Education reformers have increasingly invested in developing collaborative communities within schools as a central strategy for improving teaching and student learning. This strategy comes in various guises, including small schools, small learning communities, and teacher teams. Several assumptions about how these communities will enhance…

In this technologically advanced age, much emphasis is put on collaboration in education at many levels. As a result, faculty co-teaching (collaborative teaching) has grown dramatically. This paper introduces how two instructors from different countries (USA and Turkey), one experienced in online teaching and the other in medical informatics,…

This report describes Ohio's school restructuring efforts under the No Child Left Behind Act, including findings from interviews with state officials and case studies of nine schools in four school districts: Cincinnati Public Schools, Cleveland Metropolitan School District, Mansfield City Schools, and Mount Vernon City Schools. Key findings from…

This case study addresses the use of the "anchored instruction approach" to restructure educational computing courses to enhance future teachers' learning of technology applications in the classroom. A cohort group of 22 preservice teachers from a typical teacher education institution in Southeastern Ohio was involved in the study. The…

This paper describes a peer-mentoring program in a large language department. Experienced Teaching Associates (TAs) served as peer mentors to novice TAs, providing the type of individualized guidance that new TAs need. The peer mentoring model has several advantages over the supervision-only model, including one-on-one help, multiple classroom…

One small, rural high school used cooperative professional development (CPD) as a means of group investigation to promote school renewal. CPD involves teaching, identifying, studying, and reporting on an issue of importance to teachers and their school. This paper describes how the school implemented and used CPD, examining lessons learned.…

Over the past several years, education reformers have increasingly invested in the development of communities within schools as a central strategy to improve teaching and student learning. These communities come in various guises, including small schools, small learning communities, and teacher teams. Two assumptions about how these communities…

Lesson study helps teachers use collaborative peer insight and feedback about student responses to instruction to develop high quality lessons. Combining lesson study with collaborative action research, Ohio middle school teachers developed exemplar lessons in the four-column writing method and found that the method significantly improved…

An evaluation of two school "telecommunities" in Ohio and South Dakota demonstrated the importance of studying a range of technology effectiveness indicators: standardized measures, behavior, stakeholder involvement, technology competency, multicultural exchange, equity, new student and teacher roles, learning climate, teacher…

The purpose of this dissertation is to describe the essence of the service-learning experience for K-12 teachers in central and northwest Ohio, specifically exploring teacher motivations for initiating service-learning in the classroom. Service-learning is defined as an educational methodology that incorporates student preparation, service to the…

Educators from public schools and universities in 13 southeastern Ohio counties formed the Southeastern Regional Professional Development Center (SERPDC) in 1991 to address the needs of rural teachers for purposeful professional interaction and staff development. In 1992, state funding was provided for the SERPDC center, serving the Appalachian…

This paper presents a model of a teacher needs-based (TNB) professional development program. The TNB model formed the foundation of three externally funded professional development programs. The objectives of this model are to maximize the effects of a professional development program, and to help participants sustain their learning over the long…

As part of their requirements, second-year rabbinical students at Hebrew Union College--Jewish Institute of Religion, Cincinnati campus, must teach religious school or Hebrew school for a full year in one of the local congregations. At the same time, they take a course in the practices of Jewish education. The students must create a portfolio…

This paper describes a Goals 2000 project intended to redesign preservice teacher education, practicing teacher roles, and student learning experiences within a Professional Development School framework. The team includes teaching faculty from the University of Akron (Ohio) College of Education Department of Curricular and Instructional Studies,…

This collection of papers identifies critical issues in mentoring and mentoring programs. Paper 1, "Support Behaviors Among Teachers in Authentic Settings" (Deborah L. Bainer), discusses the following issues: (1) mentoring is just one of the types of support behaviors needed and practiced by teachers in elementary schools; (2) support…