This issue brief was developed as part of the Consortium on Inclusive Schooling Practices' framework for standards-based systemic reform. The brief focuses on one of the six major policy areas identified by the Consortium, professional development. It first discusses the concept of teachers as lifelong learners, then explores professional…

Several well-established efforts to form closer links between teacher education programs and community understanding are described. Such efforts are usually based on one of two approaches: building awareness of communities and their cultures into conventional college courses; or placing students in nonschool community settings. (PP)

Three kinds of educational research--scientific, analytic, and interpretive--are examined, and the type of inservice activity most closely related to each is discussed. Effective teaching is defined in terms of a direct instructional model for delivering skills to students. Inservice can improve teacher effectiveness by modifying teacher behavior.…

Theories concerning the reasons teachers do or do not adopt recommended teaching practices are discussed. Recent classroom-based experiments are examined, and suggestions are made for additional research into the process of teacher behavior change in the classroom and for the promotion of teacher adoption of change proposals. (JN)

This annotated bibliography presents 399 selected items from worldwide literature on inservice teacher training. Entries are arranged in eight thematic groups and listed in alphabetical order by author. Indexes by author and by country are included. An overview of inservice teacher education and an introduction to the bibliography are provided in…

Evaluates whether inservicing teachers on reading and writing about culturally diverse literature translates into better thinking and writing on the part of ethnic and linguistic minority students. An evaluation study involving 283 high school students reveals very positive results in the cognitive and affective impact on ethnic and linguistic…

Argues that action research can evaluate the effectiveness of multicultural education in physical education teacher education. Following a review of theories used to explain the differential achievement levels of diverse students and a description of contemporary conceptualizations of multicultural education, this paper describes and advocates an…

Summarizes adult and teacher education research and provides suggestions to design personalized programs for elementary science staff development. Discusses principles of adult education; research on inservice training components; the Concern-Based Adoption Model and teacher change; practical implications for K-6 science teacher workshops; methods…

This publication reviews what is known about professional development in elementary and secondary education including its organization, costs, effects on practice, and principles for guiding future professional development programs. Recent reform efforts that have put higher standards in place are examined for their effect on the practice of…

This literature review on educational alternatives for children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) reports that only 17 citations were found that specifically addressed teacher training, program efficacy, or management of ADHD children. One was a teacher training program developed as a dissertation project, seven were research…

Supporters of alternative certification (AC) claim these programs can help to recruit minority and male teachers and to attract talented individuals with subject-area expertise in areas such as math, science, and foreign languages. Opponents claim that AC can undermine teacher professionalism and that it does and that it does not provide the…

This paper provides: (1) a statement regarding the political context for energy conservation education programs; (2) a brief description of the types of program efforts reflected in the literature; (3) an overview of the purposes and approaches to energy conservation education program evaluation reflected in available literature; and (4) a…

The literature regarding the provision of in-service education is reviewed to: (1) provide brief definitions of rural school districts and in-service education; (2) discuss the importance of in-service education; (3) explore the difficulties associated with in-service education in rural areas, along with possible remedies; and (4) examines various…

Studies are reviewed of issues that potentially inform policies and practices in initial and continuing education, including teacher educators, prospective and practicing teachers as learners, the teacher education curriculum, and the milieu in which teacher education takes place. Across these four areas, mutually reinforcing factors explain why…

This paper reviews staff development research related to rural schools. Only a limited number of studies have described, or evaluated the effects of, particular staff development programs in rural schools, or have assessed the perceived needs of rural faculty and administrators for inservice training. However, rural educators can draw implications…