Faculty at the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy are improving their understanding of teaching and learning through an innovative system combining collaborative accountability and professional development. CADRE (Career Development Reinforcing Excellence) centers around a network characterized by collective educational goals, self- and…

Describes a California high school's collaborative teacher observation model. The Teacher-Guided Observation/Curriculum Analysis is a continuously evolving instructional and curricular development program that recognizes teachers' need to be treated like professionals, have nonthreatening growth opportunities, assume primary responsibility for…

The Carroll (Texas) Independent School District's performance-based technology program aims to motivate all employees to learn new technological skills and teach them to students. Combining cash bonuses with personal satisfaction, the program rewards professional growth, involves adult learners in their own planning, and correlates individual…

The National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education has launched a project to align content standards with new performance-based standards for teacher preparation programs. Success depends on gaining consensus on content standards, defining "performance-based" in an accreditation setting, and determining curriculum guidelines' role in…

CREST (Collaborative Redesign of Educational Systems) is an intensive, year-long, field-based teacher preparation program that blends theory with practice. Each student teacher is taught at a specific school within the Arlington (Texas) Independent School District and joins an instructional leadership team comprised of a mentor teacher, university…

The University of Southern Maine's Extended Teacher Education Program includes an intensive, year-long internship for liberal arts graduates located at an innovative professional development school. The internship is linked with five Maine school districts participating in the Southern Maine Partnership. Interns must meet 11 standards and prepare…

As European schools have become more autonomous, inservice education has changed from a way to update professional knowledge to a tool for change. This article describes recent inservice education developments, emerging guidelines, choices and trends, and problems and challenges. School-based programs are challenged by competing agency programs…

Describes a year-long project involving four British inner-city elementary schools that linked children's and teachers' learning and significantly changed classroom practices through staff development. Reformers should start with modest goals, convince teachers of benefits, hold regular review sessions, create opportunities for teacher…

To help principals and department heads in their mentoring role, the Singapore Ministry of Education developed a computer system for classroom observation named SOCRATES. The system requires no coding, continuously records entire lessons, compiles data useful for sequential analysis, and allows teachers and principals to identify strengths and…

Will greater school choice result in more responsive, higher quality schools and happier parents? Or will proliferating options further sort students and families by race, social class, and special interest? Increasingly, education is viewed as a private good. If parents become autonomous, self-interested consumers, erosion of common purposes and…

Despite the rosy image projected by child-centered reformers, zealots and profiteers are really driving the charter school movement. Charter schools cannot flourish without drastic wage reductions or huge spending increases, nor will they benefit America's poorest children. The market, which has already destroyed kids' neighborhoods and parents'…

Profiles four successful charter schools. San Diego's O'Farrell Community School provides an enrichment curriculum for inner-city middle schoolers. The Minnesota New Country School, established by three teachers, stresses individual and group projects. Saint Paul's City Academy engages 60 racially diverse youngsters with real-life construction…

Evidence from Arizona and other states demonstrates that children with disabilities lack equal access to charter schools. Charter school operators are avoiding potentially high-cost students and are unprepared to meet their needs. Charter schools need to strike cooperative resource-sharing arrangements with neighboring districts. States must…

A principal of a charter school in Colorado Springs, Colorado, recounts the triumphs and pitfalls of the school's first year. The school charter lacked a clear-cut avenue for making changes. Intending to create a parent-run school, the founding board (themselves parents) made drastic curricular changes without consulting other parents. Passionate…

In a Fort Collins, Colorado, school district, parents whose children attend alternative schools choose schools for all the right reasons. Unfortunately, only a limited segment of parents exercises a choice. Teachers say alternative schools skim off the most motivated parents and students, leaving the problem children behind. These survey results…