Teachers' language ideologies shape their classroom language policy-making, which in turn shapes students' opportunities to learn. Attention to language ideologies is therefore critical for teacher educators who seek to support pre- and in-service teachers in becoming pro-multilingual policymakers. This mixed methods, survey-based study explores…

Leaders in the business community often talk about the "skills gap," the gap between the skills needed for good jobs in the economy and the skills that prospective employees possess. Though there is debate as to whether or not such a gap actually exists, the idea of the "skills gap" can be a helpful way to frame instances where…

Teachers' problem-based learning knowledge, abilities, and attitudes are important factors in successful K--12 PBL implementations. This article describes the development and use of a free, online module entitled "Design a Problem-Based Learning Experience." The module production, aligned with theories of andragogy, was a partnership…

This study looks deeply inside 17 schools that stand at the vanguard of the current revolution in teaching. This new National Center on Time & Learning (NCTL) report reveals the substantive ways in which these schools are providing their teachers with more time to reflect on, develop, and hone their craft, by very explicitly leveraging an…

The primary purpose of this study is to assess student-level impacts of a problem-based instructional approach to high school economics. The curriculum approach examined here was designed to increase class participation and content knowledge for high school students who are learning economics. This study tests the effectiveness of Problem Based…

Despite the benefits associated with teacher development through participation in communities of practice, many questions about these groups remain unanswered. The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine a group of elementary physical education teachers as a community of practice whose objective was to develop and disseminate…

This study conducted telephone interviews with 26 randomly selected English Language Coordinators from 26 Arizona school districts with enrollment patterns that were representative of the state as whole. Three primary questions were posed to the respondents: (a) How is the 4-hour ELD block being implemented?; (b) What are the benefits of the…

Accountability was the keynote address at the second series of inservice clinics sponsored by the Arizona State Department of Education, Division of Career and Vocational Education. Two hundred and five persons attended the two-day clinics, with 90 attending the followup sessions. The overall objective was to have participants develop plans for…

The Southwest Regional Center for Community Education Development conducted a series of workshops to identify and field test competencies deemed essential for the superintendent, district coordinator, principal, and building-level director of community education. These workshops generated a data bank of validated competency statements and related…

Sponsored by the Arizona State Department of Education, Division of Vocational Education, a series of three-day clinics were held in March of 1973, with followup clinics two months later. The 121 participants included parents and students as well as professional personnel. As part of the program, participants were given a pretest and post-test to…

Third in an annual series of State-sponsored inservice clinics for Arizona educators and administrators, the theme of the clinic attracted over 370 participants. Students and parents, as well as professional personnel, attended the two-day sessions. Program format included speeches, panel discussions, and the formation of task force groups to…

To determine perceptions of school board members, teachers, and principals in rural schools about the quality of their educational programs, the type of preparation they had received in preservice programs, and the inservice opportunities available to them, responses to questionnaires from 2,028 teachers, 119 principals, and 113 school board…

Inservice clinics for administrators and teachers were sponsored annually for three years by the Arizona State Department of Education, Division of Career and Vocational Education. As an aid in planning future clinics, a needs assessment was conducted of former participants. The procedures and results of the survey are presented in the report. The…

A survey of 46 Arizona school districts revealed that the districts use computer assisted instruction most frequently in language courses; 37 percent of the responding districts use microcomputers, but 45 percent of all microcomputers are used in only one district; use of microcomputers is planned for both administration and instruction; and…

Institutions of higher education in the western part of the United States have begun to respond to the challenges faced by teachers working with students from diverse cultural and ethnolinguistic backgrounds. To establish the extent to which institutions offer inservice courses related to multilingual settings, the METRO Center at the Southwest…