Research over the last 15 years has reported that for professional development to be effective, in terms of changing teachers' knowledge and/or instructional strategies, it needs to be conducted taking into consideration the following factors: teachers' existing knowledge, experience and attitudes towards the professional development, school…

This is a narrative inquiry into the role of professional development in the construction of teaching practice by an exemplary urban high school science teacher. I collected data during 3 years of ethnographic participant observation in Marie Gonzalez's classroom. Marie told stories about her experiences in ten years of professional development…

The aim of this study was to investigate STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics) teacher education and to examine the successful conditions for its implementation. This study observed two leading schools that have actively participated in STEAM education since the initial stage of STEAM education in Korea. Through…

Professional learning communities (PLCs) have gained considerable attention in education. However, PLCs are dependent on how group members collectively work and learn towards shared goals on improving teaching and learning. This would require leadership to support meaningful and productive interactions within PLC contexts, and hence, the…

This study investigated a system-wide change strategy in a South African school district, which sought to build the leadership capacity of principals and district officials to improve instruction. The three-year venture was called the Leadership for Learning Programme (LLP). A distinctive feature of the LLP was that it was based on a partnership…

In this naturalistic inquiry, I explore a professional development program which provided Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) graduate coursework from a university in Northeast Kansas to in-service teachers in Southwest Kansas through distance learning. Data sources included interviews, participant observation, and document and…

How teachers make sense of new academic standards significantly shapes the implementation of those standards. Professional development organized around the analysis of mathematical tasks has potential to prepare teachers for standards implementation by helping them develop common understandings of standards and how to help students meet ambitious…

The United Arab Emirates has witnessed exponential growth while its schools have been lagging behind other areas of national development. Research studies attributed that to classroom practices that overemphasized theory and rote memorization. Education officials addressed this issue by setting up training programs about effective teaching…

This study aimed 1) to describe a school principal's leadership and the context of the school's overall teacher culture that cultivated an award-winning team at an elementary school; 2) to analyze the award-winning team's learning behaviors, shared goals, values, beliefs, mutual interactions or dialogues, and sharing of experiences; and 3) to…

This study examined teachers' learning situated in a school to reveal factors that support and hinder learning in the workplace. The investigation analyzed teachers' orientation to learning, examining beliefs, practices, and experiences about teachers' learning in relation to change in the workplace. A hypothesis is that teacher learning and…

This paper draws on the experience of one of the authors, an ethnographic researcher who, in the course of her investigation into the everyday work and communication cultures of Australian public transport officers, spent 12 weeks undergoing training as a rail transit officer before spending four months on the job where she was rostered on duty…

The third in a series of reports evaluating a multi-year Wallace initiative documents ways in which six districts are working to improve school leadership districtwide. It describes several new measures districts are implementing, including systematic support for assistant principals; the use of performance standards to hire and evaluate…

All social and professional practices are historically situated, evolving forms of acting and interacting. Evaluation, as a practice, is shaped by and shapes the practice evaluated. This article contributes to responsive and values-engaged evaluation approaches by reflecting on the space where these two practices intersect. The evaluative task was…

This qualitative case study examined a state-run, foundation-funded initiative to introduce literacy coaching in a medium-sized urban high school district over a period of two years. Data analyses revealed the complex development and multiple understandings of the process of literacy coaching on the secondary level. The role of the coaches…

This article describes findings from a single-case qualitative study of a unique 2-year professional development academy for practicing assistant principals designed and implemented in partnership between school district personnel and university educational leadership faculty members. The study was conducted based on the theoretical framework of…