This is a practical guide to developing and implementing challenging and engaging performance tasks in the classroom as a means to teach, monitor and extend student learning. The result of engaging in this process is the creation of learning experiences that deepen students' learning and application of learning intentions and success criteria generated from the new, state standards and to provide feedback to teachers to make instructional decisions based on student performance of the learning tasks.

This book provides prospective facilitators with clear instructions on how to plan and effectively deliver a "Successful Substitute Teaching" workshop.

This book provides workshop participants with copies of all "Power Point "slides formatted to facilitate note-taking or journaling during the training.

What's wrong with today's teacher-evaluation systems-and how to improve them Unsound teacher evaluation practices lead to misinformed decisions regarding strategies for student learning, resulting in negative effects to students. Education measurement and evaluation expert W. James Popham critiques what is wrong with many existing teacher-evaluation systems and offers an alternate system that respects the professionalism and dignity of teachers. Popham argues that, because teaching is a very situation- specific profession, the use of any paint-by-numbers, one- size-fits-all teacher evaluation system is patently absurd. Rather, the only defensible approach to teacher evaluation is to base it on collegial judgment, that is, on the evaluative conclusions of experienced teachers who have been specifically trained and formally certified to carry out this function. This book discusses: Key strengths and weaknesses of prominent teacher-evaluation evidence How to improve a flawed teacher-evaluation program The merits of a teacher evaluation program based on "evidence-governed collegial judgment

With the increasing emphasis on continuing professional development for teachers and all educational practitioners, the use of portfolios to plan, chart and review professional development is now widespread. Drawing directly from their experience of developing portfolios and portfolio-based assessment, and from current research, this book enables the reader to: - design and plan a portfolio - chart and analyse relevant professional experiences - reflect critically on practice - assess performance against standards and competences frameworks - present evidence of practice and achievements - plan their continuing professional development There are Chapter Objectives, Key Questions and Tasks in every chapter, which adds to the practical focus of the book. An essential read for teachers, teaching assistants, any practitioner assembling a Continuing Professional Department (CPD) portfolio, those working towards further qualifications such as Chartered Teacher status, newly qualified and probationary teachers and anyone involved in supporting and mentoring CPD.

`Outlines a systematic method that helps professional educators focus their energies on lasting professional growth. Strategies and templates assist teachers in reflecting on their own professional performance, setting their own learning targets, and managing their own progress toward greater professional success' - Scott Estes, Principal Glendale School, East Peoria, IL Recognising that student achievement is intrinsically linked to high-quality teaching, Jodi Peine offers an invaluable guide that helps educational leaders strengthen teachers' instructional practice with an individualised and robust professional development process. The author provides administrators and staff developers with step-by-step guidance for designing, implementing, and sustaining a professional growth plan. Grounded in research at elementary, middle, and high school levels, the process is delivered in manageable sections with reproducible forms for every step. With a refined method that includes formal data analysis, this guidebook: - Demonstrates how participants can develop their own goals and action plans - Provides current terminology and topics for individual growth plan development - Examines steps to take after completing first-generation professional growth plans - Helps redefine school improvement efforts to produce enduring systemic change The Educator's Professional Growth Plan, Second Edition, provides a targeted approach that accommodates the unique needs of individual teachers. Within a supportive context, educators can assume responsibility for their own learning, witness changes in their professional practice, and realise substantive gains in student performance.

Developing Portfolios for Authentic Assessment, Pre K-3 offers preschool and primary teachers practical ways to build student portfolios and make authentic assessment work. Reflecting current research on young children's learning needs and developmentally appropriate teaching practices, this highly practical text helps educators efficiently gather and analyze data about children in their learning environments. Busy practitioners will find: -Easy-to-use materials and procedures that require minimal expense and preparation time -Guidelines to streamline organization and management considerations - Classroom applications for integrating assessments with instruction

`This is a good and needed book. I would buy it, and recommend it to a wide range of educators.' -Kenneth D. Peterson, Professor, Portland State University `The authors have amassed a tremendous amount of information and assembled it into a very readable book that is an excellent resource.' -Randel Beaver, Superintendent, Archer City School District, TX Attract and retain the highest-quality teachers through competitive compensation programs! While many working in the teaching profession cite intangible rewards as reasons for staying in the profession, concrete rewards such as salary, benefits, and working conditions are inextricably linked to recruiting, motivating, and retaining highly-qualified teachers. This timely text examines the fundamental link between teacher pay and teacher quality as well as the extent to which it is aligned with student achievement. Existing compensation models are reviewed in order to provide a practical, research-based approach for developing a comprehensive, best-practice teacher compensation system. School administrators can use these synthesized, innovative findings to: Determine the most practical compensation model for achieving their school's objectives Examine different pay options used across the country Connect their school's compensation program to organizational goals Discover how to attract and retain high-quality teachers

