Describes DELTA (Design for Excellence: Linking Teaching and Achievement), a program that directs reform efforts toward teachers in greater Los Angeles. Notes the primary goal is to link public schools and higher education in a collaborative effort to reform three key areas: teacher preparation; support for new teachers; and ongoing, progressive…

Provides a theoretical background and practical methods for promoting the personal and social transformations necessary to change schools into institutions that completely respect young people. Presents methods that have been successfully used to improve teachers' listening skills and address fundamental issues surrounding trust, confidence,…

This article reports on 3 years of mathematics reform that took place in 4 high-poverty minority schools in a large, demographically mixed public school system in the South. Comparisons were made with 2 demographically similar sets of schools on project-constructed interviews, items taken from the Third International Math/Science Study (TIMSS)…

The authors describe an innovative perspective for the evaluation of professional development programming in science. This perspective focused on a self-critical analysis of the reflective practices developed and used among program participants. This approach ties program quality directly to issues impacting the implementation of curriculum reform…

As an aesthetic form, architecture deals with the creation and definition of space expressed in buildings and other physical structures. The Colosseum in Rome, Notre Dame in Paris, and the United States capital in Washington, through their designs define space, capture our imagination, and communicate important cultural and historical messages.…

According to this author, professional development in most school districts usually is not what teachers call worthwhile. Most is mandatory and tied to the latest literacy "fix," new district systems, text adoptions and occasionally, a speaker who has something new to share. She contends that meaningful professional development should be an…

In today's climate of grading schools and blaming teachers, educators more than ever need to understand exactly what they do well. It is hard for educators to resist being overcome by all the negativity, and even harder to maintain their motivation each day. In this article, the author discusses how National School Reform Faculty (NSRF) and…

The goal of the United National Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Competency Standards for Teachers (ICT-CST) project is to improve teachers' practice in all areas of a their work. By combining ICT skills with emergent views in pedagogy, curriculum, and school organization,…

This paper presents a model of graduate education for advanced teachers and aspiring school administrators that establishes and fosters the foundations for the development of the professional community in schools. Graduate students enrolled in the first distance-education cohort of a new graduate-degree program became cognizant of the need and…

This book explains how to use whole-faculty study groups to get the entire teaching staff working together on one set of organizational goals. Chapter 1 discusses the school reform environment and the potential of whole-faculty study groups to serve as a major change process for improving schools and student learning. Chapter 2 describes the…

More state activity aimed at improving public education took place in the 1980s than ever before. Many of their efforts concentrated on three themes: increasing academic content, upgrading the teaching force, and enhancing state and local financial support for schools. In addition to examining reform activities in Arizona, California, Florida,…

The results relating to staff development, contained in a Rand Corporation survey on change agents, are summarized in this paper. The researchers discovered that successful staff development program implementation was characterized by three major components: local materials development, online planning, and concrete, ongoing training. Their…

Increased inservice and continuing education is essential as demands upon teachers change and become more complex. (JD)

The essentials needed for developing teaching novices into good teachers are autonomy, collaboration, and time. School improvement plans should include an understanding of the conditions that foster the professional growth of teachers. Provides a table and extensive list of references. (MD)

Examines the implications of calls for reform of secondary schools and teacher education. Focuses on meanings given to reform, including the possibility of reform as ritual and the technical rationality said to underlie the proposals. Considers how teacher education reform efforts might address critical questions not mentioned in the reports. (KH)