicit links between university education and internships and practical work in the schools. The purpose of this article is to familiarize the English-speaking community with French research via a study…

Teachers' Professional Agency and Learning--From Adaption to Active Modification in the Teacher Community

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pyhältö, Kirsi; Pietarinen, Janne; Soini, Tiina

2015-01-01

The aim of this study was to examine teacher learning in terms of teachers' professional agency in the professional community of the school. Altogether 2310 Finnish comprehensive school teachers completed a survey. Results showed that teachers' active efforts to learn in the professional community and to promote school development cannot be…

What Factors Sustain Professional Growth among School Counselors?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Konstam, Varda; Cook, Amy L.; Tomek, Sara; Mahdavi, Esmaeil; Gracia, Robert; Bayne, Alexander H.

2015-01-01

This study examined relationships among self-reported professional expertise, organizational support of evidence-based practices (EBP), and professional growth. Data were collected from 85 members of American School Counseling Association (ASCA). School counselors with higher self-reported expertise reported that they were more likely to improve…

Clinical Teacher Education: Reflections from an Urban Professional Development School Network. Readings in Educational Thought

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bohan, Chara Haeussler, Ed.; Many, Joyce E., Ed.

2011-01-01

Clinical Teacher Education focuses on how to build a school-university partnership network for clinical teacher education in urban school systems serving culturally and linguistically diverse populations. The labor intensive nature of professional development school work has resulted in research institutions being slow to fully adopt a clinical…

Refusing Relevance: School Administrator Resistance to Offering Professional Development Addressing LGBTQ Issues in Schools

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Payne, Elizabethe C.; Smith, Melissa J.

2018-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this article is to provide insight to the multiple ways that school leaders resist, avoid, or block LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender, queer, and questioning) professional development for their staff and, thus, resist the conversations around school responsibility to these students and families. Research…

Supporting Children's Mathematical Understanding: Professional Development Focused on Out-of-School Practices

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Taylor, Edd V.

2012-01-01

This study describes the Reflection Connection Cycle professional development designed to support teachers' use and appreciation of students' out-of-school practices related to school mathematics. The year-long program incorporated group lesson design, readings, and video analysis for 14 elementary school (ages 5-12) teachers. Analysis of lesson…

Examining the Relationships between the Level of Schools for Being Professional Learning Communities and Teacher Professionalism

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cansoy, Ramazan; Parlar, Hanifi

2017-01-01

The objective of this study is to examine the relationships between the levels of schools for being professional learning communities and teacher professionalism based on teachers' perceptions. The participants were a total of 543 teachers working at elementary, middle and high schools in the Eyüp District of Istanbul. The data were gathered…

Integrating Laptop Computers into Classroom: Attitudes, Needs, and Professional Development of Science Teachers—A Case Study

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Klieger, Aviva; Ben-Hur, Yehuda; Bar-Yossef, Nurit

2010-04-01

The study examines the professional development of junior-high-school teachers participating in the Israeli "Katom" (Computer for Every Class, Student and Teacher) Program, begun in 2004. A three-circle support and training model was developed for teachers' professional development. The first circle applies to all teachers in the program; the second, to all teachers at individual schools; the third to teachers of specific disciplines. The study reveals and describes the attitudes of science teachers to the integration of laptop computers and to the accompanying professional development model. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with eight science teachers from the four schools participating in the program. The interviews were analyzed according to the internal relational framework taken from the information that arose from the interviews. Two factors influenced science teachers' professional development: (1) Introduction of laptops to the teachers and students. (2) The support and training system. Interview analysis shows that the disciplinary training is most relevant to teachers and they are very interested in belonging to the professional science teachers' community. They also prefer face-to-face meetings in their school. Among the difficulties they noted were the new learning environment, including control of student computers, computer integration in laboratory work and technical problems. Laptop computers contributed significantly to teachers' professional and personal development and to a shift from teacher-centered to student-centered teaching. One-to-One laptops also changed the schools' digital culture. The findings are important for designing concepts and models for professional development when introducing technological innovation into the educational system.

Assessment of a Model for the Evaluation of Professional Non-Instruction Staff in Elementary Schools

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hlavaty, Erica A.

2013-01-01

The purpose of this study was to help improve the evaluation system for school counselors and school psychologists, or non-instructional, certified staff (NICS). A mixed methodology approach was used to describe the existing evaluation system used to evaluate NICS; to develop a new system of evaluation based on recent research; and to determine…

The Challenges Never Stop! Two Decades of Reaching for the Best in Clinical Practice

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Field, Bruce E.; Van Scoy, Irma J.

2014-01-01

The University of South Carolina Professional Development School (USC PDS) Network has been engaged in designing and redesigning school-university partnerships for more than 20 years with a focus on ensuring that school-based practice lies at the heart of candidate preparation. In 2012-2013, the USC PDS Network once again reexamined their program…

NASA Airborne Astronomy Ambassadors (AAA) Professional Development and NASA Connections

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Backman, D. E.; Clark, C.; Harman, P. K.

2017-12-01

NASA's Airborne Astronomy Ambassadors (AAA) program is a three-part professional development (PD) experience for high school physics, astronomy, and earth science teachers. AAA PD consists of: (1) blended learning via webinars, asynchronous content learning, and in-person workshops, (2) a STEM immersion experience at NASA Armstrong's B703 science research aircraft facility in Palmdale, California, and (3) ongoing opportunities for connection with NASA astrophysics and planetary science Subject Matter Experts (SMEs). AAA implementation in 2016-18 involves partnerships between the SETI Institute and seven school districts in northern and southern California. AAAs in the current cohort were selected by the school districts based on criteria developed by AAA program staff working with WestEd evaluation consultants. The selected teachers were then randomly assigned by WestEd to a Group A or B to support controlled testing of student learning. Group A completed their PD during January - August 2017, then participated in NASA SOFIA science flights during fall 2017. Group B will act as a control during the 2017-18 school year, then will complete their professional development and SOFIA flights during 2018. A two-week AAA electromagnetic spectrum and multi-wavelength astronomy curriculum aligned with the Science Framework for California Public Schools and Next Generation Science Standards was developed by program staff for classroom delivery. The curriculum (as well as the AAA's pre-flight PD) capitalizes on NASA content by using "science snapshot" case studies regarding astronomy research conducted by SOFIA. AAAs also interact with NASA SMEs during flight weeks and will translate that interaction into classroom content. The AAA program will make controlled measurements of student gains in standards-based learning plus changes in student attitudes towards STEM, and observe & record the AAAs' implementation of curricular changes. Funded by NASA: NNX16AC51

Beyond Traditional School-Based Teacher Induction

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Surrette, Timothy N.

