This report explores issues surrounding the present governance structure of teacher credentialing in California and considers alternative structures to improve governance in the teaching profession. The study discusses the present credentialing structure, credentialing problems, and criticisms of the Commission on Teacher Credentialing, a body…

This comprehensive guide discusses how to design staff development in science and math. It is tailored specifically to the needs of individual schools or departments. Vignettes from real schools illustrate concepts within the book. The book provides 15 strategies for professional development and describes each one with its underlying assumptions…

Described is the Elementary Summer Technology Training Institute (ESTTI) which was sponsored by the California State Department of Education. Explains that the ESTTI was established to train teams of educators so they could return to their school districts with expertise in the uses of technology to improve instruction. (TW)

The California Mentor Teacher Program, brought into being by California Senate Bill 813, is designed to retain and recognize excellent teachers and to improve the profession by enabling expert teachers to assist others. Four major issues to consider in developing mentor teacher programs are discussed. First is the importance of collaboration with…

In response to a California State education reform bill that requires professors of methods courses to return to the classroom once every three years, a university profesor of 15 years taught 9th-grade English in Watts. This essay presents nine tips for others who anticipate their own return to teaching. (IW)

The purpose of this document is to provide standards for the preservice professional preparation of teachers, to encourage inservice professional development, and to describe the necessary conditions for teaching and learning the social studies. These standards may be used as goals toward which the professional social studies teacher strives, as…

This study investigates the nature and scope of current staff development activities and their relation to better teaching or school improvement in a representative sample of school districts and private schools in Arizona and southern parts of California and Nevada. Findings are based on telephone discussions with 72 administrators in the region.…

The San Francisco Math Leadership Project is an attempt to re-educate elementary teachers, many of whom do not consider mathematics their favorite subject and have limited mathematics backgrounds. The task is to increase the mathematics knowledge of these teachers and build their confidence in their own ability to do mathematics and to teach it.…

Disputing the claim that improved student learning requires stronger academic standards and stiffer tests, the authors of this book contend that effective state reform depends on coherence in policy and practice, and opportunities for professional learning. It draws on a study of a program in California that worked to improve mathematics teaching…

Advocates teaching constitutional history and principles to middle school students in accordance with the 1988 California History-Social Science Framework. Reports findings of a survey of 118 California middle school and high school teachers that revealed a need for improved teacher knowledge about the U.S. Constitution. Recommends steps to ensure…