This report offers state leaders key areas for action to continue progress in implementing evaluation systems, even as federal policies on teacher evaluation relax state requirements. The Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) offers its current best thinking for how state agencies can make the smartest use of funds, time and partners to refine…

An ePortfolio Assessment Institute (AI) structured as a faculty development opportunity was undertaken to increase faculty confidence in teaching and assessing ePortfolios and to collect reliable data about student performance on four learning outcomes associated with an institutionwide ePortfolio initiative. Faculty raters participated in the…

Alabama Best Practices Center (ABPC) was formed to help educators spread innovation and scale up successful teaching and learning practices. ABPC is the professional development arm of A+ Education Partnership, a statewide business/community/education nonprofit founded in 1991 to advocate for excellent public schools. Since 1999, ABPC has…

This report presents the results of an experiment conducted in Alabama beginning in the 2006/07 school year, to determine the effectiveness of the Alabama Math, Science, and Technology Initiative (AMSTI), which aims to improve mathematics and science achievement in the state's K-12 schools. This study is the first randomized controlled trial…

The 2009 "State Teacher Policy Yearbook" provided a comprehensive review of states' policies that impact the teaching profession. As a companion to last year's comprehensive state-by-state analysis, the 2010 edition provides each state with an individualized "Blueprint for Change," building off last year's "Yearbook"…

The purpose of this project grant was to demonstrate feasibility of local video tape program development for Adult Basic Education, to determine the instructional effectiveness of that programming with ABE students, and to explore means of A.B.E. teacher improvement through use of videotape. Step one, the production of an audio-visual catalog…

The Program for Development of Community College Faculty was designed to provide statewide coordination and resources for individualized faculty development programs at 18 of Alabama's two-year colleges. It featured a year-long (1971-72) on-campus program of faculty development planned and implemented by certain faculty members from each community…

Three major purposes comprise the focus of this study. First, it determined the perceptions of Alabama public school principals regarding the degree of importance and extent of implementation of 21 specific educational reform recommendations from 7 major national reform proposals issued in 1983. Second, it discovered the perceptions of these same…

For five years running, the National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ) has tracked states' teacher policies, preparing a detailed and thorough compendium of teacher policy in the United States on topics related to teacher preparation, licensure, evaluation, career advancement, tenure, compensation, pensions and dismissal. The "2011 State…

The purpose of this study was to discover weaknesses and strengths in present teacher preparation programs in Alabama. Statewide committees made a survey of all teacher education programs in order to determine student requirements and regulations for entrance, retention, and completion. Competencies evaluated were: (1) planning; (2) instructional…

This report examines the design and operation of efforts by several states that are implementing initiatives to improve low performing schools, drawing out lessons that could be applied in Tennessee. It focuses on why initiatives in Kentucky and North Carolina deserve attention; core ideas shaping Kentucky's and North Carolina's programs; what…

Surveys of 265 elementary and secondary physical education teachers from Alabama assessed their inservice program needs with a focus on professional development needs and preferred inservice program arrangements or settings. Results indicated that physical educators wanted inservice program content to meet their unique needs but that many local…

The purpose of this research was to determine the professional training needed by English teachers in the service area of Livingston University (Alabama) in order to develop guidelines for a program of professional improvement. It focused on three interrelated dimensions of the professional development of English teachers: (1) initial or…

The Alabama Reading Initiative is a public-private consortium promoting a research-based approach to literacy instruction. Its goal is 100-percent literacy. Use of the approach at one middle school involved development-, practice-, and demonstration-oriented professional development and deep faculty collaboration. The effort resulted in a dramatic…

The Hale County (Alabama) school system and the University of Alabama formed a long-range collaborative relationship targeted at meeting staffing shortages and improving science instruction in the rural county. Statistically significant gains were achieved in the science teachers' mastery of content, teaching methodology, and attitudes toward…