Learning is a concept that is routinely used in various educational settings, and the enhancement of learning is the primary goal of many, if not all, educators and administrators. People involved in education, however, may not necessarily have extensively explored this commonly cited notion, and some may not have subsequently realized the…

In an effort to correct for perceived deficiencies in the No Child Left Behind Act, value-added models were proposed as a way to find out how much students learned in schools and classrooms throughout the school year. What has garnered much controversy regarding the value-added model, however, is the attempt to link pay and tenure to performance.…

Project-Based Learning (PBL) is an innovative approach to learning that teaches a multitude of strategies critical for success in the twenty-first century. Students drive their own learning through inquiry, as well as work collaboratively to research and create projects that reflect their knowledge. From gleaning new, viable technology skills, to…

Collaborative inquiry groups, such as professional learning communities and lesson study groups, are proliferating in schools across the United States. In whatever form, the potential for impacting student learning through this collaborative work is expanded or limited by the nature of teachers' conversations. Polite, congenial conversations…

The authors of this article believe that the current structure of lesson plans impede differentiation, individualization, and innovation and offer little in assessing the quality of teaching and learning. Concrete steps will be offered for planning to better respond to student diversity in meeting lesson objectives. (Contains 1 figure.)

The 2007 film "Freedom Writers" portrays the real-life experiences of Erin Gruwell, a teacher at an inner-city high school in Long Beach, California. This article discusses the educational theories underpinning Gruwell's pedagogical practice, as seen in "Freedom Writers", and identifies four themes--rewriting curriculum, treating students as…

This article examines and critiques the leadership capacity of department leaders in a high school and attempts to gain a deeper understanding of how department leaders perceive their role as teacher leaders, making a distinction between what an individual department leader does in his or her position and teacher leadership as a form of continuous…

In this article, the authors describe a case in which school district officials used state regulations for new teacher mentoring programs as justification to cut funding and incrementally dismantle a model program. (Contains 1 table.)

Despite federal legislation and national technology plans, making technology significant in K-12 classrooms has yet to happen. The difficulty lies in veteran teachers who struggle to gain technological fluency. Many identified barriers continue to prevail, not for lack of teachers' trying but because of the overwhelming nature of technology.…

The purpose of teaching is to create opportunities for students to learn, and to support and evaluate the learning process as it unfolds. Professional middle-level teachers assume multiple roles in this process. Effective teachers are apt instructors who plan and implement lessons and evaluate student learning. The best teachers set high…

Although the propensity for child abuse is shared among adults of all occupations and economic strata, this article is concerned mainly with child care professionals. Whatever the case may be, the result is the same: tragic violation of the trust that should exist between child and adult. What can be done to correct the situation? In this article…