This article explores the learning arising from a pilot inter-school visits programme in Stevenage, Hertfordshire. Teachers from two schools undertook a series of visits with the aim of developing learning and teaching in their schools. The pilot sought to understand ways in which such a collaborative visits programme could be used to build…

This article summarizes current research on effective professional development and offers a checklist for school leaders to use when designing learning opportunities for teachers. Effective professional development engages teachers in learning opportunities that are supportive, job-embedded, instructionally-focused, collaborative, and ongoing.…

Whether you're an old hand at professional learning communities (PLC) or just starting out, you know that PLCs don't succeed on their own. They need a supportive environment, an effective structure and process, and a plan for study, sharing, analysis, and action. Here's a book that ensures you provide your PLC all that and more. Drawing from their…

What if your professional learning community was available 24 hours a day, every day of the year? Would you like to have a place to share lesson plans, student work, a new curriculum, and to provide a discussion forum for all stakeholders? You can, even with only a basic understanding of technology. The authors explain how they created an online…

In recent years, increasing numbers of professional development programs have dealt with assessment literacy for teachers and/or administrators. Is assessment literacy merely a fashionable focus for today's professional developers or, in contrast, should it be regarded as a significant area of professional development interest for many years to…

This policy analysis project is designed at uncovering specific standards that can be utilized by a school district in developing and evaluating their Type II Alternative Schools to ensure high levels of student success within their programs. While there is a substantive body of research in alternative education, there are no universally accepted…

This document, one of a series on planning an inservice teacher education program, provides a conceptual base for understanding and developing such programs. The document is divided into four sections. Section one suggests that there are six assumptions, constraints, and mandates that must be addressed at the local level in order to plan a…

This booklet is part of a set of materials based on the belief that by getting teachers to agree on fundamental issues and values, a comprehensive program of inservice can be easily planned. This component of the set presents six generalizations about effective inservice programs and illustrates each with several different, but satisfactory,…

The handbook provides suggestions and guidelines to assist local education agency personnel in planning and implementing inservice education programs for the teacher of the gifted and talented. Information is presented on the following topics: the need for inservice education; twelve guiding principles for inservice education (including use of a…

Between 1999 and 2003, the Western Massachusetts Writing Project experienced a series of changes that made it question whether it could survive as a writing project site. The convergence of retirement, unexpected death, and withdrawal of long-term financial support forced the existing leadership to develop a process to look deeply into the work of…

Presented is a guide providing a step by step procedure and time line for planning and conducting inservice workshops for teachers of the gifted and talented. Considered are long range planning for an inservice training program, preparing materials for use in workshops, planning for individual workshops, conducting the workshop, materials used in…

Offers guidelines for effectively organizing materials in in-service reading programs. (RL)

The steps to be taken when organizing a training program for writing teachers are discussed in this paper. The following components are examined: (1) the qualifications of the training program director; (2) the content of a training manual explaining the reasons, activities, and instructional materials of the writing courses being taught; (3)…

Based on 10 years of doing inservice programs and other presentations in schools, the author offers several suggestions for giving an inservice presentation. (HOD)