Over the past six years, the authors have been project leaders for three distance education initiatives in Cape Verde and Mozambique: (1) a blended learning master's degree in multimedia in education for faculty in Cape Verdean public higher education institutions (2005-2008); (2) a teacher training programme for 1375 elementary teachers provided…

To help improve reading instruction, a California district developed an effective staff development plan featuring learning-support teams, a 30-week training schedule, and recommended reading resources. Teachers selected San Francisco State University's Consortium for Reading Excellence program for its training in phonics instruction and…

The Teachers as Readers (TAR) Project is a national program which helps teachers encourage children to become lifelong readers. TAR began as a pilot program in the state of Virginia in Spring 1992 as the Reading Initiative sponsored by the American Association of Publishers and the Virginia State Reading Association. The first TAR Project in…

This report examines the first 2 years of the Alabama Reading Initiative (ARI), whose goal is 100% literacy for all Alabama's public school children using a balanced approach to reading instruction. It includes results from the external evaluation team, examples of changes in teaching practices and student behaviors, as well as the voices of…

The Getty Center for Education in the Arts established the 1983 and 1984 Institutes for Educators on the Visual Arts to explore the introduction of discipline-based art programs into elementary schools. Teachers attending a summer staff development program planned programs for their own shools. The institutes are described and future plans are…

Describes a University of Alabama program that trained a cadre of elementary teachers to use various manipulatives in their daily mathematics programs. These teachers received a set of manipulatives to share with others and were expected to conduct inservice programs for colleagues. The program increased use of manipulative materials and revealed…

An English elementary-level administrator discusses what his county system does in the way of teaching basic skills, implementing accountability, teaching the gifted, organizing grades, and providing for staff development in in-service programs for teachers. (IRT)

The superintendent, a central-office supervisor, the principal, and an external consultant began discussions to address the specific needs of an elementary school in Scottsboro, Alabama. The process involved completing a pre-assessment and feasibility study, developing and introducing a staff-development change model, creating an action plan,…

An elementary school located in a predominantly black neighborhood on the south side of Chicago decided it was time to restructure the curriculum (scores lagged behind the national average and interest in reading and writing had waned). The principal, parents, and teachers were given extra encouragement to use the process of team building, shared…

THE FOLLOWING IS THE FULL TEXT OF THIS DOCUMENT: Believing that the knowledge and expertise of the District's staff are essential in the strength of the District as an effective educational institution, the Menlo Park City School District expanded its current staff development plan to be more consistent with current knowledge on the…

Robert Sternberg's triarchic theory of intelligence presupposes that students exhibit at least three kinds of intelligence: creative, practical, and analytical. Staff at the Wake County (North Carolina) School System designed learning activities to give students balanced experiences and a time to shine in the learning mode that suits them best.…

The curriculum development project at Pretty Eagle School (a private school on the Crow Indian Reservation in southeastern Montana serving 100 students, prekindergarten through grade 8) was started in the fall 1980 with funding acquired from federal and private sources. A comprehensive program of curriculum development and staff development was…

This report on Idaho's grant programs for reading improvement pinpoints two programs, the General Reading Improvement Program and the Reading Improvement with Phonics Program. The report states that the first program makes funds available to support kindergarten through sixth grade "reading recovery" or other locally developed methods…

Designed by the National Foundation for the Improvement of education, Bill Gates's The Road Ahead Program features extensive Internet access for all students and teacher opportunities to work with networks and multimedia technologies. Each school in the 22 participating communities is paired with a community organization. Staff development should…