Evaluation frames offer a practical, adaptable site-based staff development approach that serves as a vehicle for clarifying needs and planning. Evaluation frames within staff development empower teachers to define and design innovations around their unique experiences. The paper describes the method and presents a sample staff development…

Describes a partnership between University of North Florida and Duval County Public Schools which led to Lone Star 2000. The project involved teachers and interns producing a method for multimedia electronic portfolios and assisting students in their creation. Much of the discussion focuses on the courseware used and outcomes of the program. (LAM)

Suggests that it is time to increase the professional status of teaching by demonstrating to society that the differences between teaching and more traditional professions are not about gender. There must be positive social construction that allows women access to their rightful place among all levels of organizational hierarchy. (SM)

A study examined factors inherent in Montana's smallest schools that attract and retain teachers. Surveys of 126 elementary teachers in 107 small school districts found that a rural background and proximity to family or home were influential in accepting employment. The classroom experience, particularly their relationship with students, and…

Discusses the use of teaching portfolios and portfolio-based conversations with colleagues to enhance teacher effectiveness, presenting a portfolio conversation guide that highlights the importance of conducting the sessions properly, organizing an appropriate group, and focusing on specific portfolio contents. Implications for teacher education…

A unique, successful staff development program in three Louisville (Kentucky) middle schools provides opportunities for teachers of disadvantaged students to build pedagogical skills. The High5 Project promotes strategies for realizing high expectations, content, support, energy, and involvement. The paper examines change strategies and discusses…

Elementary school teachers (n=319) from 35 public, private, parochial, coeducational, and single-sex schools in Trinidad and Tobago were questioned about how they teach moral education and their moral educational objectives. Reports that teachers (1) seldom use specific curricula; (2) feel responsible for students' moral education; and (3) choose…

Examines factors contributing to decline in African-American teachers in southeast Georgia through interviews with 285 African-American elementary school and secondary school teachers and 27 additional African-American subjects, largely college students (16). Reasons only 20 percent would enter teaching if they could start careers again are…

This article proposes a Greek elementary teacher education curriculum, which includes a four-semester, four-level practicum component. The overall program objective is preparation of reflective teachers through interweaving theory and practice in the curriculum. International trends in practicums, clinical schools, and use of technology-rich…

A fifth-grade teacher describes her investigation of direct teaching of collaborative skills, explaining how she taught explicit cooperative skills and documented her findings. The teacher describes patterns of higher-quality journal entries, improved collaborative skills, increased self-esteem, transfer of collaborative skills to new contexts,…

Reviews research concerning the effects of retention of kindergarten and first grade students and alternatives to such retention. (BB)

Focuses on the problems and conflicts experienced by a teacher intern who was attempting to implement a developmentally appropriate discovery curriculum into a direct-instruction primary grade classroom. (BB)

Comparison of results of a 1980 survey of schools of education with a 1989-90 survey of 321 departments of elementary education indicates that little progress is being made in infusing multicultural education into teacher training programs. Failing to train teachers in multicultural education will have lasting detrimental effects. (SLD)

How knowledge of children's thinking in mathematics derived from a cognitive science research model was used by a first-grade teacher to make instructional decisions over four years is described. The curriculum, teacher expectations, and method for using research-based knowledge are reviewed, along with the teacher's knowledge and beliefs. (SLD)

Aspects of physical education teacher education that 12 participants reported were instrumental in developing understanding of and commitment to a movement approach (constructivist and developmental approach) are described. Coursework gave students a broader context for interpreting field experiences, whereas learning through doing exemplified and…