Teachers Take Charge of Their Learning:
Transforming Professional Development for Student Success
Acknowledgments
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This report is the result of the collective wisdom, expertise, and hard work of a great many individuals and groups who hold a deep commitment to public schools and the young people they serve each day. Chief among these are the officers and staff of the National Education Association (NEA), including its Executive Committee, Board of Directors, National Council of State Education Associations, National Council of Urban Education Associations, UniServ representatives, and state and local leaders across the country. NFIE is also appreciative of the thoughtfulness, encouragement, and attention of the many state and local leaders who participated in discussion groups in 19956 and shared their reflections on professional development.
NFIE wishes to extend a very special thanks to the teachers and administrators from the many districts, schools, and programs who afforded an in-depth perspective on their creative approaches to on-the-job professional development and student instruction. Among them, we are particularly grateful to the ACT Academy in McKinney, Texas; the American Council of Learned Societies' Elementary and Secondary Teacher Curriculum Development Project; the Bay Area (California) Writing Project; the Boulder Valley (Colorado) School District; the Columbus (Ohio) Public Schools; Connelly Middle School in Lewisburg, Tennessee; Dade County (Florida) Public Schools; the Dade-Monroe (Florida) Teacher Education Center; the National Humanities Center; the New Iowa Schools Development Corporation; the Pinellas County (Florida) Schools; and the Seattle (Washington) Public Schools.
The overall research effort behind this report was aided by an esteemed group of individuals who possess an abiding interest in enhancing teachers' professionalism and professional development: Beverly Anderson Parsons, Marsha Berger, William Bickel, Richard Clark, Thomas Corcoran, David Haselkorn, Jacqueline Irvine, Paul LeMahieu, Marsha Levine, Brian Lord, Giselle Martin-Kniep, Dennis Sparks, and Gary Sykes.
Teachers Barbara Heinzman, Billie Hicklin, Robert Maszak, Marilyn Matosian, Betty Overland, and Alene Tudor provided wonderful first-person narratives of their most meaningful professional growth experiences. They kindly allowed us to reprint portions of their accounts in this report.
Greenberg Research, Inc., the Public Agenda Foundation, and The Feldman Group, Inc., all offered expert survey and opinion analysis. NEA Communications, The Widmeyer Group, Inc., Comella Design Group, Inc., and Patricia Murray provided valuable editorial and communications assistance.
Finally, NFIE's thirteen-member staff worked countless hours and traveled countless miles from district to district and classroom to classroom, observed, listened, recorded, consulted, and analyzed over the many months during which this report evolved from a broad concept to printed word on paper (and electronic file in cyberspace). Special appreciation is due to Carol Edwards, NFIE's director of programs; Robert Ganem, research associate; Judy Hodgson, director of institutional advancement; and Carol McGuire, executive assistant.
To all who are named here and in the text, we extend our grateful thanks for their willingness to share their experiences. We hope that we have captured their spirit and truth. Any and all errors are the sole responsibility of NFIE.
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