WITH THE INCREASING national focus on teacher quality, professional development is receiving plenty of attention from education researchers and writers. In their 1998 booklet, High-Quality Professional Development, NWREL authors Kit Peixotto and Jennifer Fager report that, since 1978, more than 5,600 citations related to professional development have been catalogued by the Education Resources Information Center (ERIC). Here's a look at a few of the most recent studies, books, and other resources.

THE TEACHING GAP (The Free Press, 1999) draws on research gathered during the Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) to provide a fascinating comparison of classroom practices in Japan, Germany, and the United States. James Stigler, a psychology professor who directed the TIMSS, and coauthor James Hiebert, an education professor, argue that American education will finally be reformed by improving the culture of teaching, not by recruiting better teachers.

Drawing from videotaped classroom lessons in the three countries, they point out deep-seated cultural differences, much more profound than differences between individual teachers in any single country. "We began to see something that surprised us," they write. "The systems of teaching within each country look similar from lesson to lesson." They go on to identify "scripts" for teaching in each country that "appear to rest on a relatively small and tacit set of core beliefs about the nature of the subject, about how students learn, and about the role that a teacher should play in the classroom."

Rather than pushing for wholesale reform of schools in this country, the authors make a case for "small, cumulative improvements" that will improve the culture of teaching. They outline six principles for improvement, namely:

• Expect improvement to be continual, gradual, and incremental
• Maintain a constant focus on student learning goals
• Focus on teaching, not teachers
• Make improvements in context
• Make improvement in the work of teachers
• Build a system that can learn from its own experience

TEACHER QUALITY: A Report on the Preparation and Qualifications of Public School Teachers, released in January 1999 by the National Center for Education Statistics, starts from the premise that "good teachers are the hallmark" of a sound educational system, "integral to children's intellectual and social development." The report examines the quality of the nation's teachers from two broad perspectives: teacher preparation and qualifications; and teaching practices. The two elements are related, the study notes. "Excellent teacher preparation and qualifications should lead to exemplary teaching behaviors and practices."

By surveying full-time public school teachers about their preservice and continued learning as well as their work environments, Teacher Quality uncovers key areas in which teachers feel less than well prepared. These areas include integrating education technology, teaching culturally diverse students or students with limited English proficiency, and using student performance assessment techniques. When surveyed about the value of ongoing professional development, teachers report greater satisfaction with long-term training, mentoring, and collaborative opportunities than with short-term workshops.

To order a copy of Teacher Quality, call the U.S. Department of Education toll free at 1-877-4ED-PUBS.

WHAT WORKS IN THE MIDDLE: Results-Based Staff Development by Joellen Killion, published in 1999 by the National Staff Development Council (NSDC), describes promising programs for boosting middle school student learning in language arts, mathematics, science, and social studies. The book is the result of a two-year NSDC study, supported by the Edna McConnell Clark Foundation, to identify staff development programs that have succeeded in raising student achievement in core academic areas.

NWREL's 6 + 1 Trait Writing Assessment^TM model is one of 25 programs featured in detail in the book. Some 500 programs were nominated for consideration, and a national panel of experts winnowed the field, based on evidence of improved student achievement and other factors. The 6 + 1 Trait model helps teachers become more competent, confident assessors of student writing.

Copies of What Works in the Middle can be ordered for $30 from the NSDC online bookstore (www.nsdc.org/bookstore/books.htm), or by phone, (512) 523-6029. NSDC's Web site (www.nsdc.org) is an excellent resource for staying current on trends, promising approaches, and new publications in the field of staff development.

ACTUAL SCHOOLS, POSSIBLE PRACTICES: New Directions in Professional Development (March 1999), by Dr. Rebecca Novick of NWREL's Child and Family Program, examines the role of effective professional development in elementary school reform. The booklet synthesizes academic research, recounts trends in education, shares understandings from developmental psychology, highlights promising practices, and relates the results of a survey of Northwest educators on the topic of professional development.

