This article provides insight into the process and implementation of a professional development workshop that was created for and provided to educators who were interested in implementing more playful pedagogies in their educational settings. The workshop focused primarily on meeting the needs of all learners through meaningful and engaging…

The Learning While Leading (LWL) professional development program motivates and further prepares administratively certified educators to become principals or assistant principals and offers continuous support to new principals during induction. The LWL program addresses a clear need for transitional support to motivate, fully prepare, and support…

Considered one of the nation's most comprehensive statewide principal development initiatives, the primary purpose of the Missouri Leadership Development System (MLDS) is to develop and support effective school leaders. R12CC employed a mixed-methods design for this evaluation by collecting both quantitative and qualitative data to address…

A core element of almost all educational improvement efforts is an intention to improve teacher practice in order to enhance student- and system-level outcomes. To this end, a range of strategies are deployed to facilitate teacher professional learning and development, with great investments of time, financial, and human resources. However, the…

Naturalistic developmental behavioral intervention (NDBI) strategies appear to be well-suited for implementation by preschool teachers of young children ages 3 through 5, yet research exploring NDBI implementation within this specific context is extremely limited. We applied an implementation science framework to examine reported knowledge,…

Schools everywhere are facing teacher shortages due to a shrinking pool of applicants and a growing number of teachers leaving the profession. If schools are going to attract and retain highly qualified effective teachers, they will need to be more intentional in designing systems that support a healthy workforce. Positive Behavioral Interventions…

The Assessment for Learning disposition has been long established in the literature as a desirable attribute for teachers. To use the biological metaphor of adaptation, assessment for learning has been argued to be a key base pair on the teacher genome. We argue that the selection of the correct genotype for teachers is not enough. What is needed…

Two years after the State of Illinois enacted an extensive non-exclusionary discipline reform in schools, 322 key discipline gatekeepers were surveyed about the extent and impact of the new state policy. The results showed that several core provisions of the reform had not been fully implemented or addressed through professional development.…

This case study looks at the Teacher Career Pathways programme, introduced in 2013 by the New York City Department of Education, with the cooperation of the United Federation of Teachers. Conceived as an alternative to merit pay schemes promoted by the Federal Government, the programme allows teachers to apply for teacher leadership roles, while…

This paper refers to the Dynamic Integrated Approach (DIA) towards teacher professional development, which attempts to merge research findings on teacher effectiveness and teacher professional development. The theoretical framework and the major features of the DIA are presented. It is argued that the DIA can be effectively implemented through…

Educator Excellence Innovation Program (EEIP) is a Texas Education Agency (TEA) grant program that funds innovation in teacher supports and leadership opportunities. This report summarizes the third year of implementation in Austin Independent School District (AISD).

In this multi-case study, we describe early childhood teachers' experiences implementing project work in contemporary, standards-based classrooms. Focus is given to understanding how teachers interpreted work in context; that is, how they were responsive to both expanding professional knowledge about the project approach and to the existing…

The last year has found critics and advocates of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) duking it out in the political arena. The Thomas B. Fordham Institute, an ardent supporter of high standards for some seventeen years, has recently lurched out of the safe haven of think tankery and into the boxing ring. Yet wherever one stands on the merits of…

As district leaders search for the best ways to improve student learning with the Common Core State Standards, California districts are leading the way as early implementers of the new standards. The ideas and lessons emerging from their work can help other educators maximize the effectiveness of their own implementation efforts. This brief…

Response to Intervention (RTI) emerged as a new service delivery model designed to meet the learning needs of all students prior to diagnosis and placement in the special education setting. The problem was few research studies had been conducted between general education teachers with intensive professional development and those without…