2016-01-01

A challenge for public schools is to successfully support and professionally develop early career teachers and thereby prepare them for long and successful careers in education. Multiple studies have indicated high levels of turnover in the profession of teaching, especially during the beginning years in a teachers career. The purpose of this…

Counseling Group Curriculum for Parents on Bullying

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lamanna, John; Shillingford, M. Ann; Parrish, Mary-Frances; Sheffield, Rebecca

2010-01-01

This article discusses the impact of bullying on K-12 students and the importance of collaborative partnerships between home and school in decreasing the dramatic effects of student bullying behaviors. The authors present a six-week, research-based, small group curriculum specifically developed for professional school counselors to support parents…

Inquiry-based Science Instruction in High School Biology Courses: A Multiple Case Study

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Aso, Eze

A lack of research exists about how secondary school science teachers use inquiry-based instruction to improve student learning. The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore how science teachers used inquiry-based instruction to improve student learning in high school biology courses. The conceptual framework was based on Banchi and Bell's model of increasing levels of complexity for inquiry-based instruction. A multiple case study research design was conducted of biology programs at 3 high schools in an urban school district in the northeastern region of the United States. Participants included 2 biology teachers from each of the 3 high schools. Data were collected from individual interviews with biology teachers, observations of lessons in biology, and documents related to state standards, assessments, and professional development. The first level of data analysis involved coding and categorizing the interview and observation data. A content analysis was used for the documents. The second level of data analysis involved examining data across all sources and all cases for themes and discrepancies. According to study findings, biology teachers used confirmation, structure, and guided inquiry to improve student learning. However, they found open inquiry challenging and frustrating to implement because professional development about scaffolding of instruction over time was needed, and students' reading and writing skills needed to improve. This study contributes to positive social change by providing educators and researchers with a deeper understanding about how to scaffold levels of inquiry-based science instruction in order to help students become scientifically literate citizens.

Partnering for Professional Development

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Davis-Duerr, Jennifer

2017-01-01

Literacy specialists are often overlooked when determining the professional development needs within a school, and yet they are arguably the school's best resource to empower teachers with professional growth to meet state mandates. How can literacy specialists be supported to increase their knowledge and skills so that all educators' and…

Using Common Formative Assessments as a Source of Professional Development in an Urban American Elementary School

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Frey, Nancy; Fisher, Douglas

2009-01-01

By implementing a system of common formative assessments, the teachers at an American urban elementary school improved student achievement and facilitated their own professional development. By aligning content standards with assessments and purposeful instruction, the teachers at this school developed a depth of knowledge about their content…

Research Committee Issues Brief: Professional Development for Virtual Schooling and Online Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Davis, Niki; Rose, Ray

2007-01-01

This report examines the types of professional development necessary to implement successful online learning initiatives. The potential for schools utilizing online learning is tremendous: schools can develop new distribution methods to enable equity and access for all students, they can provide high quality content for all students and they can…

Implementing Action Research and Professional Learning Communities in a Professional Development School Setting to Support Teacher Candidate Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shanks, Joyce

2016-01-01

The paper reviews teacher candidates' use of action research and the Professional Learning Community (PLC) concept to support their work in their pre-student teaching field experience. In this research study, teacher candidates are involved in a professional development school relationship that uses action research and PLCs to support candidate…

Mathematics and Science Teachers Professional Development with Local Businesses to Introduce Middle and High School Students to Opportunities in STEM Careers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Miles, Rhea; Slagter van Tryon, Patricia J.; Mensah, Felicia Moore

2015-01-01

TechMath is a professional development program that forms collaborations among businesses, colleges, and schools for the purpose of promoting Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) careers. TechMath has provided strategies for creating highquality professional development by bringing together teachers, students, and business…

Characteristics and Models of Effective Professional Development: The Case of School Teachers in Qatar

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Abu-Tineh, Abdullah M.; Sadiq, Hissa M.

2018-01-01

The purpose of this study was to investigate the characteristics of effective professional development and effective models of professional development as perceived by school teachers in the State of Qatar. This study is quantitative in nature and was conducted using a survey methodology. Means, standard deviations, t-test, and one-way analysis of…

An Innovative Model of Professional Development to Enhance the Teaching and Learning of Primary Science in Irish Schools

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Smith, Greg

2014-01-01

This study investigates the influence of a two-year professional development programme on primary teachers' attitudes towards primary science, their confidence and competence in teaching science, and pupils' attitudes towards school science. Unlike the traditional "one-size-fits all" model of professional development, the model developed…

The Delivery of Professional Development in the Middle School: Exploring Optimal Settings, Times, and Participants

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mohr, Carrie A.

2017-01-01

The purpose of this study was to describe and understand the experiences of teachers and instructional leaders related to the delivery of professional development at the middle school level. This qualitative study examines four professional development experiences and provides a summary of emerging themes related to those experiences for both…

A Multi-Year Study of the Impact of the Rice Model Teacher Professional Development on Elementary Science Teachers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Diaconu, Dana Viorica; Radigan, Judy; Suskavcevic, Milijana; Nichol, Carolyn

2012-01-01

A teacher professional development program for in-service elementary school science teachers, the Rice Elementary Model Science Lab (REMSL), was developed for urban school districts serving predominately high-poverty, high-minority students. Teachers with diverse skills and science capacities came together in Professional Learning Communities, one…

A model of professional competences in mathematics to update mathematical and didactic knowledge of teachers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Díaz, Verónica; Poblete, Alvaro

2017-07-01

This paper describes part of a research and development project carried out in public elementary schools. Its objective was to update the mathematical and didactic knowledge of teachers in two consecutive levels in urban and rural public schools of Region de Los Lagos and Region de Los Rios of southern Chile. To that effect, and by means of an advanced training project based on a professional competences model, didactic interventions based on types of problems and types of mathematical competences with analysis of contents and learning assessment were designed. The teachers' competence regarding the didactic strategy used and its results, as well as the students' learning achievements are specified. The project made possible to validate a strategy of lifelong improvement in mathematics, based on the professional competences of teachers and their didactic transposition in the classroom, as an alternative to consolidate learning in areas considered vulnerable in two regions of the country.

Lessons Learned from Transformational Professional Development

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Miranda, Twyla T.

2012-01-01

What is transformative professional development for educators? Ideally, teachers and school leaders are given multiple opportunities to revisit schemas about themselves and their learning communities, with the intent to transform practice, the school environment, and even themselves. In practice, three cohorts of teachers and school leaders…

Teachers as Therapeutic Agents: Perceptions of a School-Based Mental Health Initiative

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lindo, Natalya A.; Taylor, Dalena Dillman; Meany-Walen, Kristin K.; Purswell, Katherine; Jayne, Kimberly; Gonzales, Terri; Jones, Leslie

2014-01-01

Teacher-child relationship building (TCRB) is a play-based professional development programme adapted from kinder training and filial therapy. Intended for early education teachers and students, TCRB is designed to strengthen the teacher-child relationship, improve student behaviour, enhance academic involvement and develop teachers' classroom…

The Principal and the Pear Tree.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hoyle, John R.

1991-01-01

School principals are in a difficult environment filled with stress and plagued by weak support. Most principals are unprepared for site-based decision making. University professors must take the initiative to use the emerging knowledge base and develop professional studies degree and staff development programs to prepare principals. (24…

Key Strategies for Designing Professional Development for Teachers of Blended High School Courses as Perceived by California High School Principals

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Grado, Christopher

2014-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to identify key strategies for designing professional development for teachers of blended high school courses, as perceived by California high school principals. High schools are going to the blended model more frequently and the trend is that there will be many more such models for high school students as…

Professional Practice Schools: Building a Model. Volume II.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Levine, Marsha, Ed.

