Physics First--a movement to invert the traditional science course sequence to teach physics at the ninth-grade level--is gaining interest. However, there is limited literature exploring how to support teachers in successfully implementing Physics First. To address this, a professional development (PD) program supporting a cadre of teacher-leaders…

The study reported in this article is part of a research project which intended to attain a more comprehensive understanding of the growth and transformations of the professional identity and knowledge of a group of four future language teachers, as they expanded their awareness about plurilingualism and intercomprehension. Based on a central…

This paper examines a language teacher education professional development programme in New Zealand that draws on the 2007 New Zealand Curriculum. At the heart of the Learning Languages area in the curriculum is communicative competence, with the understanding that communication involves "language knowledge" and "cultural…

The requirement in the USA of the No Child Left Behind Act (2002) that every classroom has a highly qualified teacher, coupled with the current high-stakes testing environment, creates the need for all principals to be knowledgeable about quality staff development systems. One aspect of effective staff development is whether teachers adopt the…

Whenever there is a discussion on closing or bridging the achievement gap in education, one accurately reasons that the "gap" in question is among groups of students from various cultural and/or socioeconomic backgrounds. Stakeholders throughout academia, then, frantically search for solution(s)" to poor student achievement in…

There is a growing awareness that an engineering presence within the K-12 curriculum provides an authentic contextual base for mathematics and science concepts. One large scale initiative focused on pre-college engineering is the National Center for Engineering and Technology Education (NCETE) funded through the National Science Foundations' (NSF)…

This article reports a study of the discourse of shared lesson planning sessions in the early stages of a pre-service TESOL certificate course. The study focuses on "lesson planning conferences" (LPCs), in which a teacher educator and a group of student teachers worked on one student teacher's lesson plan. It describes the discursive practices…

This article describes experiences from a professional development project designed to prepare in-service eighth-grade mathematics teachers to develop, explore, and advance technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPCK) in the teaching and learning of Algebra I. This article describes the process of the participating teachers' mathematical…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to assess the relationship between policy development and research evidence with specific reference to the Rwandan Teacher Development and Management Policy introduced in 2005. It aims to highlight the complexity of implementing large-scale system wide change in the specific context of a small African nation…

Twenty teachers working in elementary and secondary schools were interviewed from 2 school districts in southern Ontario, Canada about their understanding and use of particular formative assessment strategies. Analysis of the interviews followed a constant comparison method and revealed a variety of emerging themes. Results suggested an imbalance…

In Australia, concerns about the quality of mathematics education that students experience are particularly salient in rural schools. These schools typically report great difficulty in attracting and retaining qualified teachers of mathematics. Teachers in non-metropolitan locations may also experience professional isolation if they have limited…

In science education, inquiry-based approaches to teaching and learning provide a framework for students to building critical-thinking and problem-solving skills. Teacher professional development has been an ongoing focus for promoting such educational reforms. However, despite a strong consensus regarding best practices for professional…

Online professional development (OPD) has great potential to improve teacher quality by improving teachers' knowledge and instructional practices, with the ultimate goal of improving student achievement. There is a dearth of scientific research, however, on the effects of OPD. This article presents the results of a randomized control trial…

In this article, issues surrounding the status of special education teaching as a profession are investigated. First, the authors consider what makes an occupation a profession and examine the range of views of professions in American society. Second, the authors describe the evolution and developmental history of three established professions:…

This paper reports on research undertaken into what secondary school drama teachers think they need to possess in terms of subject knowledge in order to operate effectively as drama specialists. "Subject knowledge" is regarded as being multi-faceted, and the paper considers how drama teachers prioritise its different aspects. A…