Financial support for implementing technology in the public schools has come from a wide spectrum of sources. How much is being spent, where the funds come from, and whether funding will be sustained ultimately determine the degree to which students will be participants in an increasingly technology-driven society. This edition highlights the pros…

This serial issue contains 12 articles on the theme of "Professional Development," specifically about how teachers in the Bread Loaf Rural Teacher Network (BLRTN) are fostering their own and each other's development as teachers. The BLRTN consists of approximately 260 rural teachers in Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Georgia, Kentucky,…

This paper reports on the use of focus groups at Oakton Community College (Illinois) to connect with classified staff and to get their feedback on key issues. A total of four single-session focus groups, three with classified staff (employees with varying levels of academic preparation and current responsibilities) and one with…

This paper examines the experiences of seven new faculty at a charter school of education at California State University Los Angeles. The seven new professors in the study were asked to engage in ethnographic interviews that described and categorized their experiences, and contrasted them with other events. Interview questions focused on:…

This paper provides a summary of four projects currently funded through Australia's National Center for Vocational Education Research (NCVER), including what they propose to achieve and their preliminary findings to date. After an introduction, an overview of preliminary findings from the four projects is presented. The following barriers to…

To examine how the school districts profiled in "Gaining the Arts Advantage: Lessons from School Districts That Value Arts Education" are responding to the demands of how to provide high quality public education to all students throughout the country and whether their communities continue to support arts education, the Arts Education Partnership…

Dealing with the impact of crisis on school children and staff is not the primary mission of schools. Therefore, many schools remain unprepared to respond to a crisis affecting students and staff. Too often they respond to each successive crisis in a reflexive manner with little preplanned coordination or structure. This workshop provides an…

This staff development guide with accompanying videotape is designed to assist early years staff using "A Curriculum Framework for Children 3 to 5" in Scotland to assess children's progress. The program is comprised of activities to stimulate discussion among colleagues, affirm existing good practice, give time for reflection, and…

The 11 chapters in this book are intended to raise awareness of the wealth of expertise the prison education sector has to offer other adult educators. "Policy Development and Cultural Issues in Australian Prison Education" (Bob Semmens) details the current situation, with a major focus on recent developments in Victoria. "Policy, Praxis, and…

With the introduction of the "whole language" approach to literacy and an emphasis on "across the curriculum" learning, the effective instruction of writing has taken on an added importance during the past two decades in California. Recent public demands for a "back to basics" school curriculum where the mastering of…

The question of why only English teachers and their students study Herman Melville's novel, "Billy Budd," is raised in this paper. The book offers insights and fundamental social questions for students in secondary school social studies. Suggestions are offered as to how social studies teachers (with their perspectives, concerns, and…

Because there are few opportunities for community college teachers to move to other institutions as a result of stabilized enrollments, efforts must be made to maintain their professional vitality. Article provides guidelines for effective staff development and suggestions for implementing staff development activities. (Author/RK)

The most innovative and potentially productive effort in staff development in the Atlanta School System is one directed toward basic skills in reading and math. (Authors)

Three functional roles, as reflected in Teacher Behavior Improvement, Retraining and Staff Development, tied together through cooperative relationships with colleges and universities, represent the broad scope of activities of Detroit's Teacher Education Department. (Authors)

The Project carries on a diagnostic/prescriptive program utilizing an individual approach. Early educational intervention elements receive the highest priority in the PACE program. (Author/CB)