For professional learning to "stick," teachers need to connect what they learn to their practice--and particularly to their work with their current students. The authors describe a PD program they've developed for math teachers with emergent multilingual students (English language learners) in their classes. Teachers choose "focus…

Why does professional learning for educators have such a mixed history? Why is it so hard to find solid research evidence of professional development programs that actually improve student learning outcomes? Part of the answer, writes Thomas R. Guskey, is that professional learning experiences for educators are rarely well planned. Consequently,…

Formative assessment has been receiving increasing attention in education. But from a classroom teacher's perspective, changing assessment practices is not always an easy, straightforward process. This article describes the experiences of five middle schools science teachers who met together weekly to exchange ideas about integrating formative…

Six years ago, South Heights Elementary School was the lowest-performing school in Kentucky's Henderson County School District. Teachers blamed poverty lack of parent involvement, poor discipline, and high staff turnover for the situation. Few expected to meet the state goals. Yet by 2004, South Heights was the fifth-highest-performing school in…

With its focusing on high-stakes testing in reading and math, NCLB has narrowed the curriculum. This focus comes at the expense of instruction in social studies, the arts, science, and health and denies many students access to the quality curriculums that students in more affluent schools enjoy. NCLB is now the prescribed method of treatment for…

Describes a method to determine whether particular strategies and materials are being used in classrooms as a result of inservice training. (Author/MLF)

Research evidence shows that mastery learning is much more effective than conventional methods; however, it is not yet known whether it works equally well for all kinds of learning and for all kinds of students. (Author/JM)

In San Antonio, four schools are using the kindergarten level of the computer-based Waterford Early Reading Program to determine whether well-designed educational technology can bridge the gap between successful and disadvantaged schools. New technology and an old-fashioned buddy system are infusing classrooms with effective, dynamic teaching…

Schools across the country are experimenting with one-to-one laptop learning programs. The author's research team has studied 10 such schools--seven in California and three in Maine--and has found that laptop programs have great potential to help schools prepare students for the future. In this article, Warschauer warns that one-to-one laptop…

Chicago's mastery learning program takes into account the complexities of reading and the realities of urban classrooms. Its designers say that if a program does not lead to success, it is not a mastery learning program. (Author/JM)

Recommends that schools experiment with a comprehensive formative evaluation system suggested by "A Study of Schooling" by John Goodlad and his associates. The system includes periodic assessment of such things as student achievement, teaching practices, class climates, adult working environments, and parent attitudes. (Author/JM)

High school students in Seattle's Global Technology Academy bring refurbished computers to schools and orphanages in developing areas of the world and teach young people the skills they need to advance in an increasingly information-based global marketplace. In 19 trips to date, teams of 5-15 students have taken computers and knowledge to such…

When 29 percent of final grades for students at Bendle Middle School showed up as Ds and Es, teachers knew something had to give. Kenkel, Hoelscher, and West describe how the ABCI approach, based on mastery learning, shook up a community culture of low expectations for working class kids, and opened the way for more appropriate teaching methods…