The purpose of this phenomenological study was to establish if teacher engagement influenced student success in alternative education among schools within the Capital City of Virginia as well as the Central Region of Virginia. Teacher perception was examined qualitatively by using the phenomenological research technique to ascertain how teachers…

Popular teaching books often advise instructors to tell students about efforts to improve teaching, and Centers for Teaching and Learning often inadvertently reveal such efforts to students through particular programs. Yet no research exists that investigates students' perceptions of educational development and the growth in teachers that it…

Professional athletes spend hours honing their skills through video analysis; attorneys video themselves practicing opening arguments or coaching clients; plumbers, mechanics, and electricians video their craft to demonstrate their work. It could be argued that teachers' interactions have more long-term impact than any other professional skill,…

Music teachers should have opportunities to participate in professional development that focuses on their interests, learning style, and is relevant to classroom activities and goals. Online professional development allows teachers to participate in ways they see fit for their circumstances and can promote reflection and growth. Teacher-created…

This article describes the Mason Elementary PDS Network (PDS Network), a multi-district network of clinical field sites, embracing collaboration with key stakeholders as a means to broaden its impact on the education profession and the larger community. The Mason Elementary PDS Network includes 30 elementary school sites with a shared commitment…

This report offers state leaders key areas for action to continue progress in implementing evaluation systems, even as federal policies on teacher evaluation relax state requirements. The Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) offers its current best thinking for how state agencies can make the smartest use of funds, time and partners to refine…

My Teaching Partner-Secondary (MTP-S) is a web-mediated coaching intervention, which an initial randomized trial, primarily in middle schools, found to improve teacher-student interactions and student achievement. Given the dearth of validated teacher development interventions showing consistent effects, we sought to both replicate and extend…

Have you participated in professional development (PD) programs that never met your expectations? Have you found it difficult to find a program that fits well with your academic and pedagogical needs? If so, the author shares your sentiment. In this article, he describes three lessons learned while developing and conducting a PD partnership…

One of the provisions of the No Child Left Behind Act that has gained prominence as a policy focus only in the last several years is the requirement that poor and minority children be served by highly qualified teachers to no less a degree than other, more affluent children. Under the Obama administration, the focus on "highly qualified"…

Created by the U.S. Congress in 2006, the Teacher Incentive Fund (TIF) represents the first federal initiative targeted directly at state and district efforts to introduce performance measures into educator compensation. TIF responds to a growing body of evidence that existing pay structures do not respond to labor force realities or adequately…

Great teaching and passionate teachers are the heart and soul of St. Anne's-Belfield School (Virginia). Guided by the goals found in their new strategic plan, Head of School David Lourie decided in 2011 to restructure the academic leadership of the school. This new configuration includes an assistant head for instruction (AHI) in each division to…

In the 1990s, as Virginia Indians faced the 2007 quadracentennial of Jamestown's founding, they initiated plans to publicly correct inaccuracies and omissions embedded in the historical narrative. The Beyond Jamestown: Virginia Indians Past and Present Teachers' Institute was one such initiative through the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities'…

The teaching profession has long been structured around full-time classroom responsibilities that are defined by the location, timing, and schedule of the school day and a ubiquitous one-teacher-per-classroom model. In most districts, the only option for highly successful teachers to advance in the profession or serve more students is to leave the…

Building a stronger teacher workforce requires the thoughtful orchestration of multiple processes working together in a human capital system. This white paper presents a framework that can be used to take stock of current efforts to enhance the teacher workforce in school districts or educational organizations, as well as their underlying theories…

The 2009 "State Teacher Policy Yearbook" provided a comprehensive review of states' policies that impact the teaching profession. As a companion to last year's comprehensive state-by-state analysis, the 2010 edition provides each state with an individualized "Blueprint for Change," building off last year's "Yearbook"…