This collection of papers addresses three important aspects of professional practice schools: student learning, teacher development, and implementation issues related to collaboration among institutions and state policy environment. The first paper, "The Child as Meaning Maker: The Organizing Theme of Professional Practice Schools" (Ellen M.…

Neuroscience in middle schools: a professional development and resource program that models inquiry-based strategies and engages teachers in classroom implementation.

PubMed

MacNabb, Carrie; Schmitt, Lee; Michlin, Michael; Harris, Ilene; Thomas, Larry; Chittendon, David; Ebner, Timothy J; Dubinsky, Janet M

2006-01-01

The Department of Neuroscience at the University of Minnesota and the Science Museum of Minnesota have developed and implemented a successful program for middle school (grades 5-8) science teachers and their students, called Brain Science on the Move. The overall goals have been to bring neuroscience education to underserved schools, excite students about science, improve their understanding of neuroscience, and foster partnerships between scientists and educators. The program includes BrainU, a teacher professional development institute; Explain Your Brain Assembly and Exhibit Stations, multimedia large-group presentation and hands-on activities designed to stimulate student thinking about the brain; Class Activities, in-depth inquiry-based investigations; and Brain Trunks, materials and resources related to class activities. Formal evaluation of the program indicated that teacher neuroscience knowledge, self-confidence, and use of inquiry-based strategies and neuroscience in their classrooms have increased. Participating teachers increased the time spent teaching neuroscience and devoted more time to "inquiry-based" teaching versus "lecture-based teaching." Teachers appreciated in-depth discussions of pedagogy and science and opportunities for collegial interactions with world-class researchers. Student interest in the brain and in science increased. Since attending BrainU, participating teachers have reported increased enthusiasm about teaching and have become local neuroscience experts within their school communities.

Opportunities and Challenges in Training Elementary School Teachers in Classroom Management: Initial Results from Classroom Management in Action, an Online Professional Development Program

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Marquez, Brion; Vincent, Claudia; Marquez, Jessie; Pennefather, Jordan; Smolkowski, Keith; Sprague, Jeffrey

2016-01-01

Classroom management remains a challenge for many teachers. The approach and delivery of professional development (PD) in classroom management may determine how well teachers are able to apply evidence-based approaches in their classrooms. We use existing literature to identify the key features that make in-service PD effective and present them as…

Scaling up Professional Learning: Technical Expectations and Adaptive Challenges

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dobbs, Christina L.; Ippolito, Jacy; Charner-Laird, Megin

2017-01-01

In order to be effective, professional development efforts are most promising if they are context specific and focus on supporting collaboration. Increasingly, schools initiate professional development with small groups of teachers, with the intention that the effects of the initiatives will spill over to other school personnel. This study follows…

Benefits of Professional Development Schools: The Hidden Message in the Forest.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kochan, Frances K.

1998-01-01

Investigated the benefits of Professional Development School (PDS) endeavors as perceived by university faculty participating in the Holmes Group. Data from open-ended surveys identified four themes related to PDS benefits: (1) improved teaching/learning environments; (2) improved collegiality in professional relationships; (3) personal and…

Transforming educational accountability in medical ethics and humanities education toward professionalism.

PubMed

Doukas, David J; Kirch, Darrell G; Brigham, Timothy P; Barzansky, Barbara M; Wear, Stephen; Carrese, Joseph A; Fins, Joseph J; Lederer, Susan E

2015-06-01

Effectively developing professionalism requires a programmatic view on how medical ethics and humanities should be incorporated into an educational continuum that begins in premedical studies, stretches across medical school and residency, and is sustained throughout one's practice. The Project to Rebalance and Integrate Medical Education National Conference on Medical Ethics and Humanities in Medical Education (May 2012) invited representatives from the three major medical education and accreditation organizations to engage with an expert panel of nationally known medical educators in ethics, history, literature, and the visual arts. This article, based on the views of these representatives and their respondents, offers a future-tense account of how professionalism can be incorporated into medical education.The themes that are emphasized herein include the need to respond to four issues. The first theme highlights how ethics and humanities can provide a response to the dissonance that occurs in current health care delivery. The second theme focuses on how to facilitate preprofessional readiness for applicants through reform of the medical school admission process. The third theme emphasizes the importance of integrating ethics and humanities into the medical school administrative structure. The fourth theme underscores how outcomes-based assessment should reflect developmental milestones for professional attributes and conduct. The participants emphasized that ethics and humanities-based knowledge, skills, and conduct that promote professionalism should be taught with accountability, flexibility, and the premise that all these traits are essential to the formation of a modern professional physician.

Collaborative School Innovation Project as a Pivot for Teachers' Professional Development: The Case of Acharnes' Second Chance School in Greece

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Katsarou, Eleni; Tsafos, Vassilis

2008-01-01

A collaborative school innovation project is explored as a pivot for the professional development of the teachers involved. The Second Chance School (SCS) of Acharnes in Greece constitutes such a collaborative innovative project, regarding the underlying theory of multiliteracies, its decentralised character, respect for student individuality, and…

Effects of Continuing Professional Development on Group Work Practices in Scottish Primary Schools

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Thurston, A.; Christie, D.; Howe, C. J.; Tolmie, A.; Topping, K. J.

2008-01-01

The present study investigated the effects of a continuing professional development (CPD) initiative that provided collaborative group work skills training for primary school teachers. The study collected data from 24 primary school classrooms in different schools in a variety of urban and rural settings. The sample was composed of 332 pupils,…

Charting New Waters: Collaborating for School Improvement in U.S. High Schools

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schneider, Melanie; Huss-Lederman, Susan; Sherlock, Wallace

2012-01-01

When professional learning communities (PLCs) are developed to promote the academic achievement of English language learners (ELLs), the results can benefit not only ELLs but the whole school. This article examines the ventures of three high schools that implemented PLCs as part of a Title III National Professional Development Project. The authors…

Educational Management Organizations and the Development of Professional Community in Charter Schools. Occasional Paper.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bulkley, Katrina; Hicks, Jennifer

This paper examines the ways in which entities external to schools, in this case for-profit educational management organizations (EMOs), can influence the development of school professional community. Drawing on case studies of six charter schools operated by three EMOs, this paper examines the presence of the five elements of professional…

The Development and Perpetuation of Professional Learning Communities in Two Elementary Schools: The Role of the Principal and Impact on Teaching and Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Maynor, Chad Edward

2010-01-01

Professional learning communities (PLCs) provide schools with a tool to meet the professional development needs of their teachers through ongoing, job-embedded staff development designed to improve instruction and student learning. While research exists on the development of PLCs, there is a gap in the literature concerning the principal's role in…

Central Savannah River Area P-16 Professional Development School Network: A Reflective Summary of Four Years of Collaboration.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cooper, Mary Gendernalik

