The 2009 "State Teacher Policy Yearbook" provided a comprehensive review of states' policies that impact the teaching profession. As a companion to last year's comprehensive state-by-state analysis, the 2010 edition provides each state with an individualized "Blueprint for Change," building off last year's "Yearbook"…

The 2009 "State Teacher Policy Yearbook" provided a comprehensive review of states' policies that impact the teaching profession. As a companion to last year's comprehensive state-by-state analysis, the 2010 edition provides each state with an individualized "Blueprint for Change," building off last year's "Yearbook"…

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…

Improving professional learning for educators is a crucial step in transforming schools and improving academic achievement. To meet federal requirements and public expectations for school and student performance, the nation needs to bolster teacher skills and knowledge to ensure that every teacher is able to teach increasingly diverse learners,…

Understanding the interplay among experience, beliefs, and contexts of teaching in preservice and inservice teachers' learning to teach is crucial to improving teacher quality for diverse populations. This study examined the impact of a summer camp English teaching experience in China on the ideas and practice of two White, middle-class female…

This paper describes two teacher educators' practice of incorporating "jugyoun kenkyuu"--the Japanese lesson study approach--in teacher preparation programs. To ascertain the effectiveness of using this approach in undergraduate and graduate education programs, the authors conducted a research study among 17 undergraduate students and 51 graduate…

The Pennsylvania High School Coaching Initiative (PAHSCI) seeks to improve student achievement in high-need high schools across Pennsylvania by enhancing the teaching of literacy skills across subject areas. It is ambitious in its scope as a statewide initiative and distinctive in its direct focus on instruction as the pathway to improving…

Teacher educators have suggested that mentoring has the potential to help novices learn to teach in reform-minded ways. This suggestion implies a change in the nature of mentor-novice relationships as conceptualized in the existing literature and an understanding of the complexities of mentoring relationships. Based on critical constructivist and…

A survey of professors at the University of Nebraska shows that 94 percent of the professors thought they were better than average teachers at their own institution. Assuming a reality that puts the true value at somewhere near 50 percent, this survey suggests a rather stunning lack of self-insight among the professoriate. An experienced college…

A Nation at Risk, Goals 2000, and No Child Left Behind are examples of external factors that compel educational leaders at local schools and districts to explore reform initiatives in order to meet federally required results. Because of political mandates to improve student learning and instruction, educational leaders are searching for…

The purpose of this study was to examine the sources of efficacy of experienced teachers who are making the transition to reform-based mathematics teaching, by examining the criteria that they use to evaluate their teaching effectiveness. The quantity and quality of 10 elementary teachers' verbal reflections on the success of their lessons were…

In this article, the author, a superintendent of Adlai E. Stevenson High School District 125, discusses how they have addressed their school community's collective fear of failing to continue to grow. Staying focused on their individual and collective adult behaviors and respond to any manifestation or source of student failure, is the simplest…

The fundamental purpose of educational supervision is to increase the confidence and improve the competence of teachers. This book is a guide for supervisors and teachers in the training and development of teaching staffs in school systems; it also serves as an informal text for use in college and university systems. The book offers opportunities…

An emerging view of professional development recommends enhancement of current practice by integrating research-based strategies into teachers' classroom repertoire. This article describes an urban elementary school enhancement program involving intensive collaboration between teachers and master teachers. Two case studies are described. (10…

The educational challenge of the 21st century is to achieve higher levels of learning for all children. This theme has become the overarching issue on the nation's domestic policy agenda as evidenced by the bi-partisan passage of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). The policy levers engaged to address this challenge include increased…