For most of the last 50 years, teachers and administrators have perceived professional development and the instructional role primarily in terms of what one individual does with classes of others. Teachers, like their students, were considered to be rather passive acceptors of the instruction, rather than active modifiers. Thus, there was very…

Staff members at the Iowa Department of Education are involved in a 3-year initiative (1998-2001) to strengthen school improvement efforts at the local school, district, and intermediate service agency levels. Papers presented at a symposium of the American Educational Research Association annual meeting describe the multiple purposes and design…