This article traces the development of the Central Savannah River Area P-16 Professional Development School Network Initiative (PDSNI), which began in 1998 as a collaboration between the Department of Teacher Development at Augusta State University, Georgia, and four adjacent school systems. The collaboration's mission was to cultivate a network…

Professional Development Urban Schools: What Do Teachers Say?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Green, Tanya R.; Allen, Mishaleen

2015-01-01

This quantitative causal-comparative study compared perceptions of professional development opportunities between high-achieving and low-achieving elementary-middle school teachers in an urban school district using the Standards Assessment Inventory (SAI). A total of 271 teachers participated including 134 (n = 134) teachers from high-achieving…

Principals' Perceptions of Public Schools' Professional Development Changes during NCLB

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wieczorek, Douglas

2017-01-01

This study investigated public school principals' reports of professional development implementation at the school level while working in different state- and local-level contexts (state accountability level, geographic locations, socioeconomic status, demographics, and grade levels). I attempted to measure principals' reported changes in levels…

The relationship between inquiry-based science instruction and student achievement

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Suarez, Michael Louis

Teaching science through inquiry has become a focus of recent educational reform in Mississippi and other states. Based on the Constructivist learning theory, inquiry instruction can take many forms, but generally follows the scientific method by requiring students to learn concepts through experimentation and real-world, hands-on experiences. This dissertation examines the relationship between the amounts of time spent using inquiry-based science instruction and student achievement as measured by the Mississippi State Science Assessment. The study also identifies teacher perceptions of inquiry and the amount of professional development received by participants on using inquiry-based instructional techniques. Finally, this study identifies factors that hinder the use of inquiry. Using a 24-question written survey, the researcher collected quantitative data from 204 science teachers in grades K-8 in four southern Mississippi school districts. Participants rated their average amount of time spent using inquiry-based science instruction in their classrooms. These results were then compared to each school's average test score on the 2009-2010 Mississippi State Science Assessment using a Spearman rho correlation. A significant positive relationship was found between amounts of time spent using inquiry-based science instruction and student achievement. The participants also indicated their perceptions of inquiry, amount of professional development, and deterrents to inquiry usage on a five-point Likert scale survey. Overall, participants held a favorable opinion of inquiry-based instruction and felt that it was important for their students' success. Over half of participants had not attended professional development on inquiry-based instruction. A majority indicated a desire for professional development. The most commonly identified factor hindering the use of inquiry was a lack of materials and resources. Many participants also indicated that time constraints prevented more frequent use of inquiry in their classrooms.

Northeast Tennessee Educators' Perception of STEM Education Implementation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Turner, Kristin Beard

A quantitative nonexperimental survey study was developed to investigate Northeast Tennessee K-8 educators' perceptions of STEM education. This study was an examination of current perceptions of STEM education. Perceived need, current implementation practices, access to STEM resources, definition of STEM, and the current condition of STEM in Northeast Tennessee were also examined. The participating school districts are located in the Northeast Region of Tennessee: Bristol City Schools, Hamblen County Schools, Johnson City Schools, Johnson County Schools, Kingsport City Schools, Sullivan County Schools, and Washington County Schools. Educational professionals including both administrators and teachers in the elementary and/or middle school setting were surveyed. The closed and open form survey consisted of 20 research items grouped by 5 core research questions. Quantitative data were analyzed using single sample t tests. A 4 point Likert scale was used to measure responses with a 2.5 point of neutrality rating. The open-ended question was summarized and recorded for frequency. Research indicated that Northeast Tennessee K-8 educators perceive a need for STEM education to a significant extent. However, many do not feel prepared for implementation. Lack of professional development opportunities and STEM assets were reported as areas of need. Teachers reported implementation of inquiry-based, problem solving activities in their classrooms. The majority of participants reported that the current condition of STEM education in Northeast Tennessee is not meeting the needs of 21st century learners. Challenges facing STEM instruction include: funding designated for STEM is too low, professional development for STEM teacher is insufficient, and STEM Education in K-8 is lacking or inadequate.

Partnering with the Business School: The Business and Professional Communication Course

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Arnett, Ronald C.; McKendree, Amanda; Fritz, Janie Harden; Roberts, Kathleen Glenister

2008-01-01

Duquesne University's Department of Communication & Rhetorical Studies offers a course in business and professional communication to students in the School of Business. To develop that partnership, professors had to persuade the business school of the centrality of rhetoric/persuasion in business and professional communication. In short, this…

The Drama in School Leadership: An Arts-Based Approach to Understanding the Ethical Dimensions of Decision Making for Educational Leaders

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cranston, Jerome A.; Kusanovich, Kristin A.

2013-01-01

This article considers the implications and effectiveness of a performing arts-based pedagogy in the professional development of school leaders. It reports on the findings from a study that exposed educational leaders to methods of dramatic analysis as a means of reflecting on the ethical dilemmas found in personnel management. Through the dynamic…

Professional formation and deformation: repression of personal values and qualities in medical education.

PubMed

Rabow, Michael W; Evans, Carrie N; Remen, Rachel N

2013-01-01

During medical training, students gain professional competence but may lose elements of personal humanity. Little is known about what personal qualities or values students themselves experience to be at risk or surrendered during medical school. Medical students participating in the Healer's Art elective in the United States and internationally during 2008--2009 were asked to reflect, identify, and draw a part of themselves that they were wary about revealing, not comfortable showing, or felt may be diminished in medical school and label this part with a word. Using a team-based qualitative approach, these words were categorized into common themes and the themes analyzed using descriptive and chi-square statistics. Words from 673 students from 31 medical schools were analyzed. Most students were female (58.7%) and in their first year (86.3%). Eleven themes were identified: spirituality, emotional engagement, identity/self-expression, freedom/spontaneity, relationships, self-care, creativity, negative emotions, values, other, and joy/happiness. The most common individual words used were creativity, family, balance, freedom, love, peace, compassion, relationships, and reflection. There were only rare differences in distributions of themes across gender, year in school, school size, or school nationality. An international cadre of Healer's Art students identified core personal qualities and values that they may not reveal or feel may be diminished in medical school. Medical training involves not only professional formation but exposure to professional deformation as well. Educators must attend to both gains in professional competence and the personal qualities and values that are at risk in the course of professional development.

Bridging Cultures with Classroom Strategies.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rothstein-Fisch, Carrie; Greenfield, Patricia M.; Trumbull, Elise

1999-01-01

Collectivism, stressing family members' interdependence, is common to Latino cultures. In contrast, schools foster independence and individual achievement. To help teachers understand assumptions underlying these different values, the authors developed the "Bridging Cultures Project" as a research-based professional-development program.…

Learning to teach upper primary school algebra: changes to teachers' mathematical knowledge for teaching functional thinking

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wilkie, Karina J.

