Purpose: In response to the top-down professional development (PD) practice, this study conceptualizes lesson study (LS) as a bottom-up approach to foreign language teacher PD in the Turkish context. Relatedly, the authors seek to empower teachers so that they can engage in reflexive PD and claim voice over their practices.…

Distributed peer mentoring networks are a valuable and cost-effective way to support isolated faculty. Our National Science Foundation (NSF)-funded eAlliance project supports 12 such networks for women physics faculty at all ranks and across varied institutions. We discuss how they function for the participants, particularly the advantages of…

A shortage of science and engineering professionals has led to an effort to engage and retain higher education students in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) majors in the United States. School reformers call on faculty members to shift their teaching practices towards evidence-based instructional strategies that involve…

A suburban school in the central United States failed to close the achievement gap with a neighboring school on state-mandated tests despite both schools' implementation of a professional learning community (PLC) to improve student performance. The purpose of this quantitative study was to explore the implementation of a PLC with the mitigating…

With the heightened focus on STEM education in school districts, there is a need to examine the professional learning provided to teachers who implement STEM curriculum, especially low-cost, sustainable professional development experiences. This study used an embedded mixed-method design to examine the connection between Guskey's model of teacher…

This case study is an investigation of the teaching and learning of a teacher in the congregational school of which the author was the director, whose classroom practice was strongly reflective of relational learning theory. It explores the pathways through which this teacher was in turn supported in learning and teaching by relationships with…

Background: An extensive and international evidence base positions professional learning communities (PLCs) as an effective continued professional development (CPD) mechanism that can impact on teachers' practices and, in turn, students' learning. The landscape of teacher PLCs is continuously developing; notably through teachers' uses of social…

The past decade has seen increasing international education activity and interest from policymakers and think tanks in looking to other countries for educational reform strategies. This "new isomorphism"--the notion of global best practices in education--has been the subject of intensive debate between advocates and critics. But missing…

Systems thinking involves attempts to understand and improve complex systems, examines systems holistically, and focuses on the way that a system's constituent parts interrelate. This essay provides examples of how systems thinking can enable principals to demonstrate instructional leadership and nurture learning-focused schools in the current era…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to focus on professional learning communities (PLCs) run for and by teachers to achieve their ongoing professional development and greater pupil attainment. The paper examined principals' perceptions of how such PLCs influence teachers, teacher learning and school processes, and their own involvement in PLCs…

In this article, I examine the changing perception of craft activity since the Industrial Revolution and explore how the social values imposed on craft processes have impacted their effectiveness as tools for learning and self-transformation. Situated within a social constructivist framework, this article suggests that learning occurs as the…

This study utilized a survey research design to examine how school superintendents use concepts found in Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) with district leadership teams to improve professional capital in members of the leadership team. The research sought the correlation between the factors identified through factor analysis, as well as…

Massive Open Online Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) have been transitioning slowly from being completely open and without clear recognition in universities or industry, to private settings through the emergence of Small and Massive Private Online Courses (SPOCs and MPOCs). Courses in these new formats are often for credit and have clear market…

The role of teaching presence in online courses has received significant attention within the Community of Inquiry (CoI) framework since Anderson, Rourke, Garrison, and Archer (2001) proposed a set of categories of teaching presence and a tool to assess them. However, there has been limited research addressing whether the instrument proposed by…

Until recently, existing research on teacher professional development (PD) has largely relied on teacher perceptions and self-reports to evaluate effectiveness. Though more current research has used a diverse array of designs and methodologies to examine impact on teacher knowledge, practice, and student learning, uncertainty regarding the…