This article analyses the nature of learning in three long-term professional development approaches from different disciplines--teacher research as used in educational contexts, action learning as used in business contexts, and problem-based learning as used in medical contexts. The lens used for analysis focuses on three dimensions or influences…

The purpose of the research reported in this paper was to develop a preliminary factorial structure of high school history teachers' perceptions on the most important elements of successful history teaching. The 54-item Teaching American History Perception and Behavior Questionnaire was developed and administered to high school American history…

This report is one of nine detailed case studies of small urban high schools that served as the foundation for the Education Resource Strategies (ERS) report "Strategic Designs: Lessons from Leading Edge Small Urban High Schools." These nine schools were dubbed "Leading Edge Schools" because they stand apart from other high…

For more than 50 years, the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA) has been conducting comparative studies of educational achievement in a number of curriculum areas, including mathematics and science. TIMSS 2011 represents the fifth cycle of the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS),…

This report discusses research-supported principles and practices in the professional development of bilingual education teachers and teachers of language minority students, illustrated with the experiences of a number of specific projects. An introductory section offers background and the philosophy of the study. Subsequent sections address…

Educators and educational policymakers increasingly express the belief that assessment should not be used merely to judge how much students know, but also to illuminate the nature of their knowledge and understandings in order to help them learn. The role of classroom-based assessment in this process is explored considering such forms of…

An Australian project provided an inservice, team teaching program interspersed with professional development workshops for community-based practitioners in English as a Second Language (ESL) and Adult Literacy and Basic Education (ABLE). The group who participated included four ESL teachers working in community providers and four adult literacy…

This study examined teachers' transformations from "sages on the stage to guides on the side" through a survey of preservice secondary school teachers (N=73) over time to identify their envisioned preferred teaching methods; a survey of inservice master teachers (N=24) in professional development schools to identify their choices of…

Few studies have investigated the knowledge and beliefs that undergrids science teachers' assessment practice. This study was conducted to investigate the perspectives of science teachers on classroom assessment, considering the constructs that inform teachers of their classroom assessment practice. The study was grounded in a socioconstructivist…

This book reports on the findings of a 3-year research project, Learning in Science, carried out in New Zealand. It documents the teacher development process for a group of science teachers as they used new teaching activities to take into account students' thinking, constructivist views of learning, and alternative conceptions. The professional…

Two College of Education faculty members describe their journeys as "professors in residence" immersed in schoolwide change efforts at two different partnership schools. Collaboration with school staff, students' families, and community agencies led to the formation of significant alliances that contributed to the process of school…

In fall 1987, the Learning to Learn Subcommittee was formed at Miami-Dade Community College (M-DCC) to help design a formal course in teaching/learning theory, to identify effective student behaviors and teaching strategies to develop critical thinking skills, and to identify strategies to implement the "learning to learn" concept across all…

The extension of the new thinking curriculum into the classroom suggests that the redefinition of learning requires a collaborative classroom. Provided in this third guidebook in a series of nine video conferences is an elaboration on the definition of classroom collaboration, a description of classroom characteristics and student and teacheer…

Issues are discussed and recommendations are offered to policymakers on the preparation of practitioners to work with infants, toddlers, and their families. Section I examines eforts to define "competence" for practitioners and programs. Section II describes in detail four key elements of training for infant/family practitioners, illustrating how…

This report is one in a series on the work of the 30 pilot projects that form the European Community's second Programme on the Transition from Education to Adult and Working Life. The report analyzes the work of the pilot projects in the field of inservice teacher training. It lists the new demands on teachers, as the pilot projects identified…