2016-06-01

A key aspect of learning algebra in the middle years of schooling is exploring the functional relationship between two variables: noticing and generalising the relationship, and expressing it mathematically. This article describes research on the professional learning of upper primary school teachers for developing their students' functional thinking through pattern generalisation. This aspect of algebra learning has been explicitly brought to the attention of upper primary teachers in the recently introduced Australian curriculum. Ten practising teachers participated over 1 year in a design-based research project involving a sequence of geometric pattern generalisation lessons with their classes. Initial and final survey responses and teachers' interactions in regular meetings and lessons were analysed from cognitive and situated perspectives on professional learning, using a theoretical model for the different types of knowledge needed for teaching mathematics. The teachers demonstrated an increase in certain aspects of their mathematical knowledge for teaching algebra as well as some residual issues. Implications for the professional learning of practising and pre-service teachers to develop their mathematics knowledge for teaching functional thinking, and challenges with operationalising knowledge categories for field-based research are presented.

Opportunities for Teacher Professional Development in Oklahoma Rural and Nonrural Schools. REL 2017-273

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Peltola, Pia; Haynes, Erin; Clymer, Lauren; McMillan, Alex; Williams, Haidee

2017-01-01

The purpose of this study was to fill the gap in statewide information about teacher professional development opportunities in Oklahoma and compare the opportunities in rural and nonrural schools. The Regional Educational Laboratory Southwest, along with members of the Oklahoma Rural Schools Research Alliance, developed a survey that measured how…

Middle School Mathematics Professional Development Impact Study: Findings after the Second Year of Implementation. NCEE 2011-4024

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Garet, Michael S.; Wayne, Andrew J.; Stancavage, Fran; Taylor, James; Eaton, Marian; Walters, Kirk; Song, Mengli; Brown, Seth; Hurlburt, Steven; Zhu, Pei; Sepanik, Susan; Doolittle, Fred

2011-01-01

This is the second and final report of the Middle School Mathematics Professional Development Impact Study, which examines the impact of providing a professional development (PD) program in rational number topics to seventh-grade mathematics teachers. An interim report (Garet et al. 2010) described the findings after one year of PD. The current…

A Model of Continuing Professional Competency Development by Using ICT (Study at Senior High School Teachers Padangsidimpuan, North Sumatera)

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hasibuan, Sarmadan

2013-01-01

In order to solve the weakness of current status of high school teachers' professional competency in Padangsidimpuan the researcher purposed this study to implement A Model of Continuing Professional Competency Development by using Information Communication Technology (ICT). This study was conducted by using a Research and Development (R&D).…

Major Corporation Seeks to Give Back, Funds Boarding School and Professional Development Center: Eagle Rock School and Professional Development Center, Estes Park, Colorado

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stewart, Sarah

2016-01-01

Eagle Rock, a high school for 15- to 18-year-olds, serves 72 students at risk for dropping out of school. Most come from families who cannot afford any other options. The school provides full scholarships for all students and accepts only students who have not succeeded in traditional settings and want to attend the school. Its programs are…

Examining Teachers' Understanding of the Mathematical Learning Progression through Vertical Articulation during Lesson Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Suh, Jennifer; Seshaiyer, Padmanabhan

2015-01-01

This study examines elementary- and middle-grade teachers' understanding of the mathematical learning progression as they participated in a 6-month professional learning project. Teachers participated in a professional development project that consisted of a 1-week summer content-focused institute with school-based follow-up Lesson Study cycles in…

Implementing a New Model for Teachers' Professional Learning in Papua New Guinea

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Honan, Eileen; Evans, Terry; Muspratt, Sandy; Paraide, Patricia; Reta, Medi; Baroutsis, Aspa

2012-01-01

This article reports on a study that investigates the possibilities of developing a professional learning model based on action research that could lead to sustained improvements in teaching and learning in schools in remote areas of Papua New Guinea. The issues related to the implementation of this model are discussed using a critical lens that…

The Honourable Road and Its Impact on Teacher Practice: An Analysis of China's National Honour System in Cultivating Professional Development

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Song, Huan; Zhu, Xudong; Liu, Laura B.

2013-01-01

China's national teacher honour system, initiated in 1949, is designed to recognise the academic and pedagogical performance of individual teachers and professional collectives at national, provincial, municipal, and school-based levels. This study employs grounded theory analysis to examine the phenomenon of China's teacher honour system by…

Preschool Literacy and the Common Core: A Professional Development Model

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wake, Donna G.; Benson, Tammy Rachelle

2016-01-01

Many states have adopted the Common Core Standards for literacy and math and have begun enacting these standards in school curriculum. In states where these standards have been adopted, professional educators working in K-12 contexts have been working to create transition plans from existing state-based standards to the Common Core standards. A…

Concussions--The Role of the School Nurse. Position Statement

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Diaz, Anne L.; Wyckoff, Leah J.

2012-01-01

It is the position of the National Association of School Nurses that the registered professional school nurse (hereinafter referred to as school nurse) is an essential member of the team addressing concussions. As the school-based clinical professional on the team, the school nurse has the knowledge and skills to provide concussion prevention…

Developing Self-Efficacy: Exploring Preservice Coursework, Student Teaching, and Professional Development Experiences

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McKim, Aaron J.; Velez, Jonathan J.

2017-01-01

To extend current understanding of school-based agriculture teacher development, this study explored the relationship between teacher development experiences and the self-efficacy of early career agriculture teachers. Three teacher development experiences were of interest: (a) preservice coursework, (b) student teaching, and (c) professional…

Literacy-Related Professional Development Preferences of Secondary Teachers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jones, Shara L.; Lee, Elizabeth A.

2014-01-01

A survey of 100 teachers in one Ontario school board examined their literacy-related professional development preferences. The majority preferred short durations of literacy-related professional development. A small number did not want any literacy-related professional development. The most preferred forms of professional development were shared…

A Professional Development School Staff's Perceptions of Actual and Preferred Learning Environments.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kiley, Therese J.; Jensen, Rita A.

A study assessed the teaching/learning environment of one professional development school in a variety of ways that included a combination of quantitative and qualitative measures. Results were analyzed using the eight scales of the "School Level Environment Questionnaire" (SLEQ) as categories: Student Support, Affiliation, Professional…

Minnesota State Mankato P-20 Professional Development School Partnership: The Cornerstones of 25 Years of Success

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zierdt, Ginger L.; Dahlman, Anne; Rosendale, April; Kennedy, Pam

2012-01-01

Minnesota State Mankato's partnership with eight Professional Development School districts, encompassing fifty-four P-12 sites, and post-secondary programs involved in educator preparation including Elementary, Secondary, Special Education, Leadership, School Counseling, and Arts & Sciences content, was one of five PDS partnerships recognized…

Professional Development for Beginning Teachers at an Urban High School in the Northeast United States

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McClain, William C.

2013-01-01

Teachers in any school community must confront immense contextual pressures: developing parent and community relationships, implementing curriculum and content, preparing students for state assessment examinations, along with navigating the professional relationships that exist within the school community. These pressures are amplified in the case…

Trailblazing Partnerships: Professional Development Schools in Partnership with Emporia State University

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jones, Jill; Schwerdtfeger, Sara; Roop, Teddy; Long, Jennie L.

