Introduces this theme issue on teacher education and professional development of school personnel in the 21st century. Illustrates how power struggles and other obstacles within the education system can sabotage efforts to provide professional development opportunities. Asserts that the complexities of teacher education will increase in the 21st…

Describes Project CREATE (Caregiver Recruitment, Education, and Training Enhancement), designed to improve the quality of community-based child care programs in Delaware, and provided in three 1-credit modules at no cost to participants. Identifies barriers to providing education to infant and toddler caregivers. Presents preliminary evaluation…

Discusses the need for universities to better meet the needs of the early intervention and special education community. Describes the Concentration in Infants and Young Children within the M.Ed. in Special Education program at Arizona State University West. Features include an Individualized Student Learning Plan to guide student progress,…

Details a partnership between the University of Michigan and a rural Head Start grantee to facilitate teacher dialogue and shared activities. Examines characteristics of effective school-university partnerships. Describes how a group of Head Start teachers became a community of learners through teacher visits, consultations, and presentations…

Argues that teacher educators must ensure that early childhood teachers learn to create critical curricula aimed at fostering democratic citizens rather than implement given appropriate practices into which they have been indoctrinated. Advocates engaged pedagogy as an approach to counter the indoctrination approach to teacher education. Describes…

Describes the Learner Centered Sites Project in Buffalo, New York, a program designed to establish a model child-centered classroom at each early childhood center or site. Discusses how the program evolved in response to teachers' needs, concerns, and goals. Presents guidelines learned from 3 years of program operation and future plans. (KB)

Project Texas is a professional development program for K-8 teachers from districts serving underrepresented populations in order to develop teacher knowledge of Texas' eco-regions. The program provides a meaningful context modeling integration of field experiences, investigative activities, problem-solving strategies, and cooperative learning…

Describes the Integrated Secondary Teacher Education Program (I-STEP), offered at Northern Arizona University, which educates teachers for middle school careers. Describes program features: (1) integration; (2) field experience; (3) inquiry and problem--based learning; (4) intense collaboration; and (5) alternative student assessment models. (KB)

Argues that partnerships between early childhood teacher preparation programs and public school teachers will strengthen the discourse on multicultural education and its institutionalization. Presents strategies for gaining a personal connection to multicultural education ideals, including developing cultural biographies, examining stereotypes and…

Describes the Professional Development Schools (PDS) initiative to simultaneously restructure schools and teacher education programs. Outlines program components. Presents steps to develop an inclusive PDS through the University of Central Florida-Daytona Beach, Volusia County School District, and the Florida Inclusion Network, including public…

Describes an early childhood mentorship model used at the University of South Florida to provide support to early childhood educators. Discusses the importance of mentoring for teacher retention. Presents findings from a professional needs survey of 84 graduates, of which a core group of 30 were identified as potential master cooperating teachers…

Summarizes research on the impact of all-day kindergarten on academic achievement and behavior. Examines parents' and teachers' attitudes toward all-day kindergarten. Reviews research on curriculum in all-day kindergartens. Concludes that all-day kindergarten impacts positively on academic achievement and behavior and that parents and teachers…

Examines the art and craft of teaching as applied to middle schools. Includes discussion of ways to instill and engender a democratic classroom, exercise collegial and collaborative relationships, foster adolescents' dreams, sustain a fierce commitment to teaching, employ varied instructional methodologies, offer exploratory experiences, develop a…

Examines developmental changes in children's self-esteem. Presents suggestions for parents to help their children develop an accurate self-perception, including encouraging children to value a wide range of competencies, accepting and acknowledging children's weaknesses and limitations, encouraging their attempts to change, supporting children…

Uses a "good practice" example from a Reggio Emilia-inspired university program for 4.5- to 6-year-olds to show how the director and teachers used educational technology to enrich the depth and meaning of the children's long-term projects, which are an integral part of the teaching practice. Includes print, Internet, and software resources for…