Communities of practice offer reference librarians a conceptual model through which to develop and maintain general and subject specific knowledge. Reference librarians acquire general and subject-specific knowledge in many ways, sometimes independently and sometimes collaboratively. Applying the concept of the "community of practice" to reference…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to provide a Year 1 account of a partnership between a university and rural school district focusing specifically on how the project has helped to bridge the theory to practice divide and strengthen university-district ties. Design/methodology/approach: A design-based research paradigm was utilized to…

This paper presents the experience of a group of teachers who have developed action research (AR) dynamics for 15 years aimed at their professional development and teaching practice improvement. The focus is first on the importance of AR, collaborative dynamics and theory and practice relationships for in-service teacher training. It also shows…

In this article the authors recount the history and challenges of implementing coaching in 153 Georgia elementary schools over the 6-year period of Reading First funding. After outlining the expectations of Reading First, they describe the particular demands of coaching in a reform setting and detail the formative lessons that allowed the program…

Technology has been shown to positively influence student learning when students explore technology-rich tasks that simultaneously require them to use higher-order thinking skills (HOTS), such as analyzing or evaluating information or creating new representations of knowledge. Educational technology researchers have posited that in order for…

The authors worked with 22 middle school math and science teachers for one year with the goal of improving the quantity and quality of inquiry-based instruction implemented in the classroom. The professional development experience was framed by the 4E x 2 Instruction Model, which combines key components of inquiry instruction (Engage, Explore,…

As a new teacher educator of beginner teachers on the Graduate Teacher Programme in a large School of Education in a UK university, I have reflected on how I have been able to develop the effectiveness of modelling good professional practice to student-teachers. In this paper I will present ways in which I have made modelling more explicit, how…

The current emphasis of many mathematics education reform documents is on the need to change the environment of mathematics classrooms from the transmission of knowledge by the teacher to the transaction of knowledge between the teacher and the students which promotes mathematical investigation and exploration. In this article, we discuss the…

The majority of educational faculty from a juvenile justice residential detention facility in rural Northeast Missouri who participated in a learning climate survey of their school seemed to agree that the environment for staff and students was generally physically safe and emotionally supportive; key factors for a positive learning climate. By…

In 1978, James Vivian established the Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute, a collaborative program between Yale faculty and New Haven public schools designed to improve teacher effectiveness. The program stemmed from work Vivian had begun while director of a history education project that promoted faculty partnerships with public school teachers.…

Linda MacDonell is the assistant superintendent of the Instructional Services Division of the Orange County (California) Department of Education and over the years, Delores Lindsey served as MacDonell's leadership coach. In this article, they talk about their experiences as external/internal partners building internal capacity for culturally…

This study reports on a collaborative teaching enhancement project at a research-led university, within the context of a focus on the first-year experience. It demonstrates the kind of influence which a combination of managerial and collegial approaches can have on the collaboration. It illustrates the importance of working with a conscious…

School sport partnerships (SSPs) have been at the centre of a national strategy for Physical Education and School Sport (PESS) in England for the last seven years, aiming to improve both the range and quality of opportunities for young people to be physically active. While annual surveys show significantly increased opportunities for young people…

This article illustrates the challenges of teaching curriculum within the guidelines of No Child Left Behind. Nine school teachers write and speak about their experiences, what influences their curriculum choices, and how they attempt to incorporate social studies in the elementary classroom. The teachers completed a background survey, wrote about…

More and more, social technologies and virtual work methods are facilitating new ways of crossing boundaries in professional development and international collaborations. This paper examines the peer development of higher education teachers through the experiences of the IVBM project (International Virtual Benchmarking, 2009-2010). The…