2016-01-01

Emporia State University is committed to preparing future elementary education teachers through the collaborative efforts and ongoing reflective practice between the university and school districts. The Professional Development School is the vehicle behind the structured involvement in the process of immersing student-teacher in a clinical model…

Perceptions of Secondary School Teachers and Administrators on Effective Professional Development Programs

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sherrod, Ginnie

2014-01-01

Effective professional development programs have been linked with rigorous state standards and district school improvement goals. Despite efforts of local districts to meet state standards and district school improvement goals, there has been limited research at the local level that has compared administrators' and teachers' perceptions of…

The Organized Contradictions of Professional Development and School Improvement

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sappington, Neil; Pacha, Joseph; Baker, Paul; Gardner, Dianne

2012-01-01

"One of the most persistent findings from research on school improvement is, in fact, the symbiotic relationship between professional development and school improvement efforts" (Hawley & Valli, 1999, p. 129). These researchers, and others in the field, argue that there must be a direct relationship between the professional…

Working with Science Teachers to Transform the Opportunity Landscape for Regional and Rural Youth: A Qualitative Evaluation of the Science in Schools Program

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sheehan, Grania R.; Mosse, Jennifer

2013-01-01

This article reports on a qualitative evaluation of the Science in Schools program; a suite of science based activities delivered by staff of a regional university campus and designed to provide professional development for science teachers working in non-metropolitan schools in a socioeconomically disadvantaged region of Australia. The research…

Pre-Professional Training for Serving Children with ASD: An Apprenticeship Model of Supervision

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Donaldson, Amy L.

2015-01-01

Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often present with varied skill profiles and levels of severity making development and implementation of specialized school services challenging. Research indicates that school professionals require and desire additional ASD-specific professional development, both at the pre-and in-service levels.…

Knowing and Teaching Middle School Mathematics: A Professional Development Course for In-Service Teachers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Anderson, Celia Rousseau; Hoffmeister, April M.

2007-01-01

This article describes a professional development course intended to improve the content understanding of middle school mathematics teachers. The design of the course included three professional learning strategies: problem solving, examination of student thinking, and discussion of research. The concepts studied in the course included multi-digit…

Conceptualising the Research-Practice-Professional Development Nexus: Mobilising Schools as "Research-Engaged" Professional Learning Communities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dimmock, Clive

2016-01-01

This paper argues the need for coherent, holistic frameworks offering insightful understandings as well as viable, connected and synergistic solutions to schools in addressing pressing problems arising from the acknowledged gaps between research, practice and professional development. There is a need to conceptualise a comprehensive conceptual…

Strategies for Improving Power in School-Randomized Studies of Professional Development.

PubMed

Kelcey, Ben; Phelps, Geoffrey

2013-12-01

Group-randomized designs are well suited for studies of professional development because they can accommodate programs that are delivered to intact groups (e.g., schools), the collaborative nature of professional development, and extant teacher/school assignments. Though group designs may be theoretically favorable, prior evidence has suggested that they may be challenging to conduct in professional development studies because well-powered designs will typically require large sample sizes or expect large effect sizes. Using teacher knowledge outcomes in mathematics, we investigated when and the extent to which there is evidence that covariance adjustment on a pretest, teacher certification, or demographic covariates can reduce the sample size necessary to achieve reasonable power. Our analyses drew on multilevel models and outcomes in five different content areas for over 4,000 teachers and 2,000 schools. Using these estimates, we assessed the minimum detectable effect sizes for several school-randomized designs with and without covariance adjustment. The analyses suggested that teachers' knowledge is substantially clustered within schools in each of the five content areas and that covariance adjustment for a pretest or, to a lesser extent, teacher certification, has the potential to transform designs that are unreasonably large for professional development studies into viable studies. © The Author(s) 2014.

Report to the Legislature: Professional Development Expenditures. Line-Item 7061-0008

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, 2008

2008-01-01

This paper presents the "Report to the Legislature: Professional Development Expenditures". All public school districts report professional development expenditures as part of the required End of Year Financial Report in four areas: professional development leadership, teacher/instructional staff professional days, substitute salaries…

Strengthening Competence in Working with Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lineman, Janeann M.; Miller, Gloria E.

2012-01-01

It has been projected that by 2020 one out of three children will be from a culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) background. Rapid changes in school demographics and student needs are already presenting new challenges to school-based service-delivery methods and there have been calls for increased professional development efforts to better…

Students' Learning Processes during School-Based Learning and Workplace Learning in Vocational Education: A Review

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schaap, Harmen; Baartman, Liesbeth; de Bruijn, Elly

2012-01-01

Learning in vocational schools and workplaces are the two main components of vocational education. Students have to develop professional competences by building meaningful relations between knowledge, skills and attitudes. There are, however, some major concerns about the combination of learning in these two learning environments, since vocational…

School-Based Interventions for Students with Substance Abuse

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Burrow-Sanchez, Jason J.; Jenson, William R.; Clark, Elaine

2009-01-01

Experimentation with substances is typical for many young people, but unfortunately some will go on to develop substance abuse problems that substantially affect their lives. Successfully intervening with students who use or abuse substances is a challenge for school mental health professionals across the nation. There is a need for evidence-based…

The Resourceful Facilitator: Teacher Leaders Constructing Identities as Facilitators of Teacher Peer Groups

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Allen, David

2016-01-01

The use of teacher peer groups is a prevalent strategy for school-based professional development and instructional improvement. Facilitation of such groups is an increasingly vital dimension of teacher leadership as a component of school improvement efforts. Drawing on a qualitative study of facilitation of teacher peer groups, the article…

Succeeding with Struggling Students: A Planning Resource for Raising Achievement

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Richardson, Marti T.

2006-01-01

Schools today are working harder than ever to help ensure that "all" children "can" learn and achieve high standards. Marti Richardson, a recognized leader in professional and curriculum development, delivers an innovative, classroom-tested program with planning tools to customize it for any school or district's data-based needs. Designed around a…

Re-Forming the School: Taking Swedish Lessons

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Johansson, Inge; Moss, Peter

2012-01-01

In the context of government decentralisation and integration of services, over the last 15 years Sweden has been developing an all-day school based on inter-professional teamworking and adopting a holistic approach to working with children. The article describes these recent educational reforms in Sweden, which have sought to re-structure the…

Exploring the Relationship between Questioning, Enacted Mathematical Tasks, and Mathematical Discourse in Elementary School Mathematics

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Martin, Christie; Polly, Drew; McGee, Jen; Wang, Chuang; Lambert, Richard; Pugalee, David

2015-01-01

This study examined the mathematical discourse of elementary school teachers and their students while participating in a year-long professional development project focused on implementing reform-based mathematics curriculum. The teacher participants included 12 teachers, two from each grade level from Kindergarten through Grade 5. Field notes were…

Effects of a Teacher Professional Development Program on the Mathematics Achievement of Middle School Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sample McMeeking, Laura B.; Orsi, Rebecca; Cobb, R. Brian

2012-01-01

The effect of a 15- to 24-month in-service professional development (PD) program on state accountability mathematics test scores for middle school students was examined using a quasi-experimental design. Middle level mathematics teachers (n = 128) from 7 school districts and 64 middle schools volunteered for a PD sequence of content-oriented…

