National Foundation for Improvement of Education  http://nfie.org/programs/change.htm

Each of the School or Districts listed are implementing recommendations from NFIE’s Report Teachers Take Charge of Their Learning: Transforming Professional Development for Student Success.

Abington (PA) Junior High School Partners: Abington School District Abington Education Association Abington Secretaries/Aides Association Penn State University Abington-Ogontz Abington PTO Abington Junior High School in suburban Philadelphia is integrating technology into a standards-based curriculum to improve student learning. All school employees, including support personnel, are working to understand their role in supporting academic standards and to use technology in achieving these standards.

Bellevue (WA) School District Partner: Bellevue Education Association To facilitate professional growth on-line, Bellevue is establishing roles for teachers as technology trainers and peer coaches. Expert teachers are developing new curriculum based on state standards, beginning with middle-grades science and social studies, and selected teacher-leaders are helping their peers to access this curriculum from the district's web site, publish lesson plans and other resources online, give feedback to one another, and generally use the web site as an interactive resource for professional development and peer learning.

Canton (SD) School District Partners: South Dakota Education Association Canton Economic Development Corporation Canton School District recently opened a new high school with "21st century technology." By 2002, the district plans to (1) integrate technology into a standards-based curriculum and prepare work-bound graduates for a high-tech future, and (2) become a technology resource linking school and community.

Edmonds (WA) Education Association Partners: Edmonds School District Washington Education Association In 1995, the Edmonds Education Association and this suburban Seattle district created a "trust agreement" that identifies shared professional interests. The association and the district are now replacing the current summative process for teacher evaluation with an evaluation system based on self-reflection, high standards of professional practice, career-long collegial support, and meaningful professional development.

Lower Kuskokwim (AK) School District Partners: Alaska NEA Alaska Staff Development Network Lower Kuskokwim Education Association Distance Delivery Consortium The Lower Kuskokwim School District and its partners have created a mentoring program to help new teachers be successful working in isolated village schools serving primarily Yup'ik Eskimo students. This program relies in part on the knowledge and expertise of the district's retired teachers, a number of whom serve as mentors.

Missouri National Education Association Partners: Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education Missouri Regional Professional Development Centers Missouri NEA is creating standards and guidelines for mentor programs across the state and developing an effective mentor training and support program in conjunction with Missouri's Regional Professional Development Centers.

Olathe (KS) Unified School District Partners: Olathe NEA Kansas NEA The district and its partners are implementing a new, results-oriented professional growth system for all teaching staff. Under the new model, all staff move through cycles of learning, action, observation, and reflection designed to improve student achievement. The new model also includes an intensive assistance component that focuses on teacher and administrator collaboration, defines clearly the role and procedure for intensive assistance, and establishes the role of peers in the process of supporting classroom colleagues.

Phoenix (AZ) Union Classroom Teachers' Association (CTA) Partners: Phoenix Union High School District Arizona Education Association The Classroom Teachers' Association is training teachers in the process of action research. These trained action research leaders assist their peers in creating annual, self-directed professional growth plans that include learning new instructional practices, such as integrating Internet resources into teaching and learning or using performance-based assessment.

Rhode Island Federation of Teachers and Health Professionals Partners: Rhode Island NEA Central Falls School District Central Falls Teachers Union Lab at Brown University Rhode Island Department of Education The Rhode Island Federation of Teachers and NEA Rhode Island are working to establish the state's first "professional practice school" (PPS). Visiting teams of teachers spend a mini-sabbatical in the school to observe practice, engage in discussions with resident teachers, and plan or research proposed changes for their home schools. The Rhode Island project also hopes to enable PPS faculty to visit other schools to provide coaching for other faculties in their home schools.

South Burlington (VT) School District Partners: Vermont NEA University of Vermont Vermont Institute for Science, Mathematics, and Technology South Burlington Recreation Department South Burlington is creating new roles for teachers concerning information technologies. Teachers who have gained expertise in the use of technology in the curriculum have release time to serve as mentors to other faculty members. The partners are writing new policies to ensure ongoing professional development regarding the use of technology, the implementation of information technology standards by all teachers, and the use of the Internet as an educational resource.

