Case studies of Authentic Intellectual Work (AIW) in the Iowa project included four high schools that have been practicing this professional development model for the last five years. The schools, AHST Secondary School, Cedar Falls High School, Spencer High and Middle Schools and Valley High School were visited in April, 2011. The visits included…

Drawing on the rich line of research that has emerged over the past 15 years, this article details the types of support necessary for the establishment and nurturing of teacher collaborative inquiry. Although teachers have the ability and drive to initiate change, it is often the case that complex layers of support are required to achieve this…

As an off-campus-based professor and student teaching coordinator, the author's role is to place a group of student teachers, observe them in their student teaching assignments, and teach their seminar class, which meets once a week in the late afternoon. An aggressively immature student teacher severely tested the patience of the author and his…

A restructured postgraduate teacher education programme is described specifically with regard to its commitment to prepare educators to work effectively with deaf and hard-of-hearing children in inclusive settings. The focus of the paper is on the design and development process rather than on the evaluation of the outcomes. Background information…

At a recent conference sponsored by the National Science Teachers Association on Professional Learning Communities in Science, I was reminded how crucial it is for teachers to continually examine their practice. As one new to teaching physics, you may be overwhelmed by the task of helping your students develop accurate understanding of the…

In this study we examined the relative importance of teachers' psychological states, school organizational conditions (teacher collaboration and participative decision making), and the leadership practices (vision, individual consideration, and intellectual stimulation) of principals at their schools in explaining variation in teachers'…

Project Citizen is a program sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education's congressionally funded Center for Civic Education, which sponsors both domestic and international programs. The Center for Civic Education's Civitas International Programs pair U.S. states with countries around the world based on a variety of factors; including geographic…

As teacher educators, the authors have had the advantage of interacting with and observing teachers from the preservice years through induction and into mentoring roles. They recommend that teacher-preparation programs, with their school partnerships, offer co-teaching experiences within the range of field experiences for preservice teacher…

The authors analyzed the open-ended responses of preservice (n = 53) and practicing (n = 57) teachers in terms of themes related to beliefs regarding the source and stability of teaching knowledge. Findings indicate that participants hold a range of beliefs regarding these constructs. Six themes related to the source of teaching knowledge emerged:…

Some practical ideas for teachers and literacy coaches are put forth in this column. These suggestions can make any school a more collaborative environment.

As schools emphasize accountability and academic progress for all students, professional collaboration is a critical aspect of planning accommodations and interventions that address the learning needs of diverse learners. To better understand collaborative processes, the authors investigated the nature of a collaborative planning experience for…

The College of Teacher Education and Leadership (CTEL) at Arizona State University (ASU) embraced the opportunity to partner with Teach For America (TFA) to tailor existing teacher preparation programs to meet the unique needs of alternatively certified teachers in urban schools. Rather than harp on the distinctions between ideologies and…

Middle school, which is generally thought of as sixth to eighth grades, is not easy for anybody. It is a rough time to be a student, and a tough age to teach. Teachers are expected to ease the transition of students from elementary to middle school. However, if you are an elementary teacher, you may not know what kids will be facing in middle…

This article draws on and develops the outcomes of previous research which concluded that school subject departments provide the setting for influential professional development and that experienced teachers strongly influence their newly qualified colleagues. The findings of two subsequent research projects, which used this as a starting point,…

This article is based on a qualitative study that explored whether race affects the nature of adult relationships in schools and, if so, how this affects professional development efforts focused on closing the achievement gap. Findings demonstrate that race does affect the adult relationships in schools, although this impact is different for…