Despite group coaching being used to facilitate goal-focused change in a range of organizational contexts, there is little research evidence of its use or efficacy in continuing professional development programs for educational leaders. In the first part of this article we define coaching and consider the benefits and challenges of several forms…

Rural schools dominate the United States, yet scant research exists on rural school leaders' development. Urban districts can transfer leaders to different locations, but rural districts, with few school sites, need leaders who stay and adapt to changing conditions. Mid-career rural leaders require a refreshed set of skills to carry school…

Research on teacher professional development is extensive but there are fewer studies about the practitioners who facilitate professional development. Here we report on a pilot programme for professional development facilitators rooted in a cycle of action research. Informed by a categorisation of professional knowledge and skills of facilitators,…

This pilot case study of two teachers and their learner groups from Adult and Community settings, investigates how numeracy teachers, working with adult learners in discrete numeracy classes, motivate and enable learners to build on their informal skills and apply new learning to their own real-life contexts. Teachers used a range of abstract and…

This article presents the findings of a large scale study that tested a comprehensive model of predictors of three manifestations of sustainability: continuation, institutionalization, and duration. Based on the literature the predictors were arrayed in four groups: variables pertaining to the project, the auspice organization, the community, and…

Recently, theory and research have supported psychological capital (PsyCap) as an emerging core construct linked to positive outcomes at the individual and organizational level. However, to date, little attention has been given to PsyCap development through training interventions; nor have there been attempts to determine empirically if such…

New Leaders created the Effective Practice Incentive Community (EPIC) initiative in 2006 to learn from educators driving achievement gains in high-need urban schools. EPIC identifies school leaders and teachers whose students are making significant achievement gains and financially rewards these educators in exchange for sharing and documenting…

A college degree is not what it used to be in respect to securing future employment. Constantly changing technologies in a struggling economy make it necessary for organizations to carefully balance recruitment staffing, particularly with regards to new hires. Organizations want to know that each new hire can add value immediately. In order to add…

Purpose: This paper seeks to examine the effectiveness of an innovative e-mentoring programme introduced in an international group of luxury hotels. Design/methodology/approach: The paper employs the survey method, with quantitative and qualitative data analysis. The research model was developed from a literature review. Findings: While mentoring…

Purpose: The use of e-portfolios in recognition of prior learning (RPL) processes in workplace and professional practice contexts has attracted little attention in the literature due to its emergent nature. This study seeks to explore the growing incidence of e-portfolio-based RPL (e-RPL) and professional recognition (e-PR) processes in Australia…

This report provides initial results of Illinois' Shifting Gears Initiative that operated between July 1, 2007 and June 30, 2009. This mixed method (qualitative and quantitative) evaluation sought to accomplish three goals: (1) to assess program and student outcomes for two models (adult education and developmental education) for two target groups…

The general assumption that once the hardware is introduced in schools, ICT integration will automatically follow is not necessarily true. Teachers need to be supported and factors responsible for teachers' failure to integrate ICT into the classrooms identified and rectified. The paper proposes an online model based on the Improvement Quality…

The purpose of this Executive Position Paper (EPP) is to develop a model for improving the online training modules utilized by a mid-Atlantic Residence Life department. The complexity of the Residence Life staff positions, coupled with demands from other university departments and the need to provide as much information as possible, resulted in an…

Introduction: A gap exists between asthma guidelines and actual care delivered. We developed an educational intervention using simulated physician-patient encounters as part of a project to improve asthma management by community-based primary care providers. We hypothesized that this type of skills-based interactive training would improve…

Since 1998, the "Learnership" model of workplace training has been promoted in South Africa as a creative vehicle for addressing high unemployment rates and a serious skills shortage. This is achieved through fast-tracking the acquisition of skills and increasing a learner's chances of employment. However, because learnerships are a…