Innovative uses of technology to support teacher learning are emerging through professional learning communities that leverage social networking technologies. The value of an online community for educators lies in the rich and open exchange of ideas, experiences, and resources where educators feel both respected and supported. Yet among the most…

The present article reports on a case study into the influence and impact of action research carried out by teachers in a special school. The action research was an important component of the two-year, post-initial, in-service course in special educational needs, provided by Fontys University of Applied Sciences, Department of Inclusive and…

This monograph appears midway through the development of a book on the future of teaching, scheduled for publication in the fall of 2010. The book is a team effort, undertaken by 12 accomplished educators from across the United States, who have agreed to systematically study and speculate about public education and the teaching profession in the…

Countries reforming their education systems frequently look outside of their borders for best practice and seek to import policies, practices and programs that appear to incorporate it. In so doing they appear to contribute to the increasing globalization of education. Scholars of comparative education examining this process have focused on the…

Leadership for literacy coaching is evolving in both the skills of the literacy coaches and the skills of those they coach. Issues of role clarification, communication with administration, and hesitancy to provide authentic feedback are consistently identified. Trends associated with literacy coaching indicate that they continue on their…

This article focuses on teacher leadership, an important dimension of the work of the Leadership for Learning network which is the focus of this special issue. More specifically, the article focuses on the launch of a journal--"Teacher Leadership"--as a strategy for promoting key values: shared leadership, teachers' leadership of…

Never before has the need been so great for classroom teachers to become agents of change and position themselves as problem solvers at the school building level. Teachers are uniquely positioned to assume leadership roles on a variety of tasks that could transform schools from more traditional workplaces into professional learning communities.…

This paper draws on data from a recent multi-method study exploring knowledge management in support of district-level instructional renewal (Edge 2005). The data for this paper come from a strand of inquiry that examined the perceived impact of literacy teacher leader LC Networks in support of improved in-school implementation of the early…

This article presents two viewpoints on creating change through politics. Frawley argues that every teacher can be an agent for change at the local level by first changing the way they think about the profession and embracing the concept that they need to take part in the conversation. Change will happen when technology teachers take greater…

This report summarizes the activities and findings of the external evaluation of the "Science: It's Elementary" (SIE) program during the period from July 2009 through June 2010. The SIE program is managed by ASSET Inc. and overseen by the Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE). SIE is an initiative aimed at improving elementary…

Purpose: This paper aims to explore how teacher leaders help teachers improve mathematics and science teaching. Design/methodology/approach: Research focused on a purposive sample of seven teacher leaders selected to vary in their time allocated to teacher leader work and their content knowledge. Each teacher leader was interviewed, as were two…

The Executive Director of ASCD joins a group of U.S. educators traveling to Israel on an education mission sponsored by the America-Israel Friendship League. The educators visit the Gesher al Hawadi school, which was established by the Hand in Hand Center for Jewish-Arab Education in Israel. Located in an Arab town, the school has equal numbers of…

Most discussions about special education leadership address the work of principals and district administrators, without reference to the collective and distributed forms of leadership that have taken center stage in contemporary discussions about improving schools. To explore the contributions of and roles for teacher leadership in special…

Overcome budget cuts, lack of leadership, top-down mandates, and other obstacles to professional development by using this book's take-charge approach. Joseph H. Semadeni guides you through a systemic method to professional development that: (1) Motivates teachers to continuously learn and apply best practices; (2) Makes adult learning activities…

In this book, Robert Hess promotes teacher leadership as the critical component to achieving breakthrough results in school improvement. Developed from conversations and stories of dozens of teacher leaders and administrators, this book advocates that all teachers can and should take on leadership roles in their school. It contains many stories of…