Background: The literature contains very few studies that focused on evaluating the impact of professional development activities on student learning. And, many of these studies failed to determine whether the professional development activities met their primary goal--to improve the learning process. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to use…

A recent national study of state and local No Child Left Behind activities indicated that 80 percent of elementary teachers reported participating in 24 hours or less of professional development on reading instruction during the 2003-2004 school year and summer. Reading and professional development experts are concerned that this is not intensive…

The purpose of this study was to analyze the impact of a professional development (PD) program on teacher self-efficacy and classroom practice. Thirty-eight in-service teachers from a foundation school in Izmir participated in this study. Multiple sets of data for this study came from the Turkish teachers' sense of efficacy scale, classroom…

As with many districtwide reform efforts, the San Diego reform sought to improve classroom instruction by focusing on building the capacity of teachers. This article examines practices of teacher professional development in the district and their impact on literacy instruction. Through examination of the literature on effective professional…

In late 2010, Chicago Public Schools (CPS) initiated a new safety program called the "Culture of Calm" initiative (CoC). Since 2010, CPS has focused resources on schools in order to improve school climate--particularly school safety. These resources were used, to a large extent, to hire vendors that provided services to teachers and…

Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University--Worldwide serves more than 36,000 online students across the globe, many of whom are military and other non-traditional students, offering 34 undergraduate, graduate, and professional education/workforce certificate programs, presented both online and via blended delivery modes. The centralized model of online…

Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs, or GEAR UP, is a federally-funded system of grants that focuses on preparing low-income students to enter and succeed in postsecondary educational programs. GEAR UP grants extend across 6 school years and require that funded districts begin providing grant services to students no…

The purpose of this quantitative quasi-experimental study was to analyze the effect of one type of professional development, Japanese lesson study, on student achievement at the high school level. The study examined the effect by comparing student achievement of students with non-lesson study teachers (control group) and those using the lesson…

Introduction: The Forsyth County School District sought scientifically based evidence for the effect of ongoing, district-developed professional development (PD) on the usage of Promethean Interactive Whiteboards. A randomly selected subset of teachers received PD in addition to basic training sessions offered in Fall 2005 to all district teachers…

The study of people's social ties, the resources they obtain from them, and the communication tools--such as the Internet--that facilitate the flow of expertise and resources makes up an evolving science of networks that can help school leaders better understand how to support and promote school change. The science of networks is not new in…

Boyer's (1990) seminal and influential discussion, "Scholarship Reconsidered: Priorities of the Professoriate," challenged the existing views of faculty roles and responsibilities and generated considerable discussion regarding the way colleges and universities evaluate and train faculty (Golde, et al., 2008). In response, institutions of higher…

Professional development (PD) experiences for special education teachers are designed to facilitate teacher learning and the implementation of evidence-based practices. PD should also make a positive impact on the K-12 students with disabilities that are in participating teachers' classrooms. In this study, the author investigates the outcomes of…

School physical education plays an important role in public health. Nonetheless, there are few evidence-based, health-related, physical education programs and very little is known about how to disseminate them for widespread use. This article (a) presents background information and a review of the completed research on the SPARK (Sports, Play, and…

The fact that online learning has been successful for many schools across the country does not mean that it has been free of challenges. Indeed, there are numerous issues and challenges in online learning. Few policymakers anticipated that any space time, any space place learning was possible when most education laws were authored over the past 50…

The Arctic Climate Modeling Program (ACMP) offered yearlong science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) professional development to teachers in rural Alaska. Teacher training focused on introducing youth to workforce technologies used in Arctic research. Due to challenges in making professional development accessible to rural teachers, ACMP…