In response to national concerns a decade ago, driven by research that showed that higher education was making little impact on students' development of broad competencies and critical thinking, the provost and president of Purdue University, a research university, instituted a program whose goals were to build on the accumulated knowledge on…

The new Pre-K-Grade 12 Gifted Education Programming Standards should be part of every school district's repertoire of standards to ensure that the learning needs of advanced students are being met. "NAGC Pre-K-Grade 12 Gifted Education Programming Standards: A Guide to Planning and Implementing High-Quality Services" details six standards that…

This book address a major gap in the current mentoring programs at the secondary level. Staff development resources are often concentrated on helping new teachers be successful in their early school experience. Yes, a good idea, but a limited vision. Meanwhile many veteran teachers go without the mentoring assistance they need to be effective…

Considering that having a quality teacher is the foremost in-school predictor of students' success, ensuring teacher excellence is vital to the nation's educational system. In "Creating a New Teaching Profession," diverse scholars assess the state of human capital development in the teaching profession today and how to progress.

Recognizing that student achievement is intrinsically linked to high-quality teaching, Jodi Peine offers an invaluable guide that helps educational leaders strengthen teachers' instructional practice with an individualized and robust professional development process. The author provides administrators and staff developers with step-by-step…

A step-by-step sequential plan is offered for developing a successful competitive swimming season, including how to teach swimming strokes and organize practices. Various strokes are analyzed, and coaching check points are offered along with practice drills, helpful hints on proper body positioning, arm strokes, kicking patterns, breathing…

In this book, educational consultant James Cox offers a smarter way to look at data, putting test scores in context, not in isolation. Rather than focusing on last year's findings for school improvement, educators can learn how to evaluate the processes and practices that lead to those data by using a user-friendly, three-pronged framework for…

This book uses a traditional focus of educational development (teaching and learning) to examine the theories and practices of staff development in Australasia. The initial chapter reviews the philosophical foundations of staff development, including the basis of the idea of development, along with the problems that concept raises. Chapter 2…

The aim of this document is to provide an alternative for those teacher educators who are committed to the development of professional competence in teaching but who find the present Competency/Performance Based Teacher Education (C/PBTE) approach to be unsatisfactory in certain significant respects. It is proposed to replace the popularized…

An on-going evaluation is being made of Utah State University's instructional development endeavor; this paper has emerged from a question answer interview with the Director of the program by an external evaluator. The Director describes the Instructional Development Program which is designed to improve the teaching/learning process by developing…

This guide presents current research and thinking about teacher evaluation and combines that research with practice. Chapters contain illustrations and examples to make a research-practice connection and present a comprehensive approach to designing, implementing, and monitoring quality teacher-evaluation systems. Chapters include: (1) "Improving…

Various components of quality early childhood programs are detailed in the papers contained in this book. In the opening chapter, Mildred Dickerson and Martha Ross assess the current status of child care in the United States. Milly Cowles, in a chapter on curriculum, outlines the essential components of effective early childhood programs. Mac…

This book has a threefold purpose. First, it provides a problem-solving framework for comprehensively analyzing and attacking current weaknesses in both pre- and in-service teacher education. Next, it explains how this approach can be applied by providing concrete examples of procedures and products appropriate to each of three problem-solving…

This report presents a synthesis of studies on the present situation and emerging policies of the Inservice Education and Training of Teachers (INSET) Project, developed collaboratively by members of the Organisations for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). The project achieved a broad dissemination of national practices and experience,…

This book highlights the problems that drive many special educators out of teaching and outlines practical recommendations that leaders can use to increase retention. Drawing on field experience as well as research findings, the author provides a comprehensive framework for supporting special educators. This book provides effective ways to: (1)…