Since the introduction of the action research into China in the 1980s, especially since the start of the twenty-first century, Chinese education researchers have been trying to localize it in relation to the backdrop of the national curriculum reform in basic education. This article presents three cases in which educators aimed for a conscious…

This paper is intended to support school authorities by summarizing research on professional development. The term professional development is used in a context that encompasses related terms such as staff development, training and in-service. The paper covers conceptions and understandings of professional development, processes and approaches…

While there has been substantial research studying the factors that influence teachers' career decisions, there is far less literature on the relationship between teacher effectiveness, mobility, and attrition. In the paper "Teacher Effectiveness, Mobility, and Attrition in Florida: A Descriptive Analysis," Martin West and Matthew…

Background: The literature contains very few studies that focused on evaluating the impact of professional development activities on student learning. And, many of these studies failed to determine whether the professional development activities met their primary goal--to improve the learning process. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to use…

This paper identifies that (with very few exceptions) in most of current literature on lifelong learning, gender issues are ignored or overlooked. An extensive review of the literature demonstrates this neglect. Some reasons are given for this, including the fact that most analyses of lifelong learning tend to stress the individual learning…

The purpose of this literature review is to explore the role of professional collaboration within the school context as a means of improving the quality and retention of beginning special education teachers (SETs). The assumption underlying the review is that the local school context in which new SETs work should also function as the primary…

One of the largest initiatives using coaching has been Reading First, a federal project whose purpose is to improve reading outcomes for students in low-performing K-3 schools. The present study addressed two questions: (1) Who becomes a reading coach, and what background, skills, and qualifications do coaches bring to their jobs? and (2) How do…

Divides suggestions for professional development in teaching technical writing into the following categories: self-help (readings), professional meetings, seminars, institutes, internships, and graduate study. (RL)

In this important new book, Sharon Lynn Kagan and her colleagues focus on the nearly 5 million individuals who have the responsibility of caring for and educating nearly two thirds of the American children under age 5 who spend time in nonparental care. Providing the most thorough synthesis of current research on the early care and education…

The characteristics of academic writing are examined in this paper, and some remedies are suggested for correcting the "language deformities" that many academic writers persist in creating. Three categories of error to which academic writers are apt to be susceptible are discussed. The first category covers errors that are shortcomings…

Offers a clinical supervision model that provides a means by which reading teachers and supervisors can analyze and improve classroom reading instruction. (FL)

A significant challenge to schools is selecting the staff development approach that aligns most clearly with the assumptions and beliefs of staff members and produces the results desired for students. When beliefs are in alignment, change in behavior accelerates; when beliefs underlying a new staff development program contradict long-held beliefs…

The proposed study will examine whether effective clinical supervision requires supervisors who practice certain strategies and procedures as they dialogue with supervisees in the conference, or whether the mere acquisition by supervisors and/or supervisees of research-verified knowledge about teaching and learning, e.g., the role of academic…

Presents examples of current instructional conceptions, illustrates one way to broaden thinking about teaching, and argues that a lack of such thinking poses its own methodological problems for reading instructional research. (AEA)

Examines the implications of a recent research study on instruction in reading comprehension. Applies the seminal findings of the study to improving classroom reading instruction. (HTH)