"It's always been a promising time for teacher leadership. It's just never been a successful time," writes noted educator Roland Barth. Why? Barth points to five obstacles: administrator resistance, the taboo in teaching against elevating oneself higher than one's peers, the fact that teachers' plates are full, the…

This article looks at the role that teacher training can play in implementing curriculum reform, specifically in studies conducted in French-speaking Africa by researchers at the UNESCO Chair in Curriculum Development. After reviewing the effects that reform has on the school as an organization, it establishes a link between the concept of change…

Background: Facilitation within successful professional development (PD) requires individuals working with a cadre of teachers to examine and reframe their practices, navigating the complexities associated with educational reform initiatives. Although much has been written about the magnitude of the shift required of teachers within current…

This article provides a context for understanding how social networks among teachers support or constrain school improvement in terms of instructional practice, professional development, and educational reform. It comments on the articles in this special issue, summarizing their contributions to the field. This analysis reveals several important…

The Ministry of Education in Israel has, over the past two years, been running an education program designed to lead the implementation of ICT (Information and Communications Technology) in schools. Implementation of the program is accompanied by training and support of teachers selected to be ICT leaders. The role of the ICT leader is divided to…

The purpose of this paper is to examine the importance of science field trips as educational tools to connect students to classroom concepts. Experiential learning at formal and informal field trip venues increases student interest, knowledge, and motivation. The teacher's role in preplanning, implementation, and reflection often dictates the…

The purpose of this study was to examine the High Tec Middle School teachers' and administrators' knowledge of the service learning model upon which the school's service learning program has been based, their views regarding their role in student character formation through service learning, and the teachers' feelings of ownership regarding the…

This article presents the partial results of a larger study conducted in Bogotá (Colombia) with public elementary school teachers. Given their nature, and since they are equally affected not only by one, but by every policy of the Colombian educational system, the primary school teachers cannot be treated here as if they taught English only. They…

This paper illuminates the experiences of beginning teachers using a participatory perspective approach and drawing on some of these teachers' perceptions. We place the "subject" of workplace learning research centrally in understanding the relatedness between workplaces and novice employees/trainees. This paper builds on previous work…

Amidst the contentious debates about teacher effectiveness, most people believe that unions, education colleges, charter networks, consulting agencies, textbook publishers, test producers, professional associations, teachers, and researchers disagree with one another about the most essential school reforms. Though all these groups do certainly…

The problems addressed by this study are (a) the significant rise in specific learning disabilities referrals and identification and (b) the inability to identify effective strategies for reducing the number of referrals and identification using Rtl models in fifth and sixth grades. A review of the literature indicated a compelling need to study…

The purpose of this study is to share teachers' perceptions of their and other stakeholders' roles and influence during the implementation of an instructional policy, the Targeted Reading Intervention (TRI), and its success. The TRI is a professional development (PD) program that uses a diagnostic reading model, a suggested set of reading…

The study aimed to trace teachers' role behaviors that religious teachers "perceive" as mandatory versus discretionary and non-prescribed at work. Based on interviews with 15 teachers working in the Israeli religious state education, it was found that teaching the subject matter, preparing students for national exams, encouraging…

Response to Intervention (RtI) is a data-driven process that supports the academic needs of students through targeted interventions to address specific identified areas of weakness. When implemented effectively, RtI aids students at the onset of learning concerns and can remediate learning problems which have, in the past, led to students being…

Adolescence is a challenging time for most young people, but for those with or at-risk of developing emotional or mental health conditions, it can be particularly harrowing. Studies indicate that 1 in 5 adolescents have some sort of serious emotional, behavioral, or mental health problem. Early identification and treatment can make a substantial…