Providing science instruction is an ongoing priority and challenge in elementary grades, especially in high-need rural schools. Nonetheless, few studies have investigated the factors that facilitate or limit teachers' science instruction in these settings, particularly since the introduction of the Next Generation Science Standards. In this study…

Teacher classroom practices have been identified as the key contributing factor to the low learning outcomes of primary school grades in Kenya. Teacher mentoring has the potential to improve classroom practices and this study sought to determine its effects on the classroom practices of primary school teachers in Kwale County, Kenya. Using One…

Academics are increasingly required to balance the expectations of the 'old' academy with a future model of universities as interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary 'problem solvers'. This paper highlights changing expectations of academics in producing alternative research outcomes in collaborative, practice-based research. Through a series of…

A study was conducted to explore the impact of professional development related to the individual education plan (IEP) process on teachers' understanding and practices in the Republic of Ireland (RoI). This paper reports on part of that research, focusing on teachers' collaborative practices in the IEP process. In the RoI, teachers working as…

The Every Student Succeeds Act provides an opportunity for policymakers and researchers to revisit what is known about effective teacher evaluation practices to make better informed decisions moving forward. Principals--responsible for implementing new teacher evaluation reforms and accommodating the demands to spend more time observing and…

The educators of Ayer Elementary in Fresno Unified School District (FUSD) began their continuous improvement journey in 2016. The stability of their underlying organizational conditions to engage in improvement work--a shared purpose, mutual trust, structures and resources that foster collaborative work, and preparation and mobilization of…

Special education and the laws that govern it have changed dramatically over the past 50 years. With these changes there continues to be a strong push to educate students with moderate to severe disabilities in inclusive general education classroom settings. Research is needed to determine what teachers need to feel successful in order to teach…

This research examines how faculty members in higher education collaborate with colleagues, their collaborative professional work, the nature of these collaborations, and the benefits they get from it. Research findings show that collaborations are perceived as one of the important components of academic and professional development. The findings…

Administrators are often removed from the daily instructional realities in classrooms, while teachers aren't given enough opportunities to lead in their schools, write Christina Steinbacher-Reed and Sam A. Rotella Jr. The result is a wall that prevents the two parties from collaborating in a way that improves school culture, teaching practices,…

This article describes an in-service teachers', staff-development model "Peer Learning Network" and presents results about its efficiency. "Peer Learning Network" promotes three levels of peer learning simultaneously (among pupils, teachers, and schools). It supports pairs of teachers from several schools, who are linked…

In this article, Joseph Vincente, an assistant principal and math and instructional coach at East Side Community High School in New York City, describes East Side's collaborative structures as well as the norms and conditions that support them. Collaboration underpins how the teachers at East Side structure and conduct most of their work, how they…

Group formation studies are rare in the literature on teacher professional learning communities (PLCs). But they are needed to render realistic scenarios and design interventions for practitioners who work in schools where teachers encounter distress and social adversity. Under these conditions, we may need approaches to PLC development that are…

This conceptual paper is intended to highlight the need for instructional support for teachers and academic lecturers who enter the profession without formal pedagogy training, and discuss how this phenomenon can be addressed via healthy collegial practices and institutional support. The paper also emphasizes the need for those who enter the…

Communities of practice have become important tools for districts striving to improve teacher quality in a way that improves student outcomes, but scaling the benefits of these communities requires a more rigorous, intentional approach. That's why Learning Forward, with support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, created the Redesign PD…

Nowadays, in Catalonia, students with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are increasingly in regular schools although their presence, participation, learning and success are unequal. Barriers towards inclusion often depend on how to organise supporting at regular schools and the teachers' collaboration during this process. In this paper, the support…