Indiana State University Professional Development School Partnership: Systemic, Symbiotic, and Solution-Oriented

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Libler, Rebecca

2010-01-01

The Indiana State University Professional Development Schools (ISU PDS) Partnership sprang from the convergence of two strong needs: (1) the need for real life practice in the way of extended clinical experiences for teacher education students in schools of practice; and (2) the need on the part of the schools in the community to have access to…

Using Teacher Evaluation Data to Inform Professional Development in the Intensive Partnership Sites. Working Paper WR-1033-BMGF

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hamilton, Laura S.; Steiner, Elizabeth D.; Holtzman, Deborah; Fulbeck, Eleanor S.; Robyn, Abby; Poirier, Jeffrey; O'Neil, Caitlin

2014-01-01

This report describes the implementation of professional development (PD) reforms and efforts to use teacher effectiveness (TE) data to inform PD through the third year of the initiative for all seven sites: Hillsborough County Public Schools (HCPS), Shelby County Schools (SCS, formerly Memphis City Schools), Pittsburgh Public Schools (PPS), and…

Teacher Candidates' Experiences with Clinical Teaching in Reading Instruction: A Comparison between the Professional Development School Environment and the Non-Professional Development School Environment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hopper, Cynthia J.

2016-01-01

Teacher candidates experience a variety of school settings when enrolled in teacher education methods courses. Candidates report varied experiences when in public school classrooms. This dissertation investigated clinical experiences of teacher candidates when placed in two different environments for clinical teaching. The two environments were a…

Grounding formative assessment in high-school chemistry classrooms: Connections between professional development and teacher practice

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cisterna Alburquerque, Dante Igor

This study describes and analyzes the experiences of two high-school chemistry teachers who participated in a team-based professional development program to learn about and enact formative assessment in their classrooms. The overall purpose of this study is to explain how participation in this professional development influenced both teachers' classroom enactment of formative assessment practices. This study focuses on 1) teachers' participation in the professional development program, 2) teachers' enactment of formative assessment, and 3) factors that enabled or hindered enactment of formative assessment. Drawing on cultural-historical activity theory (CHAT) and using evidence from teacher lessons, teacher interviews, professional development meetings as data sources, this single embedded case study analyzes how these two teachers who participated in the same learning team and have similar characteristics (i.e., teaching in the same school, teaching the same courses and population of students, and using the same materials) differentially used the professional development learning about formative assessment as mediating tools to improve their classroom instruction. The learning team experience contributed to both teachers' development of a better understanding of formative assessment---especially in recognizing that their current grading and assessment practices were not appropriate to promote student learning---and the co-creation of artifacts to gather evidence of students' ideas. Although both teachers demonstrated understanding about how formative assessment may serve to promote student learning and had a set of tools available to utilize for formative assessment use, they did not enact these tools in the same way. One teacher appropriated formative assessment as mediating tool to verify if the students were following her explanations, and to check if the students were able to provide the correct response. The other teacher used the mediating tool to promote better understanding of students' ideas and her mindset shifted to place more value on the diversity of students' thinking and help them be more aware of their ideas. This study illustrates the complexities of enacting formative assessment practices in particular classrooms because teachers may interpret and use these tools in different ways. Thus, when teachers enacted these mediating tools, their interaction with the activity system's components produced different instructional outcomes and tensions. Similarly, this study describes how the use of artifacts of practice can be a vehicle between professional development and classrooms, especially in early stages of professional development. This study presents implications for professional development and formative assessment research and practice. Professional development needs to support teachers in reflecting on their practice in terms of activity systems, use a solid and research-based understanding of formative assessment, and promote opportunities to teachers to create, enact, and reflect on formative assessment artifacts and tools.

34 CFR 263.3 - What definitions apply to the Professional Development program?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... 34 Education 1 2011-07-01 2011-07-01 false What definitions apply to the Professional Development... Professional Development Program § 263.3 What definitions apply to the Professional Development program? The following definitions apply to the Professional Development program: Bureau-funded school means a Bureau...

Prepared for practice? Law teaching and assessment in UK medical schools.

PubMed

Preston-Shoot, Michael; McKimm, Judy

2010-11-01

A revised core curriculum for medical ethics and law in UK medical schools has been published. The General Medical Council requires medical graduates to understand law and ethics and behave in accordance with ethical and legal principles. A parallel policy agenda emphasises accountability, the development of professionalism and patient safety. Given the renewed focus on teaching and learning law alongside medical ethics and the development of professional identity, this survey aimed to identify how medical schools are responding to the preparation of medical students for practice in the future. Questions were asked about the location, content and methods of teaching and assessment of law in undergraduate medical education. Examples of course documentation were requested to illustrate the approaches being taken. A 76% response rate was achieved. Most responding schools integrate law teaching with medical ethics, emphasising both the acquisition of knowledge and its application in a clinical context. Teaching, learning and assessment of law in clinical attachments is much less formalised than that in non-clinical education. Coverage of recommended topic areas varies, raising questions about the degree to which students can embed their knowledge and skills in actual practice. More positively, teaching does not rely on single individuals and clear descriptions were offered for problem-based and small group case-based learning. Further research is required to explore whether there are optimum ways of ensuring that legal knowledge, and skills in its use, form part of the development of professionalism among doctors in training.

The Slippery Slope to Efficiency? An Australian Perspective on School/University Partnerships for Teacher Professional Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mockler, Nicole

2013-01-01

Large-scale school/university partnerships for the enhancement of teacher professionalism and teacher professional learning have been part of the teacher development landscape in Australia for the past two decades. This paper takes a historical perspective on Australian school/university partnerships through detailing three national projects over…

Neuroscience in Middle Schools: A Professional Development and Resource Program That Models Inquiry-based Strategies and Engages Teachers in Classroom Implementation

PubMed Central

MacNabb, Carrie; Schmitt, Lee; Michlin, Michael; Harris, Ilene; Thomas, Larry; Chittendon, David; Ebner, Timothy J.

2006-01-01

The Department of Neuroscience at the University of Minnesota and the Science Museum of Minnesota have developed and implemented a successful program for middle school (grades 5–8) science teachers and their students, called Brain Science on the Move. The overall goals have been to bring neuroscience education to underserved schools, excite students about science, improve their understanding of neuroscience, and foster partnerships between scientists and educators. The program includes BrainU, a teacher professional development institute; Explain Your Brain Assembly and Exhibit Stations, multimedia large-group presentation and hands-on activities designed to stimulate student thinking about the brain; Class Activities, in-depth inquiry-based investigations; and Brain Trunks, materials and resources related to class activities. Formal evaluation of the program indicated that teacher neuroscience knowledge, self-confidence, and use of inquiry-based strategies and neuroscience in their classrooms have increased. Participating teachers increased the time spent teaching neuroscience and devoted more time to “inquiry-based” teaching versus “lecture-based teaching.” Teachers appreciated in-depth discussions of pedagogy and science and opportunities for collegial interactions with world-class researchers. Student interest in the brain and in science increased. Since attending BrainU, participating teachers have reported increased enthusiasm about teaching and have become local neuroscience experts within their school communities. PMID:17012205

To What Extent Do Professional Training, School Demographics, Teacher Bilingualism, and Teacher Attitude Predict the Instructional Strategies that Elementary School Content Area Teachers Use with English Language Learners?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rader-Brown, Lucy M.

