This case study examines the history and current circumstances of education in Cocke County (Tennessee) in the context of its participation in the Appalachian Rural Systemic Initiative (ARSI), which aims to improve science and mathematics achievement through systemic reform. Sections of this report describe the county's history, demography, and…

The federal Migrant Education Program provides supplemental instruction and support services to migrant children through grants to states under Title I, Part C, of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. The reauthorization of Title I in 1994 contained new requirements that Title I schools help students meet new state standards developed for…

This is the culminating report of a three-year study of seven small schools in Washington State. It examines adult learning in the context of school redesign and highlights three schools where teachers are beginning to capitalize on adult learning opportunities to turn the corner to instructional change. In our view, effective adult learning…

This paper was prepared for the Ministerial Council on Education, Employment and Training Taskforce on Teacher Quality & Educational Leadership. It covers the following broad areas: (1) How can a national definition of "Good Teaching" be developed, and what should it include?; (2) What should a "National Standards…

This book contains a collection of case studies that provide a variety of situations in managing or working with marginal employees in a school system. Managing Marginal School Employees will serve as a primary or companion text for administrator candidates or current administrators that include dilemmas for the student to think about, discuss,…

The 11 chapters in this book are organized into 3 parts. "Part 1: Making Changes at the Core" contains five chapters: (1) "Learning To Teach in Professional Development Schools" (Kenneth Zeichner and Maurine Miller); (2) "'Making It Happen': Creating a Subculture of Mentoring in a Professional Development School"…

The Aspen Institute's Forum on Communications and Society (FOCAS) is a group of chief executive officers or their equivalents from business, government and the nonprofit sector who meet annually to suggest innovative ways that business, government, and the nonprofit sector can collaborate to use communications and information goods and services…

This digest discusses the professional development of foreign language teachers at a time when the foreign language teaching profession is facing a number of new challenges, such as a rapidly changing student clientele, the development of national standards for foreign language education, and advances in technology. The first section of the digest…

The Connecticut Department of Education is in the process of generating a new Beginning Educator Support and Training Program (B.E.S.T.), which features a vision for the future, standards for elementary teaching, and performance and portfolio assessments. The aim is to develop a fluid plan for professional development of teachers. This case study…

This paper describes a tool called the Professional Development Project (PDP) that helps preservice teachers become reflective teachers. Action research in a course for preservice teachers, "Reading and Literature in the Schools," from 1993 through 1996 led to the development of the PDP. Action research helps students become reflective…

As the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) considers the redesign of the Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS), it is appropriate to consider the information about inservice professional development (IPD) that would be suitable for inclusion in the SASS. Part I of this paper considers the various definitions of IPD and its evaluation,…

This workbook for teaching a biology course is organized into three sections: (1) teacher guidelines; (2) suggested experiments; and (3) apparatus requirements and evaluation schemes. Some of the topics covered in the 30 biology experiments contained in this book include soil analysis, geotropism, bowfly larvae, germination, seed dispersal, flower…

In an effort to improve a summer professional development program for inservice secondary mathematics and science teachers in Taiwan, a three-year action research project has recently been completed. The program attempted to provide participating teachers with a better theoretical and practical understanding of teaching and learning based on the…

An investigation-based course on teaching strategies for in-service science and mathematics teachers has been developed. The purpose of this course was to learn how to teach science or mathematics from the constructivist perspective. The course development was based on constructivism, especially social constructivism. Major adjustments concerning…

This paper addresses the potential of the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) to measure education reforms in the United States through Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS). How the SASS can measure reform, the type of reform it should assess, and the elements of school reform that would best serve the needs of state and federal…