Contemporary approaches to professional development (PD) involve investigating ways of bottom-up, self-directed practices while addressing various needs of teachers. Yet, utilized as a tool in such practices, classroom observation (CO) is not considered to promote teacher professional learning since it is generally regarded as part of the…

Located in the heart of Charlestown [Boston, MA], Harvard-Kent Elementary School serves 365 students in grades Pre-K to 5. The school serves the highest percentage of children living in public housing of any Boston school. It is home to a specialized program for students learning English as well as a therapeutic program for children with emotional…

In this paper, we describe the second year of a multi-year project that we developed to foster collaboration between high school teachers and university undergraduates. The project incorporates specific tools that help partners find an approach to collaboration that is right for them, allowing it to offer more flexibility than traditional…

This article examines an extraordinarily successful early childhood education teacher preparation program at an urban 2-year college struggling with retention. The Early Childhood Education Program in this case study is able to maintain a graduation rate that is over four times greater than that of the college average and has a reputation for…

This report summarizes how school and district leaders and academic coaches in two Texas school districts used assessment and other types of data to assess the quality of teaching and learning, to coach and supervise teachers, and to guide management decisions. The report also describes how district and school leaders supported teachers' use of…

This study offers an analysis of the learning of practicing teachers as they acquire a deeper knowledge of mathematics. While some professional developers have shifted part of their focus to helping practicing teachers acquire a deeper knowledge of mathematics (e.g., Stein & Silver, 1996), the results from studies often describe what translates…

This article describes a new construct for coding the social communicative performance of school-aged children as they interact with peers and teachers in the classroom. The Social Communication Coding System (SCCS) allows clinicians a way of describing how children actually spend their time during the school day by observing ongoing behaviors…

Much research links collaborative experiences to the professional development of teachers. The author of this study designed a project, called the Buddy System, which provided opportunities for teachers to observe one another in the classroom and to interact with one another collaboratively. The goal was to determine if these activities provided…

Describes the use of case-study groups as a structure for active observation of children at the West Side Montessori School in New York City, including daily observation note-taking, bi-weekly meeting of a five-member team, and progress reports on individual children. Discusses the positive impact of the case-study groups on their observation…

Observations of children's writing on the computer include an anecdote concerning a five-year-old's use of a word processor to write a story at the University of South Carolina's Children's Center. Also discussed are general literacy growth and four patterns of risk taking with computer writing. (BB)

Under the No Child Left Behind Act (2002), all schools are required to demonstrate that all students make annual yearly progress (AYP). This can be difficult, particularly for students in urban schools and even more so for students with disabilities. The authors report on one large urban school district's attempts to provide support to 140 schools…

A descriptive case study provides a comprehensive profile of 13 learning disabled students' experience after one full year in a French immersion learning difficulties program in Canada. (Author/VWL)

Summarizes the evaluation of a 4-5 week science program for twelve- to thirteen-year old lower ability students. Includes a description of the program, techniques used in the evaluation, and a model for observing student activity during science instruction. (JN)