Discusses the roles and responsibilities of teacher leaders who help other teachers implement new curricula, noting the perceptions of teachers and administrators regarding teacher leaders. Teacher leaders provide building-level staff development plus individual support. The article looks at changing teacher roles, then presents six elements of…

A peer coaching program in Georgia involved 22 elementary teachers as participants in professional development to stimulate their cognitive development. Teachers learned the peer coaching process, then participated in four coaching cycles. The program raised their conceptual levels, reduced teacher isolation, and developed more positive attitudes…

Describes a five-week summer program for elementary teachers designed to develop content knowledge in physics through immersion in the subject and cooperative learning. Teachers indicated they changed their science teaching orientation toward process and content and increased their awareness of the power of demonstrations and student-generated…

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…

Described is the key teacher strategy for inservice compared to an all teacher strategy, in which inservice is given directly to all the target teachers. Student achievement in both situations is considered. (KR)

Examined the evolution of a formal mentoring program, Mentor-Apprentice Collaboration, over 1 year, describing what the elementary-level beginning and mentor teachers learned from the experience. Participant interviews highlighted several productive mentoring strategies: sharing concerns and joys; building a sense of team; and establishing trust,…

Describes an elementary-level professional-development project designed to build a community of practice focused on inquiry-based science teaching (Guided Inquiry supporting Multiple Literacies). Presents the basic tenets that guided the development of learning experiences for teachers and illustrates how the principles influenced the design of…

The field work for this study was conducted in South Africa in 1987-1989, before the end of apartheid, but much of the critical reflection and engagement postdates the empirical research. The project examined the role of the facilitator in the process of educational change. The research involved 34 teachers from primary schools. Chapter one…

Teacher knowledge and development from the teacher perspective were studied. Teachers wrote their own stories using collaborative autobiography (writing individual stories in groups). This report documents the evolution of the research methodology in discerning the personal, individual, similar, common, and collective as researchers moved from…

Outcomes of a staff development program based on the whole language philosophy that was implemented in a rural Florida elementary school are presented in this practicum report. Two surveys of 29 and 35 faculty, respectively, indicated needs for faculty cohesiveness, a unified purpose, and an update of language arts teaching skills. A staff…

This study examined the professional competence perceptions of elementary school classroom teachers. Results indicate that teachers need and want feedback concerning their professional competence and that school counselors can respond to this need. Also describes an inservice program to help teachers increase their skills. (Author/HMV)

Inservice education in many schools has shifted from the use of outside experts to the education of master teachers who serve as inside educators. The effectiveness of the use of master teachers has been demonstrated. To make this process more effective, there is a need to understand the dynamics that the master teachers confront when they take…

This staff development program offers practices for K-8 educators who wish to be more effective in responding to the needs of all students, including students with mild exceptional educational needs. The program consists of seven 2.5 hour workshops which include short presentations, readings, and large and small group discussions. Effective…

This bilingual education program involved (1) bilingual classes in grades 1 through 4 in 2 Texas school districts (Harlandale and San Marcos) and (2) Southwest Texas State University, which served as the agency for training senior student teachers for bilingual education. Predominantly Spanish-speaking students from low socioeconomic backgrounds…

The study presented here examines whether an ethnographic approach to the study of teaching yields new insight into the teaching-learning process. Two-hundred teachers, who differed in measured effectiveness, were recruited from thirteen school districts in the state of California. Each teacher taught two experimental teaching units (ETU's) of…