One of the critical issues identified by the North Central Regional Education Laboratory (Cook and Fine 1997) is that the "ultimate worth of professional development for teachers is the essential role it plays in the improvement of student learning." Recently, several reports have been released on the importance of teacher quality (NEA…

As an alternative method of coaching education, with a focus on situated learning, mentoring has the potential to encourage "communities of practice," which are groups of people who share a common interest and engage in a process of collective learning that creates bonds between them. In addition, mentoring has the potential to overcome the…

W. E. B. Du Bois (1903) commented that the color line would be the problem of the 20th century. Indicators from many sources, including the three Major Contribution articles, suggest that race continues to be an unsolved challenge for the 21st century. These articles offer provocative examinations of race issues in counselor training and empirical…

The practice of classroom assessment occurs at the intersection of three teaching functions: instruction, classroom management, and assessment. Theory relevant to studying classroom assessment comes from several different areas: the study of individual differences (e.g., educational psychology, theories of learning and motivation), the study of…

Argues that English language teachers must be aware of the connection between technology and culturally bound ideologies. This warning suggests that these teachers must attend not only to what technology is and can do for English language learners, but also what it fails to do. (Author/VWL)

Librarians need to work with classroom teachers and college faculty to find ways to help students become more intrinsically motivated to learn. They can do this by providing challenging learning experiences that promote feelings of competence and mastery. It is the intrinsically motivated student that becomes a lifelong learner. In this article,…

Ideas about leadership in education, as in other areas of professional practice, increasingly borrow from management and business thinking. In this article I provide a commentary and critique of contemporary leadership in the form of a narrative of my own experience as an educator in a business school. My experience as a woman teacher of largely…

This study explored internship practices in family studies programs in the United States. Specifically, procedures, supervision, purpose, benefits, integration with coursework, and evaluation were examined. Data were collected via a questionnaire e-mailed to universities and colleges with undergraduate family studies programs (N = 68). Although…

Intermediary organizations have become increasingly prominent participants in education policy implementation despite limited knowledge about their distinctive functions and the conditions that constrain and enable those functions. This article addresses that research-practice gap by drawing on theories of organizational ecology and findings from…

This article starts from a conceptual clarification of the notions social integration and social cohesion as a prerequisite for the reorientation of citizenship education. Turning away from uncritically reproduced assumptions represented in mainstream "deficiency discourse," the article first focuses on sociological conditions for the rise of…

Each of the Major Contribution's articles has traced counseling psychology's rich positive heritage. This reaction assesses this heritage in relation to positive psychology and considers the fundamental question of "To whose agenda are we working?" as psychological practitioners, locating the answer within the impact it has on our practice. The…

Since the publication of "A Nation at Risk" (National Commission for Excellence in Education, 1983), school reform has not been far from the center of dialogue about public education in the United States. This report certainly provided a reference point for much of the reform that immediately followed it and much of the reform that…

Interest in strengthening the impact and value of education research has been growing around the world. Here I outline a view of the nature of "impact" and point to instances where research has had a positive impact in education, but always within a larger social and political framework. A three element "model" of research impact is developed and…

In a promising gesture of diversity, the Modern Language Association has been welcoming community colleges (CC) into its conference agendas. Since this sector constitutes the majority of college teachers, and a silent one at that, it could furnish valuable perspectives to the Association. What are these perspectives? To begin with, take the…

This article is about using research from a practitioner perspective. It tells the stories of four teachers and a researcher, who were part of a collaborative project focused on connecting research and practice in relation to Education for Sustainable Development. The project started with a small advertisement placed in a practitioner newsletter,…