For learners to be better prepared to solve current and future complex problems, teachers must continue to strengthen and refine their teaching and learning practices throughout their career. One known modality to assist teachers in refining their pedagogical skills is teacher participation in professional development opportunities. The purpose of…

Although research identifies a plethora of evidence-based instructional practices, classroom teachers find research difficult to access and often of little relevance to classroom practice; therefore, they do not implement these practices. Bridging the gap between research and practice requires continued and mediated support as teachers translate…

Examines extent schools using site-based management approach were engaged in decision making associated with curriculum and instruction, roles teachers were playing, and strategies used to ensure instructional program quality. Analyzes data gathered in extensive interviews with staff, board members, and parents from six school districts.…

What reading consultants do varies considerably from person to person as there is variability in the role each reading consultant perceives as his or her responsibility. To assist reading consultants in prioritizing their roles to meet their constituents' needs, 113 elementary teachers enrolled in graduate reading classes at the University of…

The second in three-part series on how the principals in 10 low-performing/high-poverty schools met the challenge of Florida's 1999 high-stakes testing and accountability initiative. Examines the challenges principals faced in trying to build organizational capacity from three perspectives: principals' beliefs and values, "it takes a whole…

This research study focuses an historical case study on a large-scale intervention called Florida SchoolYear (SY2000), which was a visionary example of how the state of Florida tried to design and develop a means for delivering quality education. By studying the Florida SY2000 Initiative, this research study examined issue-oriented questions…

This article outlines the results of an issues-based study conducted over a 12-month period that investigated how the systematic inclusion of teachers within the design, operationalization and implementation of an online curriculum development project in Florida led simultaneously to teachers' own professionalizing in areas of education they were…

This study was designed to measure instructional design competencies as a result of participation in a 9-month Web-based training program called "Roadmap to Effective Distance Education Instructional Design." The researchers used a self-assessment pre- and posttest to determine participant initial and final competence in 12 areas: adult…