2010-01-01

Using responses from a survey of elementary teachers from the state of Ohio, this study analyzed the influences of teachers' professional training (both pre-service training and in-service professional development), teachers' attitude towards ELLs, teachers' bilingualism, schools' percent of ELLs, and schools' resources (both socioeconomic status…

Personal Professional Development Efforts Scale for Middle School Mathematics Teachers: An Adaptation Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Balbag, M. Zafer; Yenilmez, Kürsat; Turgut, Melih

2017-01-01

This study aimed at adapting the personal professional development efforts scale developed for science and technology teachers to be applied for middle school mathematics teachers. For this purpose, first of all, the items of the original scale were adjusted for the middle school mathematics teachers by a team of experts. Data obtained by the new…

Preparing Professional School Counselors as Collaborators in Culturally Competent School Administration

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nelson, Judith; Bustamante, Rebecca M.

2009-01-01

In collaboration with principals and other leadership team members, professional school counselors have ethical responsibilities in promoting culturally competent school environments. Pre-service training is the ideal time for school counselors and principals to develop the necessary background information, tools, and assessment skills to assist…

Middle School Mathematics Professional Development Impact Study: Findings after the Second Year of Implementation. Executive Summary. NCEE 2011-4025

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Garet, Michael S.; Wayne, Andrew J.; Stancavage, Fran; Taylor, James; Eaton, Marian; Walters, Kirk; Song, Mengli; Brown, Seth; Hurlburt, Steven; Zhu, Pei; Sepanik, Susan; Doolittle, Fred

2011-01-01

This is the second and final report of the Middle School Mathematics Professional Development Impact Study, which examines the impact of providing a professional development (PD) program in rational number topics to seventh-grade mathematics teachers. An interim report (Garet et al. 2010) described the findings after one year of PD. The current…

The Professional Development Needs of Early Career Teachers, and the Extent to Which They Are Met: A Survey of Teachers in England

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Spencer, Paul; Harrop, Susan; Thomas, Judith; Cain, Tim

2018-01-01

In a context in which local authority support has been largely removed from schools in England, this article examines the needs of early career teachers (ECTs) in English schools and colleges, the extent to which these needs are met through professional development activities and the nature of that professional development. Quantitative and…

Professional Learning Activities in Context: A Statewide Survey of Middle School Mathematics Teachers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Akiba, Motoko

2012-01-01

Based on a statewide survey of professional learning activities among 577 middle school mathematics teachers in Missouri, this study examined two questions: 1) What professional learning activities do middle school math teachers participate in and how much time do they spend in these activities?, and 2) How are teacher qualifications and…

Mental health provision in schools: approaches and interventions in 10 European countries.

PubMed

Patalay, P; Gondek, D; Moltrecht, B; Giese, L; Curtin, C; Stanković, M; Savka, N

2017-01-01

The role of schools in providing community-based support for children's mental health and well-being is widely accepted and encouraged. Research has mainly focused on designing and evaluating specific interventions and there is little data available regarding what provision is available, the focus and priorities of schools and the professionals involved in providing this support. The current study presents these data from schools in 10 European countries. Online survey of 1466 schools in France, Germany, Ireland, Netherlands, Poland, Serbia, Spain, Sweden, UK and Ukraine. The participating countries were chosen based on their geographical spread, diversity of political and economic systems, and convenience in terms of access to the research group and presence of collaborators. Schools reported having more universal provision than targeted provision and there was greater reported focus on children who already have difficulties compared with prevention of problems and promotion of student well-being. The most common interventions implemented related to social and emotional skills development and anti-bullying programmes. Learning and educational support professionals were present in many schools with fewer schools reporting involvement of a clinical specialist. Responses varied by country with 7.4-33.5% between-country variation across study outcomes. Secondary schools reported less support for parents and more for staff compared with primary schools, with private schools also indicating more staff support. Schools in rural locations reported less student support and professionals involved than schools in urban locations. The current study provides up-to-date and cross-country insight into the approaches, priorities and provision available for mental health support in schools; highlighting what schools prioritise in providing mental health support and where coverage of provision is lacking.

The Influence of Contextual Factors on the Sustainability of Professional Development Outcomes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sandholtz, Judith Haymore; Ringstaff, Cathy

2016-03-01

This study investigated how contextual factors influenced the sustainability of outcomes from a 3-year, state-funded professional development program that provided science assistance for K-2 teachers in small, rural school districts. The research used a case-study approach with a purposive sample of five elementary schools that varied in instructional time in science several years after the funding period. The primary data sources were teacher surveys and interviews conducted 2 and 3 years after the end of the professional development program. The findings highlight variations across schools and the influence of principal support, resources, collegial support, personal commitment, and external factors. The research holds practical implications for enhancing long-term sustainability of professional development outcomes in science education.

Elements Affecting the Development of Professional Learning Communities in Schools

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schaap, Harmen; de Bruijn, Elly

2018-01-01

This article focuses on the development of professional learning communities (PLCs), which are communities within schools, composed of voluntary participating teachers facilitated by school principals with a specific task to accomplish as part of a larger innovation project. Four PLCs were observed during 3 years by using questionnaires and…

After the Funding Flees: A How-To Model for Sustaining the Professional Development School Partnership

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Foster, Karen; Reed, Hope; McGinnis, Kreslyn

2009-01-01

The article deals with one of the most important components of a professional development school (PDS) partnership--sustainability without funding. According to Ganesan, Das, Edwards, and Okogbaa (2004), sustainability is one of the most difficult components of actualizing a school-university partnership. The PDS partnership depicted in this…

Action Research Supporting Students' Oral Language in Northern Canadian Schools: A Professional Development Initiative

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Peterson, Shelley Stagg

2012-01-01

Interview, document, and observational data were used to examine grade K-2 teachers' and literacy coaches' perceptions of the benefits and challenges of collaborative action research as a professional development initiative in rural schools. Eleven teachers and five literacy coaches in five northern Ontario school districts participated in…

Tailoring Professional Development to Improve Literacy Instruction in Urban Schools

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

De La Garza, Tammy Oberg

2011-01-01

To address the need for improving instructional practice in literacy, this paper examines whole school, teacher uptake of a professional development initiative over a four-year project. The study takes place in an urban, PK-6 school in a predominantly Mexican-American community. Measuring and analyzing teacher enactment of a professional…

Collaborative Professional Development for Distributed Teacher Leadership towards School Change

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sales, Auxiliadora; Moliner, Lidón; Francisco Amat, Andrea

2017-01-01

Professional development that aims to build school change capacity requires spaces for collaborative action and reflection. These spaces should promote learning and foster skills for distributed leadership in managing school change. The present study analyses the case of the Seminar for Critical Citizenship (SCC) established by teachers of infant,…