This article reports on changes in science discourse practices of four teachers who participated in an extended professional development (PD) program. Teachers were selected for their different patterns of improvement in the quality of their classroom discourse during their participation in the program. Analyses of their practices to support…

This study explored how online teacherpreneurs, or preschool to twelfth-grade teachers who market their classroom materials online, experience perceived improvements to classroom practice. Research has found that participating teachers believed teacherpreneurship motivated them to try unique classroom approaches, exposed them to new ways of…

Recent education reform has emphasized the importance of teacher learning in improving classroom instruction and raising student achievement. This article focuses on teachers' learning opportunities, including formal professional development and on-the-job learning that occurs through interactions with colleagues. Using data from 30 elementary…

Recognizing the importance of collegiality in professional growth, this descriptive study examines one aspect of interaction among teachers--the information that teachers exchange about classroom teaching. Suggestions are offered for the development of collegiality and interview guide questions are presented in the appendix. (JS)

In this article I argue that the literature describing effective professional development is missing at least 2 key pieces of information -- typical professional development that reaches typical teachers and how effective recent standards are in assisting district or school personnel to design and/or choose high-quality staff development…

Describes recent research about the influence of teacher expectations on student achievement. Different types of teacher expectations and expectation effects are defined, and evidence for the existence of these effects is examined. Research on how teacher expectations are communicated to students is summarized, and the implications of this…

Selected research studies useful for planning, conducting, and evaluating school staff development are reviewed, and a set of eight features common to the research is outlined. (MP)

Analyzed the collaboration of a first-grade novice teacher and her mentor teacher while the novice learned to teach mathematics in China. Found that the mentor contributed to novice teacher's progress by implementing a clear, consistent focus; modeling, analyzing, and reflecting on mathematics teachers; and defining and refining the zones of the…

Finds fault with federal and local attempts to improve and influence the teaching profession. Points out that federal and professional standards are fruitless or counterproductive in the absence of local organizations that can apply them in the classroom. (DR)

Describes the theoretical premises of project-based instruction and its features. Presents a model of collaboration between teachers and university faculty designed to support teachers in attempts to enact project-based instruction. Describes the teachers in the initial collaboration, the science projects they enacted, and the methods used to…

Examines one teacher's attempts to understand and enact a nonprescriptive, nonlinear project-based approach to science instruction. Details the challenges the teacher faced in enacting two projects and some of the dilemmas she faced as some of her previous beliefs about teaching and learning came into conflict with her emerging understanding of…

Four case studies demonstrate how middle grade teachers addressed the challenges and dilemmas of enacting project-based science in their classrooms. Notes that the teachers attempted to enact several common features of project-based science, including student collaboration and ownership and the use of technology. Also notes that teachers'…

Draws conclusions regarding how five teachers learned to enact project-based science, a method grounded in constructivist theory. Describes how the teacher-researcher collaborative activities unfolded, based on a model of teacher change that focused on cycles of collaboration, enactment, and reflection and how these activities contributed to a…

Explored 104 kindergarten and first-grade students' perceptions of physical education. Data sources included observations and field notes, student and teacher interviews, and student artwork. Results support the notion that knowledge of the meanings students assign to instructional events is important for teachers to consider as they structure…

Using video, five student teachers (grades one through four and six) practiced identifying and interpreting students' verbal and nonverbal behavior during instruction. Teachers continued to measure the success of lessons from an egocentric focus rather than from a student perspective until they viewed and interpreted one of the videos made in…