School districts are required to provide special education students with the same education benefits available to other students at their grade level, but meeting the needs of special education students continues to be challenging as most programs provide only one teacher rather than seeking the expertise of content area specialists. Co-teaching…

This study draws upon survey and administrative data on over 9,000 teachers in 336 Miami-Dade County public schools over 2 years to investigate the kinds of collaborations that exist in instructional teams across the district and whether these collaborations predict student achievement. While different kinds of teachers and schools report…

The PDS Partnership between the University of Central Florida and Friendship Elementary School, a Title 1 school in Volusia County, focused on the National Association for Professional Development Schools' (PDS) "Essentials" in order to establish a shared vision of success for pre-service teachers. Key leaders from both the school and…

Duval County Public Schools (DCPS) is poised to take action today that will lead to serving all students more effectively. Although the challenges are significant, including deep budget cuts, the district made the strategic choice to look thoroughly at how resources are currently allocated and now has a foundation for making decisions that will…

Duval County Public Schools (DCPS) is poised to take action today that will lead to serving all students more effectively. Although the challenges are significant, including deep budget cuts, the district made the strategic choice to look thoroughly at how resources are currently allocated and now has a foundation for making decisions that will…

Current emphasis on teacher effectiveness in educational policy poses a challenge for the evaluation of special education teachers and English language learner (ELL) specialists. Most evaluation systems focus on student achievement and teacher practice; however, few systems have the capacity to differentiate among specialty area educators, address…

The purpose of this study was to identify factors associated with the growing use of teacher specialists in the elementary schools, particularly in the area of mathematics. The elementary school principals of a large metropolitan school district located in northeastern Florida responded to an online survey that focused on the type of specialist…

Systemic change in education refers to many facets of a community working together to support and improve how well children learn. This study examines the perceptions of teachers involved in systemic change as math and science resource teachers. In Duval County, Florida, a group of teachers were hired to assist systemic change as part of a 5-year…