"Blended learning" is an educational approach that combines online and face-to-face components in the classroom, and it is becoming popular in American schools. But the quality of these programs is inconsistent; some are based on scientific findings on how children learn, while others lack such support. In fact, very little reliable…

Teachers have an important influence on pupils' academic progress, yet the quality of teaching varies widely. Policymakers, school leaders, and teacher educators therefore face the challenge of designing and commissioning professional development (PD) to help all their teachers become as effective as the best teachers. In the last two decades, a…

This article summarizes current research on effective professional development and offers a checklist for school leaders to use when designing learning opportunities for teachers. Effective professional development engages teachers in learning opportunities that are supportive, job-embedded, instructionally-focused, collaborative, and ongoing.…

Creating change is one of the central objectives of faculty development as well as one of the significant challenges. This paper addresses a faculty development intervention called Dialogue which creates pathways to engage faculty in the process of changing their teaching practice. The study of two Dialogue groups in different academic settings…

Community-based educational programs play a significant role in the education and positive development of youth. Over the last decade, the Oregon 4-H Youth Development program has made special efforts to reach and engage Latino youth and families in non-formal educational programs. Latino families most often do not access community-based…

Presenting a broad range of instructional programs and practices that are proven effective for students with behavioral disorders, this is the first resource of its kind for K-3 teachers and special educators. Described are clear-cut strategies for promoting mastery and fluency in early reading, writing, and math, while tailoring instruction to…

Tying teachers' pay to their classroom performance should, says Victor Lavy, improve the current educational system both by clarifying teaching goals and by attracting and retaining the most productive teachers. But implementing pay for performance poses many practical challenges, because measuring individual teachers' performance is difficult.…

Many short-duration science outreach interventions have important societal goals of raising science literacy and increasing the size and diversity of the science workforce. Yet, these long-term outcomes are inherently challenging to evaluate. We present findings from a qualitative research study of an inquiry-based, life science outreach program…

Research concerning the success factors in language immersion education is reviewed, focusing on five major schools of thought. First, the traditional model for immersion research, implemented in a Montreal (Canada) suburb is examined. Then three studies of the influence of affective variables in immersion program success are examined, and it is…

A well-conceived and effective faculty development program should focus on individual as well as institutional development, so that the environment encourages and supports both individuals and groups. Eleven institutional and four individual and group strategies for making development efforts effective are outlined. (MSE)

Experiences with family and intergenerational programs in English Second Language (ESL) literacy are reviewed, and factors that contribute to their success are discussed. It is suggested that as the notion of literacy expands, conceptual boundaries of the population of learners must expand also. While there is much to be learned from existing…

This self-study book concentrates on enabling trainers to talk and think in a business-related way, use business concepts and terminology, and translate training and development ideas into a business setting. Each part contains activities to enable users to study their training and development function and organization and consider how to use the…

Educational reform is becoming synonymous with accountability. However, designing an effective accountability system poses serious challenges for states as is clear from the progress and pitfalls experienced by states such as Texas, Kentucky, and California. For example, many states tend to overload their new accountability programs, resulting in…

A discussion of the immersion approach to second language instruction contains: a description of the approach and its goals; a brief history of its introduction into public schools; a description of the most common immersion program designs (early total, early partial, middle or delayed, and late); a review of available information on program…

The Teacher Quality Toolkit addresses the continuum of teacher learning by providing tools that can be used to improve both preservice, and inservice teacher education. Each chapter provides self assessment tools that can guide progress toward improved teacher quality and describes resources for designing exemplary programs and practices. Chapters…