"This is the piece that's been missing." This reaction is common among educators engaged in AIW Iowa, an initiative that engages teachers and administrators in professional learning communities that are improving student achievement, increasing student engagement, and building a schoolwide professional culture focused on improving…

A peer coaching program at Forest View High School, Illinois, is described and evaluated. Recommendations are provided for other districts to consider when implementing a similar program. (Author/MT)

The implementation of a school-based program in which specially trained teachers served as staff developers to introduce a writing-across-the-curriculum program is described from the perspectives of the teacher/staff developer, the principal, and the district director of staff development. (Author/MT)

Examines the parallels, and common goals and characteristics, between staff development and curriculum development and discusses the implications these parallels have for staff developers. (GLR)

The East Lansing Public Schools, Michigan, have improved faculty morale, improved instruction, and helped establish positive contacts with community members through a professional reading and discussion program for teachers. (Author/MT)

Budget-conscious Americans are increasingly asking that staff developers provide hard data about program effectiveness. The concept of return on investment (ROI) is useful in documenting the effectiveness of staff development programs. To calculate ROI, baseline data must be compared with results realized by the organization. (SM)

An action research method, consisting of data collection, diagnosis, action planning, and evaluation, was used by the Saskatoon Schools (Canada) to facilitate school self-diagnosis and problem solving. The organizational model that helped categorize research findings on school effectiveness and innovation is explored in this article. (DF)

Describes a job-embedded staff development program that has provided training and ongoing support in implementing cooperative learning and other teaching strategies in one Iowa school district. Job embedded means that leaders teach others and view their role as staff developers as important. (SM)

The QUILT (Questioning and Understanding to Improve Learning and Thinking) program tested the hypothesis that well-designed staff development would positively affect teachers and students. QUILT increased and sustained teacher use of classroom questioning techniques to produce higher levels of student learning and thinking. QUILT participants…

Three South Carolina school districts and a university formed a partnership to train, mentor, and support 24 special education teacher leaders as they developed and practiced new leadership skills. The article describes the selection and training of teachers, reviewing the first year's activities and presenting observations from program…

A statewide survey on teacher induction and mentoring programs, conducted in Ohio during 1991-92, asked districts to report on the presence or absence of program components required by the Ohio standard for entry-year certification. Most districts reported having mentoring programs that had major positive effects, though there were some problems.…