This series—launched in the July 27, 2005, issue of Education Week—examines the new and evolving approaches to professional development in education at a time of increased expectation on teachers to meet the “highly qualified” mandates of the No Child Left Behind Act.
n Teachers are the agents of reform; universities and schools are partners for investing in that reform through professional development.
October 24, 2007
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1 min read
Ann Van Sickle of the University of San Diego, an expert on instructional "walkthroughs" makes a point during a training session held last month at the University of New Orleans.
Seven Louisiana districts are seeking to make principals better observers of teaching with a technique called “walkthroughs.” Administrators in each system are being trained to coach school leaders on what to look for, and how to use what they see to plan professional development in their schools.
Jeff Archer, July 26, 2005
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6 min read
Teachscape is one Web resource that helps districts customize online professional-development programs for their teachers.
The possibilities of online learning for educators have been dazzling, and over the past decade a slew of providers have rushed to create Web-based opportunities for more and better professional development—and institutional gain.
In the movement to improve reading instruction, many states and districts are building an army of specialists to help teachers apply research to practice.
Many national policymakers and experts believe that professional development, which teachers often have regarded as wasted time, is potentially an important tool for improving student learning. But as often happens in education, the research on such programs and their effectiveness hasn’t kept pace with the rhetoric.
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