This fascinating book fills the need for a precise and up-to-date picture of the Headhunter's job. It allows the assessment process either for selection and recruitment, or for management development purposes, to meet equal opportunities' requirements and be as accurate and objective as possible. Provided within is a rigorous evaluation of Heads' roles including categories and specific tasks; time management factors; and, for the first time in the educational world, a comprehensive database has been built of Heads' preferred personality characteristics including their favored ways of working, leadership styles and team roles.

The concept of 'authentic assessment' is making an increasing impression in numerous classrooms in North America. Current testing programs are being scrutinized to determine how to move beyond traditional forms of assessment to enhance student learning, understanding, and application of knowledge. The authors of this detailed yet clearly written book provide essential information on how to develop and implement 'authentic assessment' programs, including the involvement in the learning process of not only teachers, students and administrators but also parents and community members.

While the Common Core couldn't be clearer about what to teach, they never quite tackle how to teach. That's what makes Inquiring into the Common Core such an essential resource. It offers teachers an inquiry-based professional development model for achieving greater understanding of the standards themselves, then determining best ways to realize desired outcomes. How exactly does the model work? Teachers take charge of their own professional development by posing questions, or wonderings, to stimulate action and higher-level insight into the big ambitions of the Common Core. At the very same time, they engage in a parallel process of inquiry with their students in service of the very same goals. Assisting teachers along the ways, Inquiring into the Common Core provides tools to systematically study teaching effectiveness while adapting to new standards classroom-ready, student inquiry techniques and strategies to apply within Common Core's framework real life inquiry-implementation examples from a high-need, high-poverty school Ideal for both teams or individual teachers, there's no better resource for laying the groundwork for successful and thought-provoking classroom actualization amid shifting times.

Secrets to supervising for instructional improvement! With continual emphasis on student outcomes and state and national standards, supervision of instruction is an indispensable function that inspires good teaching and promotes student learning. More than ever, effective supervision is vital to instructional improvement and this new edition of Supervision That Improves Teaching and Learning pinpoints the strategies and techniques that matter most. Susan Sullivan and Jeffrey Glanz approach supervision as a process for empowering teachers with "super-vision" to see and reflect upon their teaching in a non-judgmental way for improved instructional delivery. Fully updated and revised, this best-selling book features New observation tools centered on diversity and differentiated instruction Pairing tools for the same focus-one to observe the teacher and a second for the students New case studies on alternative approaches to supervision such as learning walks, lesson study, and book groups A new chapter on creating transformational change More on technology topics such as blogs, wikis, online and hybrid courses Scenarios highlighting English Language Learners and exceptional students Summary sheets and observation charts for use in the classroom Reflective microlabs to reinforce material and concepts Featuring 42 qualitative and quantitative observation tools, Supervision That Improves Teaching and Learning encourages hands-on development of essential supervision skills.

Most teachers try to avoid evaluation, but that's no longer an option in this age of accountability and school reform. However, evaluation doesn't need to be something that teachers fear. As the authors of this accessible resource guide so aptly show, evaluation can be done with a minimum of fuss and without an advanced degree in statistics and research methodology. This user-friendly guide includes easy-to-understand examples, checklists, sample exercises, discussion questions and step-by-step guidance for educational evaluation. It also contains a case study that follows one school and educational authority through the evaluation process, showing what evaluation looks like and feels like in schools and districts. The authors provide a comprehensive set of concepts and guidelines for conducting evaluation studies. The book is results-centered and focused on proven concepts and methods. The authors have developed a simple, four-step process to guide teachers through evaluation: alignment and direction; observations, results, and action and adjustment.

This volume addresses persistent issues in the preservice and continuing education of teachers. Attention is focused upon perspectives on teacher education that differ significantly from those that have characterized views of this field in the past. Among developments that provide the current context for teacher education are the movement for standards, the emphasis upon inquiry in the classroom, increased expectations for teachers' participation in curriculum development, constructivism and the cognitive revolution, and professional development schools. These and other matters receive the attention of a distinguished group of scholars and practitioners in the field.