Teachers and school district administrators, particularly in the United States, are increasingly turning to teacher virtual professional development (VPD) to stay current and learn new pedagogical knowledge and skills. With more English learners (ELs) entering public school classrooms, it is essential to find effective ways to prepare educators to…

In most cases, the curriculum chosen for wide-use does not mirror or address the pressing needs of bi/multilingual learners, especially for those who are in middle and high school settings. In light of this and the increasingly negative national discourse surrounding minoritized students, our focus in this article is to offer in-service teachers a…

This article is a qualitative study that explored bilingual/ESL science teachers' reflections about subject matter knowledge (SMK) and instructional practice in the elementary grades. Thirty-three teachers were part of a 5-year professional development program designed to enhance instructional quality and effectiveness to teach English learners.…

This article describes the Sue Rose Summer Institute for Teachers at the Dallas Institute of Humanities and Culture, which, for 30 years, has treated teachers as intellectuals. To that end, the nonprofit educational organization offers teachers from all grade levels and all disciplines an experience that either reacquaints them with or introduces…

With a continuous shortage of qualified agricultural science teachers (Foster, Lawver, Smith, 2014; Kantrovich, 2010), it is imperative teacher preparation programs identify and utilize effective cooperating teachers, as well as develop training for in-service teachers that will assist in preparing more effective cooperating teachers. The purpose…

Numerous actors influence how educational policies play out in practice, but this does not mean that policies themselves are without power. Policies are crafted and enacted in part because they serve as signal and symbol: How a policy is formally codified establishes expectations, exerts norming influence, and catalyzes shifts in how issues are…

Secondary teachers participating in summer professional development chemistry workshops in Texas used an online chemistry tutoring program, OWL Quick Prep (Day et al. in OWL: Online Web-based Learning, Brooks-Cole Cengage Learning, Florence, KY, 1997) as a part of the inservice training. Self-reported demographic data were used to identify factors…

Teachers' problem-based learning knowledge, abilities, and attitudes are important factors in successful K--12 PBL implementations. This article describes the development and use of a free, online module entitled "Design a Problem-Based Learning Experience." The module production, aligned with theories of andragogy, was a partnership…

The influx of Mexican immigrants has posed enormous challenges to the nation's public school systems where migration is rapidly increasing. The high Hispanic dropout rate points to a failure in educating Latinos and has received ample attention from researchers, educators, and policymakers; but the achievement disparities persist. Using the lens…

This paper explores the perceived professional development needs of inservice teachers of English-language learners (ELLs) from 10 rural and small districts in the USA. The survey instrument that captured responses from 159 elementary and secondary teachers in Texas was primarily quantitative and was based on the state English as a second language…

This article describes the conditions for establishing an advanced master's degree program that focuses on teacher leadership. The creation of the model is examined from the perspective of nine administrators from Eanes Independent School District in Austin, Texas, and Texas State University-San Marcos. These administrators collaborated to design…

This study looks deeply inside 17 schools that stand at the vanguard of the current revolution in teaching. This new National Center on Time & Learning (NCTL) report reveals the substantive ways in which these schools are providing their teachers with more time to reflect on, develop, and hone their craft, by very explicitly leveraging an…

Schools and districts are inundated with data from a variety of sources. As a result, using data to guide instructional planning can be daunting for teachers and schools. While schools and districts are dealing with shrinking budgets and growing demands for high student achievement, an investment in school-based coaching can provide exponential…

The past two decades have been times of heightened emphasis on changing structures between universities and public schools toward collaboration as a means of improving the education and preparation of pre-service and in-service teachers. Numerous studies have found that students in teacher education courses often have difficulty utilizing the…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of a 2-year professional development model in math and science on the self-efficacy of the teacher and its effects on teacher practice and student outcomes. Further, this study sought to incorporate the instructional use of Inquiry-Based Learning methods of Problem-Based Learning, Japanese…