Describes several projects that have enabled teachers to leave the isolation of their own classrooms and think together about student work in the broader contexts of school improvement and professional development. (Contains 18 references.) (Author/MLF)

Bruce Joyce has long been involved in efforts to develop collaborative professional inquiry. In this article, he looks back at some of those efforts in the hope that we can draw lessons from them and finally realize the vision that Mike Schmoker set forth in his February article. In the article featured on the cover of the February Kappan, Mike…

In his February 2004 Kappan article, Mike Schmoker called into question the effectiveness of many of the major reform efforts of the past two decades. In particular he made the case that strategic planning efforts and whole-school reform efforts have been mostly ineffective because planning cycles are too long and implementation is too complex and…

In Boston schools, change coaches and content coaches are offering principals and teachers the kind of professional development that research deems most effective: ongoing, in school, high-quality, and focused on instruction and teacher cooperation. To succeed, coaches must be (unrecognized) leaders who unobtrusively foster teacher leadership.…

Elliot Eisner, Lee Jacks Professor of Education and Art, Stanford University, imparts his thoughts about the salient features of schools he believes America needs, for example, having principals spend about one-third of their time in the classroom. (PKP)

Examines effects of the 1990 Kentucky Education Reform Act from a caring, innovative elementary teacher's viewpoint. A court required KERA, the legislature created it, state officials regulate it, but teachers are directly responsible for working together to make reforms work. Unfortunately, the state has not provided enough direction to…

Describes the teachers-as-learners concept employed by Expeditionary Learning Outward Bound's extended workshop on the Cherokee Nation Trail of Tears. Journal excerpts describing one teacher's experience are provided, along with lessons learned from treaty negotiations with a federal judge and Cherokee tribal representatives. "Summit"…

Applies a inside/outside reciprocity metaphor to the top-down/bottom-up combinations required for school reform. Sustained change requires internal change, active connection to the outside community, and a challenging, but nurturing external infrastructure. There is also a fusion of the spiritual, the political, and the intellectual. (Contains 13…

The goal of school/university partnerships is the simultaneous renewal of colleges of education and of K-12 schools. In theory, this improvement comes about as university and K-12 faculty members work together to mentor preservice teachers in the best possible environment. Ideally, as they participate in these collaborations, the faculty groups do…

To be great teachers and contribute to their school systems, teachers must gain others' support. Teachers can tap endless resources: their colleagues, students, parents, professional organizations, professional literature, other schools, universities, and themselves. Teachers allowed to teach according to their beliefs are happiest. (MLH)

Few great ideas to guide school practice are totally new. Conscientious educators have hit some good chords over the years; the challenge is recapturing that music and building a (pedagogical) symphony around it. Philosophical ideas about teachers' views of children, curriculum, teachers, and organizational structures are discussed. (MLH)

The idea of teacher growth and development as a continuum spanning a teaching career guides the National Council for Accreditation for Teacher Education's emerging standards. The 1995 NCATE standards revision emphasizes performance and performance-based assessments, professional collaboration and community, technology, and diversity of curriculum,…

Faculties must pass through several stages when becoming learning organizations: the honeymoon, conflict, confusion, messy, scary, and mature-group stages. Mature school communities have learned to view power differently, make learning more meaningful for students, and model a just and democratic society. Consensus is the starting point. (MLH)

Describes corporate-derived teaching strategy called lesson study wherein teachers work to develop lessons, observe each other teaching lessons to see how they work, and then suggest lesson refinements. Provides examples of corporate change efforts (one successful, one not) and implications thereof for education. Evaluates two lesson-study…

In Bangor, Maine, a seamless, continuous-progress performance assessment in reading is evolving--all because 24 first-grade teachers objected to using standardized achievement tests. Teachers have developed the Bangor Assessment of Reading (BAR), a triennial process of assessing fluency, meaning construction, comprehension, reading strategies, and…