United Teachers Los Angeles (CA) Partners: Los Angeles Unified School District University of California at Los Angeles UTLA and its partners are planning a professional development center, which will include a number of academies and programs designed to improve teaching and learning in Los Angeles' public schools. The Academy for Integrating Standards, Curricula, and Assessments, for example, will allow teachers, parents, administrators, and university faculty to draft standards-based curricula and assessments in various academic disciplines. A Professional Growth Program will help teachers seek certification by the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards, and a New Teacher Academy will provide training and ongoing induction services for new members of the district's faculty.

University of Louisville Center for the Collaborative Advancement of the Teaching Profession (KY) Partners: Jefferson County Public Schools Gheens Academy Jefferson County Teachers Association Ohio Valley Educational Cooperative Teachers in Louisville are working with university faculty to redesign the university's advanced teacher study program in ways that are more responsive to the needs, issues, and priorities of public schools in Jefferson County.

Alvarado Elementary School (CA) Partners: New Haven Unified School District Beginning Teacher Support and Assessment Program New Haven Teachers' Association California State University, Hayward Alvarado Elementary School in Union City, California, and its partners plan to find and allocate time for teachers to incorporate the use of information and multimedia technologies into classrooms.

Catalina Foothills High School (AZ) Partners: Catalina Foothills School District Catalina Foothills Education Association This Tucson, Arizona, school hopes to allocate more time for teachers to observe instructional practice, analyze student work, form professional study groups, create teacher portfolios, and engage in site-based management activities. The school and its partners plan to enroll community members in a study group that will demonstrate the benefits of non-student-contact time for teachers.

Hayward (CA) Education Association Partner: Hayward Unified School District Faced with 200 new hires a year, Hayward is creating a new teacher induction program that is linked to a career-long peer evaluation and assistance initiative.

Iowa State Education Association Partners: Iowa Department of Education Iowa Council for Continuous Improvement in Education The Iowa State Education Association is working with various state-level education groups to create incentives for teacher leadership, service to the profession, and participation in effective professional development.

Kansas City (MO) Regional Professional Development Center Partners: Missouri Arts Council Missouri NEA Platte County R-III School District Platte County School District NEA Springboard to Learning This alliance will coordinate efforts to improve subject-based professional development by linking teachers with artists, scientists, librarians, and other scholars. Much of this work will be facilitated by Missouri's state-supported regional professional development centers. The partners will pilot their efforts in the Kansas City area.

Kennedy Center (DC) Partners: Bailey's Elementary School for the Arts and Sciences Gaithersburg Middle School Kenmore Middle School Rockledge Elementary School Fort Hunt Elementary School Hunters Woods Elementary School for the Arts and Sciences Lake Anne Elementary School Thomas Pullen Creative and Performing Arts Magnet School The Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, and selected partnering schools in Virginia and Maryland is investigating how best to restructure school-wide professional development to improve teaching of and through the arts. The Kennedy Center expects to move beyond serving individual teachers and towards more systemic efforts to improve arts education.

Long Beach (CA) Education Partnership Partners: Long Beach Unified School District California State University, Long Beach Long Beach City College Long Beach is investigating ways to improve subject-based professional development to help teachers implement new content standards for student learning.

Oklahoma State University Writing Project Partners: Tulsa Classroom Teachers Association Tulsa Public Schools The Oklahoma State University Writing Project will enhance an existing partnership with the Tulsa Public Schools to consider an extended school year and/or flexible scheduling in support of improved professional development for the district's teachers.

Stillwater (OK) Public Schools Partners: Stillwater Education Association Oklahoma State University, College of Education Oklahoma State University, College of Arts and Sciences Stillwater PTA Stillwater Chamber of Commerce The district and its partners are investigating ways to allocate time for professional development. This includes using flexible scheduling, adopting a year-round calendar, and/or extending the school year.

Tacoma (WA) Education Association Partner: Tacoma School District The association and the school district plan to help teachers work more effectively with parents by promoting a new, proven parent-teacher conferencing model that focuses on student achievement.

Utah Education Association Partners: Utah State Office of Education Selected school districts Utah Association of Teacher Educators Utah State Legislature Utah School Superintendents' Association Utah Association of Elementary School Principals Utah System of Higher Education The association and its partners are creating a comprehensive teacher professional development plan to present to the state's lawmakers. The plan will include opportunities for teachers to "upgrade their skills, observe exemplary teaching, plan lessons and work collegially . . . and [keep] current with changes in knowledge, technology and society." The partners will focus initially on the critical issue of finding time for professional development.

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