I present autobiographical writing and photographic imaging, an arts-based research methodology, to understand my personal knowledge as a means to understand my professional knowledge. Using my passions for writing and photography, I explore the conflicts, opportunities, and purposes of using a visual form of arts-based narrative inquiry from a…

Following the collapse of the USSR in 1989, educators in socialist countries such as Latvia not only had to establish democratic governance structures, they also faced huge uncertainty as they turned toward a postmodern Europe. Faculties of education and public schools were expected to relearn to reteach. They had to decentralize leadership,…

Research indicates that teachers who readily integrate technology into their instruction are more likely to possess constructivist teaching styles. Evidence suggests there is a parallel between a teacher's student-centered beliefs about instruction and the nature of the teacher's technology-integrated lessons. This connection between the use of…

Curriculum materials for Grades K-12 that are intended to promote teacher learning in addition to student learning have come to be called "educative curriculum materials." How can K-12 curriculum materials be designed to best promote teacher learning? What might teacher learning with educative curriculum materials look like? The authors…

Intercultural education is a familiar concept to many involved with education, as it underpins the school curriculum in an increasing number of countries in the world. Distinctly separate to intercultural education is intercultural language learning (IcLL), a specific set of principles currently at the fore of what is occurring with languages…

The Eisenhower Professional Development Program's primary goal is to support professional development for teachers that will improve classroom practice and, ultimately, student achievement. A multiyear evaluation of the Eisenhower Program sought to provide information to help the Eisenhower Program, and other professional development efforts,…

This study evaluates the success of collaborative dialogue between students and co-operating teachers as a follow-up to in-service education and teaching (INSET). Current INSET programmes are on the whole found to be insufficient due to the fact that they do not provide the participant teachers with opportunities to reflect on their own…

In a recent "Journal of Early Childhood Teacher Education" article, the author reported on a single case of a successful mentor-beginning teacher pairing that was derived from a larger qualitative study (Certo, 2005). The purpose of this article is to report findings from that larger investigation. Three Virginia elementary 1st-year…

There are many factors that affect the design of effective professional development (PD) programs. This review of literature focuses on some of the theoretical models used to explain teacher change, the contextual factors that impact teacher behaviors and curricular change, and the role of continuous professional development in changing teaching…

"Success for All" is a comprehensive reform model, which applies cooperative learning, tutoring, family support services, and extensive professional development to help high-poverty schools succeed with their pupils. A review of research on "Success for All" with African American students focuses on evidence that the model reduces the achievement…

To support schools as they move into the 21st century, the Massachusetts Department of Education is developing improved systems to collect, analyze, and report data, which will ultimately allow districts to make decisions about instructional practices that will better meet students' needs. Many Massachusetts school districts are using these…

In January 2006, every science department chair in U.S. public, private, and parochial high schools received information on food science, including a DVD, poster, and experiment guide developed by the Institute of Food Technologists (IFT), IFT Foundation, and Discovery Education. To promote the experiments and to encourage implementation of the…

This article reports on the results of a mixed method case study investigating the relationship between professional learning community (PLC) activities and teacher improvement in a first-year middle school. Data were collected from core academic sixth, seventh, and eighth grade teachers using a professional development survey, teacher interviews,…

Preadolescent students are interested in learning the structure and function of the human body. However, their teachers are not trained in this content. The purpose of this project was to expand a successful outreach effort in the health sciences for grade 7-12 teachers to include PreK-3 teachers. A "Healthy Hearts" workshop was offered to train…

This paper describes a collaborative action research approach used to explore peer observation of teaching (POT) within the online environment. Although POT has become familiar in face-to-face teaching contexts, little is understood of its potential role in online settings. We conducted "virtual" focus groups to explore the experience…