This document focuses on the challenge of building professional community within schools. The introductory article provides a definition of and rationale for "community within schools." The second article discusses some of the benefits that schools enjoy when they develop strong professional communities, and what conditions and resources make the…

Abstracts based on documents from the UNESCO International Meeting on Post-graduate Qualifications of Mathematics and Physics Teachers, 1973, in Varna, Bulgaria, are presented in this newsletter. The following subjects are covered: (1) further education of teachers of mathematics and physics; (2) the system of raising the qualifications of…

This document explores issues of leadership for accountability and reviews five resources on the subject. These include: (1) "Accountability by Carrots and Sticks: Will Incentives and Sanctions Motivate Students, Teachers, and Administrators for Peak Performance?" (Larry Lashway); (2) "Organizing Schools for Teacher Learning"…

Suggestions are offered for developing teaching and learning centers or faculty support programs to improve college teaching. Suggestions include: develop a faculty partnership, be discipline specific, allow time for divergence, offer variety, provide a smorgasbord, focus on both planning and teaching, translate research findings into classroom…

The evidence from research using expectancy theory is synthesized to develop a contingency model of incentives for involving teachers in professional development. Research findings that focused on the administrative challenge of motivating teachers to engage in curriculum development tasks are used to test the model. (MLF)

Professional development is viewed from several perspectives--time, funding, planning, and student outcomes--and includes both an urban and a rural story. This issue provides a special pullout section designed as a checklist to help guide professional development planning activities. The following articles are included: "Perspectives on…

Education reformers are urging that all students meet new and more challenging expectations for learning. A crucial question is whether the education system, including the people who comprise it, have the ability to meet these new demands. This report argues that discussions of capacity should be broadened to include such factors as the…

Seeking to clarify the purpose of teacher evaluation, the author advances a strategy in which improvement of instruction is the primary goal of evaluation. The paper divides the activities and strategies involved in evaluation into three broad categories: observation, judgment, and assignment of value. It recommends a process in which only those…

Because the key agent in mathematics and science reform is the teacher, this issue of the Eisenhower National Clearinghouse for Mathematics and Science Education (ENC) Focus highlights professional development. Whatever curriculum change is adopted in a school district, whatever new textbook series is chosen, it is through the teacher that the…

Approaches that schools can use to create a high-quality, professional, working community are provided in this journal issue. The report uses a case study to illustrate the process. A review of research reveals at least five major dimensions of the professional learning community: supportive and shared leadership, collective learning and…

Research reports show that in many schools, teachers are isolated and have little chance for professional collaboration with fellow teachers. However, research also demonstrates that when teachers collaborate, instruction improves. Seven examples of teacher collaboration throughout the United States show how collaboration can be implemented and…

The contradiction in instructional supervisors' roles between helping and rating teachers raises questions about the nature of supervisory authority. Three novels--Golding's "Lord of the Flies," Huxley's "Brave New World," and Kesey's "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest"--illustrate the general problem of combining…

A project was undertaken to design an information dissemination newsletter to meet the professional development needs of Pennsylvania's adult basic and literacy education (ABLE) practitioners. It was decided that an 8- to 10-page-long newsletter would be produced for 5 months that included information/articles from as many sources as could be…

Growing Thinkers is a teacher in-service program, designed and instituted in the Houston (Texas) Independent School District, which focuses on the development of higher-order thinking abilities. The three overall goals of the program are: (1) to recognize and further develop excellence in teaching; (2) to enhance the development of higher-order…

Most Australian teachers do not hold traditional methods of supervision in very high regard. A more acceptable form of supervision, clinical supervision, utilizes the information gathered from classroom observations to allow the teacher to gain a wider perspective on his or her own performance under non-threatening conditions. A limited survey,…