In a school climate that supports true reform, Novick writes, "everyone involved will be both a teacher and a learner." She cautions that turning schools into learning communities will require changes at the very core of education, and outlines barriers such
as time and funding, bureaucratic structures, evaluation practices, and personal resistance to change.

Actual Schools, Possible Practices delivers on its title by describing the ambitious, ongoing reform efforts at Cherry Valley Elementary School in Polson, Montana. For a decade, this school has worked to create a community that supports children's learning. Staff development practices include time for collaboration, planning, reading, discussion, visiting other schools, and peer mentoring.

The publication costs $9.15 and can be ordered through NWREL's Document Reproduction Service. Phone: (503) 275-9519.

AS A STEP TOWARD improving their own classroom practices, teachers from Edmonds, Washington, teamed up to research different models of professional development. The result — an 82-page research synthesis called "Professional Development: Best Practices" — uses accessible language to outline general concepts as well as generic models that can be adapted to fit individual schools. Not only is the material well researched, but it carries the scent of success: The Edmonds District was the winner of a U.S. Department of Education Model Professional Development award last year. (See On the Road to Oz.)

The Edmonds educators distill research concepts into practical tips, such as the qualities of a good staff development model and best practices for follow-ups to training. They also highlight the qualities of leadership to support staff development, examine strategies for working with adult learners, and identify factors that motivate or prevent change.

The section of the report that focuses on models provides a question-and-answer overview of nine applications, including study groups, mentors, and distance learning. Each section organizes information under such useful headings as "How do you do it?", "Where has it worked?", and "What are the pros and cons?"

Copies of the report are available for $20 each. To order, contact Susanne Lyon, Edmonds School District, 20420 68th Avenue, W. Lynnwood, WA 98036. Or call: (425) 670-7150.

TEACHING AS THE LEARNING PROFESSION: Handbook of Policy and Practice (Jossey-Bass, 1999), edited by Linda Darling-Hammond and Gary Sykes, includes essays from leading thinkers and researchers in education, exploring both policy and practice relating to what, and how, teachers learn. The focus throughout the book remains squarely on teachers, as Lee Shulman, President of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, explains: "The more we learn from empirical studies of school reform... the more irreplaceable classroom teachers turn out to be.... Although there may be curricula that strive to prescribe teachers' behavior with great precision, for most teachers a typical day is fraught with surprises.... Their work cannot be controlled by rules, even though it must be governed by standards."

Covering a wide expanse of issues — such as teacher education, ongoing professional development, schools as sites for teacher learning, and policy-related issues in teacher learning — the book is grounded in the real life of the classroom. Comments from teachers are used liberally to illustrate research-based concepts. One chapter, "Investing in Teacher Learning" by Richard F. Elmore and Deanna Burney, provides a detailed case study of New York City's Community School District 2, which enjoys a growing reputation for school improvement through professional development.

In a chapter on "The Essentials of Effective Professional Development," authors Willis D. Hawley and Linda Valli describe "an almost unprecedented consensus... on ways to increase the knowledge and skills of educators substantially." The new consensus, the authors report, calls for collegial opportunities for staff learning linked to actual student performance. Synthesizing recent research, they identify these eight characteristics of effective professional development:

• Using goals and student performance to define what educators need to learn
• Involving teachers in identifying what they need to learn to increase their motivation and commitment
• Basing professional development at school
• Providing opportunities for collaborative problem solving
• Making professional development continuous and ongoing
• Making professional development information-rich
• Providing theoretical understanding by making research accessible to teachers
• Integrating professional development with comprehensive school change

EDUTOPIA, a newsletter published twice yearly by the George Lucas Educational Foundation, promotes innovative efforts to improve K-12 education through the integration of technology with teaching and learning. Stories tend to focus on schools that are using interactive media to enliven the learning process. Professional development of teachers is also a consistent theme. Recent issues, for instance, have focused on teachers who serve as technology mentors for their colleagues, a university partnership project to train new teachers in San Francisco public schools, and personal reflections from a leading education expert about the principal who helped her survive her first year in the classroom a quarter-century ago. Resource listings steer teachers toward help available in print, audio, video, and multimedia formats.

