Our traditional professional development format at faculty meetings felt tired. While our schools--Constable and Monmouth Junction Elementary Schools in the South Brunswick School District in New Jersey--are known for their commitment to meaningful and innovative professional development for staff, weekly Monday faculty meetings didn't always…

Michelle is a first-year English teacher at Vailsburg Middle School, a public school in Newark, New Jersey. Michelle is dedicated, caring, energetic, and insightful. This year, the author had the chance to watch Michelle and her principal, Serena Savarirayan, meet for their weekly debriefing of Michelle's teaching. Serena began by praising…

Since 2002, the Partnership for 21st Century Skills has been the leading advocacy organization in the United States focused on infusing 21st century skills into education. Its "Framework for 21st Century Learning," the result of a consensus among hundreds of stakeholders, describes the skills, knowledge, and expertise students need to…

A grass roots effort led to the first state-sponsored contest for invention and innovation for children. (Author)

The new learning opportunities that feed mind, body and soul helps the senior students develop the resiliency and intellectual qualities they need to make a healthy transition to post-high school life. The Monsignor Donovan High School in Toms River, New Jersey, has provided creative learning opportunities to seniors, which has planted in them the…

Like today's educators, Japanese haiku poets were caught between standards (like courtly love) and everyday realities. From this tension, they created a remarkable poetic form. Three examples from teachers' professional development work apply simple-and-deep principles to listening tasks, an assessment "deal," and curricular-standards…

Describes professional-development schools, partnerships between university teacher-education programs and schools, involving professors, teachers, and teacher interns. Tells how mutual respect and collaborative innovation developed in one such professional-development school in Camden, New Jersey. (PKP)

Discusses the impact of federal and state government on the autonomy of local school districts, particularly in the area of curriculum reform. Examines the effect of recent state legislation on New Jersey school districts, describing two local school district programs that illustrate the influence of state and federal government. (JG)

An elementary education professor working in an urban professional development school in New Jersey explains how she helps student teachers apply learned concepts to school settings. PDSs provide ongoing exposure to practices and insights of educators experienced with working with children from diverse populations. The New Jersey PDS breaks down…