Recent governmental education reform measures have emphasized school improvement by requiring schools and districts to improve school performance, including student achievement, through many avenues including professional development. Professional development is no longer concentrated solely on teachers; it now includes administrators the…

There is perhaps no more pressing issue in school policy today than the achievement gap across social lines. Achievement differences between well-to-do children and poor children and between disadvantaged racial and ethnic minorities and majority whites are large when children first begin school, and they increase over time. Despite years of study…