The purpose of this qualitative descriptive study was to describe how teachers perceive the value of professional in-service training and whether this training improved their self-efficacy when teaching ELL students in elementary schools in the Eastern School District in New York State. Utilization of Bandura's social cognitive theory occurred in…

Teacher education and professional development prepare teachers with up-to-date knowledge, skills, and dispositions necessary for effective teaching. To sustain this, however, hinges on continued professional learning within schools. Research shows that establishing long-term conditions that allow teachers to learn continuously from one another…

This qualitative study explores the experience of specialist teachers specific to their individual roles within the coaching model (CM). Reasons for in-depth study include (a) Rochester's struggle to meet federal and state student achievement benchmarks, (b) practitioner frustrations from site-level resistance or CM use, and (c) shifting role…

Ongoing educational reform initiatives have ushered in significant changes in teacher-certification regulations. Many states no longer offer permanent certification, but instead require teachers to participate in career-long professional development (PD). Accordingly, increasing attention is being paid to the effectiveness of PD initiatives,…

The New York State Education Department's Center for Learning Technologies was developed in February of 1982 with a mission to provide assistance to educational and cultural institutions to ensure effective implementation of the new technologies. This paper describes the concept of inservice training using technology at the national and state…

This document describes an organizational structure and processes for planning, coordinating and implementing state-wide inservice teacher educatian in New York. Seven major elements in program planning are outlined: 1) governance; 2) needs assessment; 3) outcomes; 4) delivery systems; 5) rewards/incentives; 6) program evaluation; and 7) funding.…

Factors which influenced the success of a New York staff development program designed to improve student writing included district commitment, voluntary participation, in-district training workshops, on-site support, principals' support, parents' understanding, and continuous followup. Teachers learned the importance of seeing content first and…

To improve instruction, administrators and teachers in one New York school district have adapted portfolio assessment techniques for use in administrative evaluation of teachers. The paper describes the Portfolio Self-Assessment for Teachers, which accelerates the professional growth of novice teachers by creating a medium for guided reflection.…

This report culminates a 2-year effort of the Regents Task Force on Teaching. During the 2 years, the Task Force met many times, conducted eight public forums around the state, conferred with various constituents and public officials, consulted with national experts, and surveyed the literature and experiences of other states. This report presents…

This report presents information from a seminar that brought together 24 educators for 5 full days over 5 months (from November 1997-March 1998) to discuss issues of preparing preservice teachers, inservice teachers, and administrators for student diversity and equitable classrooms. Participating educators included teachers, administrators,…