This study examines the knowledge of PA instruction of 223 first-year teachers initially certified in special education, early childhood education, and elementary education. Results indicate that significant numbers of beginning special and general education teachers in this sample appear to be inadequately prepared with respect to PA instruction. They have limited knowledge of PA, confuse PA with phonics, are generally unable to select task-appropriate materials or activities, and lack skill in analyzing written words into phonemes.

Three significant impediments to mentoring success have been identified in the literature: insufficient time; mentors' lack of professional expertise; and personality mismatches. To address these issues, a skills training program was developed in Victoria. This program utilized the principles of adult attachment theory and time-limited therapy. The model was introduced to principals across grade levels. The results indicated significant improvement in the skills set and confidence levels of mentors (i.e. experienced school principals).

The article presents a case study of a 2nd-year teacher who was in a graduate-level Multicultural Curriculum Design course, which was designed to develop the complexity with which teachers understand and plan curriculum. Data included (1) several student papers, (2) a reflective journal, (3) classroom observation of the teacher, and (4) an interview . The case study reinforced the importance of creating contexts in which teachers can examine their own backgrounds and beliefs, interact with one another, and interact with ideas that stretch them intellectually.

Six preservice social studies teachers examined techniques believed to promote active student engagement during a 12-week field experience. They used electronic portfolio development supported by evidential reasoning methods and reflective question prompts. These methods helped preservice teachers to re-examine and modify teaching conclusions based on classroom evidence, and formulate improvement plans for future implementations.

This article discusses issues surrounding the status of special education teaching as a profession. First, the authors consider what makes an occupation a profession and examine the range of views of professions in American society. Second, the authors describe the evolution and developmental history of three established professions: medicine, law, and engineering. The authors then consider the developmental status of special education in relation to the histories of these three established professions. They conclude with a discussion of actions that will be necessary if special education teaching is to achieve the status of a profession.

Action research changes people's practices, their understandings of their practices, and the conditions under which they practice. Action research is also a practice, composed of sayings, doing and relating. It is a meta-practice: a practice that changes other practices.Different kinds of action research - technical, practical and critical - are composed in different patterns of saying, doing and relating, as different ways of life.

This article attempts to identify the distinctive qualities of successful veteran teachers, referred to as “expert teachers”, which separates them not only from novice teachers but more importantly from experienced non-expert teachers. Based on earlier case studies, this article maintains that the critical differences between expert and non-expert teachers are manifested in three dimensions: their ability to integrate aspects of teacher knowledge in relation to the teaching act; their response to their contexts of work, and their ability to engage in reflection and conscious deliberation. The data drawn on in this article consist of case studies, spanning 18 months, of four ESL teachers in Hong Kong.

This article begins with an overview of elementary social studies, considering its purposes and goals. The article then considers different approaches and focusing on the approach recommended by the authors. This approach features units on cultural universals, organized around powerful ideas developed with emphasis on their connections and applications. Then, the article describes how an exemplary elementary teacher implements these units in her classroom. The authors conclude that it is important to include social studies as a basic curriculum strand right from the beginning of schooling.

In this paper, the authors describe a model for systematically improving the mathematics preparation of elementary teachers, one lesson at a time. They begin by identifying a serious obstacle for teacher educators: the absence of mechanisms for developing a shareable knowledge base for teacher preparation. They propose their model as a way to address this challenge. The authors conclude by presenting data indicating that the model is effective in generating and vetting knowledge that helps to improve the mathematics program over time.

The purpose of this study is to determine whether 'following recommendations' as a result of an AfL (to teach) is influenced differentially by a performance perspective as compared to a learning perspective on assessment by the assessor. The study was conducted in The Netherlands within one large institute of primary teacher education with 163 student teachers in the first year of their four-year programme of practice teaching. Findings of this study show that both assessment orientations are ill-related to acceptance of feedback and a subsequent following of recommendations.

This investigation examines the success, pitfalls, and lessons learned from incorporating videogame-like components into an educational technology class. The students in this class chose various levels at which to complete assignments but had to earn a certain number of points before being able to move on to the next assignment. Findings reveal parallels between the students' cognitive, motivational, and affective processes and those of gamers.

In this study, the authors sought to establish the differential effects on achievement of embedding evidence-based practice in the design of an inclusive education teacher preparation course. Embedded design involves creating self-repeating patterns in the instructional design of a course by expressing essential design features at multiple levels in the teaching and learning experience. The authors found a statistically significant difference in student achievement as a function of the teaching approach (cooperative learning, peer-assisted learning, or self-study) employed as part of the embedded design process.