Designing professional learning that meets the diverse needs of special education professionals is exciting, challenging, and critically important. The staff at the Children's Center for Communication/Beverly School for the Deaf in Massachusetts support deaf, hard of hearing, and hearing children from ages 3 to 22 with a range of communication and…

Most worthwhile improvements in teaching practice are not simple, and the change process is complicated. It can also take a long time if it involves breaking long-established habits and modifying belief systems. Not only is adoption at scale difficult, but transfer into practice "at all" is often tricky, even with the best professional…

Ideal for faculty and administrators looking to blend business education and the liberal arts, this toolkit combines exemplary syllabi from 26 leading institutions with step-by-step strategies to advocate successfully for curricular innovation. Conceived with comprehensiveness in mind, these resources cover both inspiration and implementation for…

The Massachusetts Expanded Learning Time (ELT) initiative is designed to improve academic outcomes by increasing the amount of learning time for students. Schools are expected to provide opportunities to teachers for collaborative planning and professional development as well as add time to the school day or year for instructional and enrichment…

The aims of educating for economic, cultural, and pedagogical purposes have existed since the early inception of art education. Looking at how and why these aims evolved in the early era of art and design education has potential for better understanding how and why design should be incorporated into the art education curricula today. This article…

Given the importance of quality teaching for student success, it is clear that every child needs to be able to receive instruction from a teacher who possesses the knowledge and skills for quality teaching--an accomplished teacher. It is less clear, however, how current teacher development policies and practices can ensure that all students will…

"Teachers Teaching Teachers" ("T3") focuses on coaches' roles in the professional development of teachers. Each issue also explores the challenges and rewards that teacher leaders encounter. This issue includes: (1) Districts Harness the Expertise of Classroom Teachers (Valerie von Frank); (2) Tool: Measuring Collaborative…

This guide is based on findings of a year-long study undertaken by the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) to evaluate Institute-sponsored programs for youth aged 9-19 between 1998 and 2003, and discussion with the IMLS Youth Action Committee and practitioners about the kind of information needed for planning and implementing effective…

The digital age has transformed how work is done in science, health care, the law, journalism, international relations, education, environmental conservation, agriculture, and engineering. To prepare students to thrive in today's society, teachers need to know more about how technologies are used in disciplines and workplaces, and--most…

The study compared the effects of a professional development course delivered in an online and a face-to-face format. The effects examined included changes in teachers' pedagogical beliefs, instructional practices, and understanding of teaching number-sense and related mathematical concepts. The study randomly assigned participants to either the…

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…

Many teachers, fueled by their passion, classroom experience, and entrepreneurial verve, decide to start their own schools. With the needs of children driving their every decision, teachers can create successful schools where students thrive. In this article, teachers who established their own schools--from public charters to private…

The guidelines in this paper were developed to assist Massachusetts Private Industry Councils, social agencies, unions, businesses, and education providers in designing educational programs appropriate to the workplace. The focus is on literacy education. The paper is organized in four sections. The first section briefly examines the background of…

Education specialists have written volumes on the best ways to help children learn to read and write, but who is helping them navigate the potentially treacherous waters of social interactions? While in school to study, children are also preoccupied with understanding the rules governing social relationships. Issues of trust and loyalty, rivalry…

Documents history of Lowell, Massachusetts, from the careful planning of town, the recruitment of farm family daughters into the labor force, the demise of the town, and Lowell's subsequent regeneration as a high technology center in the 1970s and 1980s. Suggests that the study of this town's history can illuminate the study of current U.S. urban…