Print subscriptions are available at no charge. Edutopia is also published online (www.glef.org). For more information, contact the George Lucas Educational Foundation, P.O. Box 3494, San Rafael, CA 94912, or call (415) 507-0499.

WHAT CAN WE LEARN from schools and districts that have won national recognition for their approach to professional development? Plenty, according to Professional Development: Learning from the Best, a new publication designed to help schools plan and implement effective programs by drawing inspiration from winners of the National Award for Model Professional Development.

Written by Emily Hassel and published by the North Central Regional Educational Laboratory, the toolkit-style booklet distills best practices from the first 20 winners of the U.S. Department of Education award. The winners, recognized between 1997 and 1999, represent a wide range of schools: urban, rural, and suburban; traditional and innovative; diverse and homogenous; schools with tremendous financial resources and schools with very little "extra." As Hassel promises readers, "chances are very good that one or more of the award winners is similar to you in many respects."

The 71-page toolkit takes readers through a step-by-step process to design, implement, and evaluate a program for staff development. Checklists and other planning tools highlight key points to consider, while general themes and specific examples from award winners bring in ideas from the real world.

Schools embarking on a new approach to professional development should benefit from the section of the toolkit that addresses goals. Award winners set clear goals of two types: lofty principles or beliefs that serve as guideposts; and nitty-gritty, measurable objectives usually driven by specific student learning goals. Although winners' goals vary somewhat, the toolkit reports, all of them share the following:

• Improve all students' learning
• Improve teacher effectiveness
• Set high standards for teachers
• Promote continuous staff learning
• Enhance staff intellectual and leadership capacity

ALFIE KOHN, known for previous books on provocative topics such as competition and rewards, takes on high-stakes testing and the educational standards movement in his latest work, The Schools Our Children Deserve: Moving Beyond Traditional Classrooms and "Tougher Standards" (Houghton Mifflin, 1999).

Kohn makes a case for replacing traditional teaching with more progressive classroom practices that foster creativity and curiosity in children. Buttressing his arguments with research, classroom observation, and the ideas of think ers such as John Holt, Alfred North Whitehead, and Howard Gardner, Kohn argues that the standards movement "tends to favor Old-School teaching, the sort of instruction that treats kids as though they were inert objects, that prepares a concoction called 'basic skills' or 'core knowledge' and then tries to pour it down children's throats."

Instead of transmitting specific facts in order to boost test results, schools would better serve their students and communities by nurturing children's innate drive to find meaning in the world, Kohn argues. In a few broad strokes he paints the elements of better schools: "In place of superficial facts, we emphasize deep understanding. In place of fragmentation, we seek to integrate; we bring together skills, topics, and disciplines in a meaningful context. In place of student passivity and isolation, we value learning that is both active and interactive."

Good teachers, Kohn argues, see their job as providing the right conditions for learning. "They devise challenges and, if necessary, help illuminate for students what's interesting about those challenges. Sometimes they offer guidance and criticism, directions, and suggestions — and sometimes they keep their mouths shut." A chapter on "Education at Its Best" describes effective practices such as project-based learning, open-ended problem solving, cooperative learning, and teaching that probes for deeper understanding.

Such student-centered approaches require a special set of teacher skills. "Any kind of teaching that's more rigorous and demanding of students is likely to be so for teachers, too," Kohn admits. "One has to make a concerted, courageous effort to dispense with the textbooks and grade books, the teacher-directed lessons and the assumptions that math must be separated from social studies."

The book closes with what Kohn calls a "visitor's guide" to the classroom, highlighting the details parents should see as promising signs (eager, engaged student faces; a teacher who works the whole room; walls covered with students' projects; room overflowing with "purposeful clutter"), as well as possible reasons to worry (teacher's voice is the loudest or most often heard; walls displaying student assignments that are "suspiciously flawless"; reliance on textbooks and worksheets).

— Suzie Boss