A conversation with James Stigler, professor of psychology at the University of California, Los Angeles, about how to improve professional development for teachers. (PKP)

Discusses research on new-teacher induction from the Project on Next Generation of Teachers at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Describes three types of school-based professional cultures: veteran-oriented, novice-oriented, and integrated. Emphasizes the importance of organized onsite, ongoing support for new teachers. (PKP)

Describes the use of structured action research for the professional development of teachers. Describes how a high school used structured action research to improve reading comprehension. Includes a sample schoolwide action-research matrix. (Contains 14 references.) (PKP)

Describes Critical Friends Group process for helping teachers improve teaching and student learning through collaborative feedback and problem-solving activities. (PKP)

Describes "tuning protocol," a collaborative, group problem-solving process to help teachers improve student learning. Provides an example of how "tuning protocol" works. (PKP)

Asserts that effective onsite professional development for teachers must include weekly professional meetings (conversations) for teachers to improve teaching and learning. Provides examples and guidelines for weekly professional meetings. Includes the importance of creating meeting time. (PKP)

Describes the use research lesson-study groups for teacher professional development in Japan, including activities associated with these groups, where they are held, what they do and do not do, and how U.S. teachers can emulate research lesson study. (PKP)

Describes two key features of the National Writing Project's approach to professional development for teachers: social practices and local networks. (PKP)

Describes five levels of evaluation to improve professional development: Participants' reactions, participants' learning, organization support and change, participants' use of new knowledge and skills, and student learning outcomes. (Contains 14 references.) (PKP)

Asserts that professional development for beginning teachers should begin with induction programs. Describes three exemplary beginning-teacher induction programs: Flowing Wells School District, Tucson, Arizona; Lafourche Parish Public Schools, Thibodaux, Louisiana; and Port Huron Area Schools, Port Huron, Michigan. (PKP)

Describes professional development for new teachers based on three categories of research-based instructional strategies: organizing, including planning, advance work, and classroom management; instructing, more student-centered than teacher-centered; and assessing, both student assessment and self-assessment. (PKP)

Describes professional-development schools, partnerships between university teacher-education programs and schools, involving professors, teachers, and teacher interns. Tells how mutual respect and collaborative innovation developed in one such professional-development school in Camden, New Jersey. (PKP)

Describes why school districts and universities should create professional-development school partnerships. Argues that besides increasing student and teacher learning, professional-development schools can improve education in schools and universities by reforming them both, taking on new roles and new work, reducing teacher-student ratios, and…

Describes efforts by teachers and administrators in Menomonee Falls School District near Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to jointly develop a professional-development certificate for teachers. Describes requirements for earning the certificate and benefits related thereto. (PKP)

Describes professional-development class based on teachers' use of video to help each other implement new curriculum. Class encourages teacher reflection and collegial support. (PKP)