Many principals use harassing supervision to encourage low-performing teachers to leave. Principals are driven to this tactic because teacher evaluation systems don't systematically identify low-performing teachers, principals don't understand the teacher removal process, principal training programs don't build principal expertise in hiring and…

The "Adaptive Mentorship[C]" ("AM") model is described and implications are raised for its wider implementation. The researchers derived the AM model from earlier contingency leadership approaches; and during the last two decades, they have further refined AM through application and research. They suggest the benefits and transferability of AM to…

The Pyramid Model is a conceptual framework for organizing practices for promoting young children's social-emotional development and preventing and addressing challenging behavior. The authors describe a coaching approach that is focused on supporting early educators' implementation of the Pyramid Model. The authors provide a description of the…

Trying to figure out the promotion and tenure system is one of the major stressors for new Extension faculty. To help new county-based Extension faculty, their supervisors, committee chairs, and other mentors evaluate progress in the probationary years, a Roadmap with specific guideposts delineating expectations for pre-tenure years was developed.…

Principal leadership is second only to teacher quality in influencing student achievement. A national effort exists to retool teacher supervision by linking student outcomes to teacher evaluation. There is growing interest in raising the level of professional practice by building local, practical, honest and collegial professional learning…

This manuscript presents a theoretical construct for analyzing procedural and conceptual tensions within instructional leadership for teacher development. The dynamic, multi-dimensional framework demonstrates possibilities for locating supervision as having procedural and conceptual bases. By employing the questions identified, educators may place…

It's true that even modest improvements in teacher effectiveness can lead to impressive gains in student achievement. But what hasn't been clear is what exactly district leaders should do to encourage and support teachers in practicing the art and science of great teaching ... until now. Like in his landmark book "The Art and Science of Teaching",…

While an extensive body of literature in TESOL studies the different paradigms that drive second language (L2) teachers' conceptualizations of their professional identities and practice, there is still a need for more research into how L2 supervisors construct the realities of supervision and how their interpretations of those realities inform…

Effective and collaborative supervision of language teachers involves understanding teacher and learner characteristics and needs, approaching supervision from a developmental rather than an evaluative perspective, and engaging in reflective communication. Teacher observation is an important component of supervision, and there are various ways…

This article reports on 20 children's learning in arithmetic after teaching was adjusted to their conceptual development. The report covers periods from three months up to three terms in an ongoing intervention study of teachers and children in schools for the intellectually disabled and of remedial teaching in regular schools. The researcher…

This brief provides an overview of the knowledge and skills that administrators need in order to support and supervise teachers of adult English language learners. It begins with a review of resources and literature related to teacher supervision in general and to adult ESL education. It continues with information on the background and…

To what extent might the practicum be regarded as a complex phenomenon? After introducing complexity science and its potential to illuminate educational practice, five characteristics are explored within the context of teacher education. Vignettes from a kindergarten classroom extend this exploration into the practicum setting. Five implications…

Despite the complex emotional and interpersonal challenges inherent therein, credential students often comment that their student teaching experience had the greatest influence on their development as new teachers. An essential component of teacher education programs, the field experience serves many purposes. Although the theoretical potential…

Learning and effective teaching are both complicated acts. However, many administrators, teachers, parents, and policymakers appear not to recognize those complexities and their significance for practice. Fueling this perception, recommendations from "isolated" research findings often neglect the complexities in learning and teaching, and when…

Teachers receive direction from national commissions, researchers, staff developers, state education personnel, superintendents, parents, private pressure groups, the courts, commercial vendors, federal regulators, and politicians. This direction overload depletes energy, blurs individuality, and erodes confidence, causing many educators to either…