Aspects of the organizational contexts of schools and classrooms and various teacher psychological states are examined to explain variations in individual outcomes of staff development intended to improve teacher performance. A path model--based on theories of individual behavior and change within organizations--is presented and tested. (TJH)

Examines the future of staff development, noting its inadequacy due to prevailing concepts of teaching. The article traces changes in concepts of teachers and their work, outlines implications of change for future staff development, and describes experiences of one school district in redefining staff development as suggested by conceptual change.…

Argues that standards and assessments are not the simple solution to educational reform they are thought to be and that they raise questions about the proper aims of schooling. Offers human capital development, i.e., the increase in knowledge, skills, dispositions, and social resources of adults in schools as a more potent potential for improving…

Disputes the reform agenda of the 1996 conference of the nation's governors in Palisades, New York that focused on high-quality academics, specifically on standards and assessment as the means for change. Believes that by building human capital and promoting teacher learning, a more significant and worthwhile change will occur in the schools. (CMK)

Examines research addressing the reasons why teachers enter and leave the profession; how teachers learn to teach and develop classroom effectiveness skills; and what conditions and incentives promote the highest levels of teachers' skill acquisition and development. Implications are summarized for development of teacher compensation and career…

Addresses how to design teacher education and professional development in schools in ways that support urban school reform efforts. Analyzes factors that hinder the full incorporation of research findings in preservice teacher preparation programs, and explores strategies that strengthen the relationship between research and practice. (GR)

Most recent initiatives to improve teaching may be characterized as top-down, compliance-oriented policies that seek to increase accountability and regulate different aspects of the profession. Little regard has been paid to the development of assistance programs at the state level that aim at building capacity among teachers and local school…

Over the past two decades, scholars and practitioners in a variety of industries have considered work redesign among a constellation of strategies to promote employee recruitment and retention, development, motivation, and performance. Although educational policymakers in the middle to late 1990s shifted their attention to standards, systemic…

This study examined whether the Chicago Annenberg Challenge promoted improvement in schools it supported and in student achievement and other outcomes; factors that might explain improvement or lack thereof among Annenberg schools; and what could be learned from the Challenge's experiences. It highlighted the period between 1996-1997 through…