Reynolds and Wheldall reviewed research relating to Reading Recovery (RR) and concluded that "RR has provided an excellent model in demonstrating how to plan, promote, and implement an intervention across an educational system and how to design a professional development programme" (2007, p. 218). They balanced this praise with concerns about the…

Scholars from the American Institutes for Research analyzed findings from over 1,300 studies that potentially address the effect of professional development on student learning outcomes. The project was sponsored by the Regional Education Laboratory-Southwest (RELSW) and funded by the Institute of Education Sciences of the U.S. Department of…

This study investigated the effects of a teacher professional development program funded by a No Child Left Behind (NCLB) grant on program participants' (teachers') stages of concern toward instructional technology integration into curriculum. The study also explored potential differences in the concern levels among the participants from different…

Background: The need to support new teachers in urban public schools is well established, given current shortages and research that highlights serious issues with teacher retention. Debate continues about approaches to support for new teachers, including questions about the importance of developing an inquiry stance toward teaching. As more…

The Common Core State Standards Initiative is the latest development in a long history of standards-based-reform in the United States. As of November 4, 2011, 46 states and the District of Columbia have adopted new curricular standards, called the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). These states and the District of Columbia are now implementing…

Case studies of Authentic Intellectual Work (AIW) in the Iowa project included four high schools that have been practicing this professional development model for the last five years. The schools, AHST Secondary School, Cedar Falls High School, Spencer High and Middle Schools and Valley High School were visited in April, 2011. The visits included…

Schools are increasingly integrating multidisciplinary education into their programmes. The Minister of Education, Culture and Science has introduced a new, integrated science subject in secondary education in the Netherlands, called Nature, Life and Technology (NLT). This research note describes the design of a generic model for a professional…

The "What Works Clearinghouse" guidelines for high-quality professional development were used to develop a Tell, Show, Try, and Apply (TSTA) method of training. This method was used to train teachers to align instruction to grade-level content for students with severe developmental disabilities. A total of 193 teachers of students who…

This paper reports the findings from a research study conducted by the Institute for the Study of Knowledge Management in Education (ISKME) in partnership with the Faculty Inquiry Network (FIN), a professional development program designed to engage faculty at 18 colleges across California. Participants were FIN faculty teams involved in iterative…

Numerous teaching, learning, assessment, and institutional innovations in undergraduate science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education have emerged in the past decade. Because virtually all of these innovations have been developed independently of one another, their goals and purposes vary widely. Some focus on making science…

The focus of this chapter is on the evidence to date that documents the impact of PDS engagement on four specific groups of participants: veteran P-12 teachers, university faculty, P-12 school principals, and parents and community members. In reviewing the literature concerning the impact of PDS engagement on these four groups, the authors'…

While there is clear evidence that using classroom assessment for learning can improve learning significantly, research has demonstrated that it is particularly challenging for secondary teachers to change their practices in an assessment for learning direction. Many factors have been suggested as inhibiting change in these schools. Some studies…

In November 2004, State Superintendent of Schools Nancy S. Grasmick convened the Maryland Social Studies Task Force. The Task Force was charged with examining issues related to social studies education and recommending ways to improve social studies instruction in Maryland's public schools. The Task Force formed four Subcommittees, each examining…

In 2008, educational leaders from the Arizona Department of Education (ADE) assigned a group of turnaround specialists to work in four failing public schools in a large, urban school district in Phoenix, Arizona in hopes of improving those schools. The utilization of turnaround specialists in failing schools was Arizona's method of enacting…

In an effort to improve its mathematics education, the state of Georgia instituted a performance-based curriculum in the high schools during the 2008 school year. With the implementation of this new curriculum, teachers needed resources and the opportunity to collaborate regularly. The problem this project-based study addressed was how to refine a…