Ann Lieberman

Stanford University | SU · SCOPE

Teacher Learning and Leadership asserts that teachers should be put at the center of creating, developing, organizing, implementing, and sharing their own ideas for school change rather than being passive recipients of knowledge from the outside. It argues that there is tremendous potential for the good of students and the professionalization of te...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide evidence from Ontario’s Teacher Learning and Leadership Program (TLLP) with goals to: support experienced teachers to undertake self-directed professional development; develop teachers’ leadership skills for sharing their professional learning and practices; and facilitate knowledge exchange. Desig...

The Teacher Learning and Leadership Program (TLLP) has given us an excellent example of what happens when the conditions for learning are created for teachers, rather than teaching them in the traditional professional development way from the “outside” in. For 7 years, the Ontario Ministry of Education and the Ontario Teachers Federation have colla...

This article describes teacher education in jurisdictions around the world that have well-developed systems for teacher development. It examines teacher education policies and practices in Australia (with a focus on Victoria and New South Wales), Canada (with a focus on Alberta and Ontario), Finland and Singapore within the context of recruitment,...

The research on teacher leadership like that of school reform has become more and more nuanced in the last two decades as the reform context has changed (Smylie, 1997; York-Barr & Duke, 2004). Since the 1980s there have been consistent calls for teachers to be leaders, often with no preparation, support, or understanding of the school culture nor t...

We propose that the advent and ubiquity of new media tools and social networking resources provide a means for professional, networked learning to “scale up.” We preface our discussion with a review of research that has led us to argue for professional learning communities, document the policies and practices of professional development in high-ach...

This paper describes the signature role played by accomplished, experienced teachers in professional learning communities, and the importance that these practitioners make their teaching public and shared. In so doing, the authors describe how accomplished practices can be shared between classrooms and between practitioners with varying levels of e...

The two volumes of the second edition of the International Handbook of Educational Change comprise a totally new, and updated collection of the most critical and cutting-edge ideas in educational change. Written by the most influential thinkers in the field, these volumes cover educational change at both the theoretical and practical levels. The up...

This letter to the next president of the United States recommends the transformation of teacher in-service learning as a powerful means of education reform. Too often, professional development is perceived by teachers as being idiosyncratic and irrelevant. The authors recommend a reconceptualization of professional learning for practicing teachers,...

Educators in the United States are being asked to do more with less: school budgets are shrinking, principals are struggling to be instructional leaders in the face of huge management issues, and teachers are trying to meet the needs of increasingly diverse students at a time when a standardized, one-size-fits-all curriculum is mandated. The tenor...

New professional learning “networks” are expanding which link people together for common purposes of learning. These networks typically involve a sense of shared purpose, psychological support, voluntary participation and a facilitator. A number of specific networks are described. Analysis shows that networks have great power, but they are also fra...

The National Writing Project the oldest and probably the most successful professional development project in the U.S. now has sites in every state in the U.S. Their work is best understood by realizing that this network is tied together by a set of integrated social practices that connect intellectual work and relationships into a vibrant professio...

In twenty five years of teaching graduate students about schools and ways of improving them — for both students and their teachers — I have sent many of them to “review the literature on change”. Inevitably, faced with the confusion of selecting from hundreds of books ranging from theories of planned change to the history of particular movements in...

Inside the National Writing Project: Connecting Network Learning and Classroom Teaching, by Ann Lieberman and Diane R. Wood, New York, New York, Teachers College Press, 2003. 117 pp. $18.95, paper. Inside the National Writing Project details the findings of a two-year research project on the impact of the National Writing Project (NWP) network on s...

In this period of designing controls to producegreater teacher accountability, the NationalWriting Project (NWP) stands as an importantcontrast, teaching us what it means to developthe capacity of teachers. We undertook atwo-year study of the NWP by looking intenselyat two sites, an urban and a rural site. Wesought to understand and document what t...

From 1998 to 2000, we studied two sites of the National Writing Project to ® nd out whether network learning ever ® nds its way into teachers' classrooms. In the process of observing the 5-week invitational institute (purported to be the key to understanding the National Writing Project), we found that teacher learning and becoming engaged in a pro...

The National Writing Project's distinctive social practices and networks create the learning communities that teachers need.

The National Writing Project (NWP), one of the oldest and arguably most successful teaching networks in the United States, weaves a powerful relational and intellectually rich context for the ongoing learning of practising teachers. This article, based on a two-year study of two NWP sites, explores how the NWP uses principles of good writing instru...

As technology transforms the institutions of society, changing the way that people work, communicate, and learn, schools must accommodate and adapt to these new conditions. Unfortunately, schools and school systems organized bureaucratically have difficulty changing. Educational reform networks are particularly well suited to making use of new tech...

Incl. index, bibliographical notes and references

The International Handbook of Educational Change is a state of the art collection of the most important ideas and evidence of educational change. The book brings together some of the most influential thinkers and writers on educational change. It deals with issues like educational innovation, reform, restructuring, culture-building, inspection, sch...

Educational reform networks are becoming increasingly important as alternative forms of teacher and school development in this time of unprecedented reform of schools. These networks appear to be a way of engaging school-based educators in better directing their own learning; allowing them to sidestep the limitations of institutional roles, hierarc...

Organized across schools, districts, or states, educational reform networks offer teachers and administrators a chance to discuss their work and tackle problems in a trusting, supportive atmosphere. Networks can develop flexible activities and responsive structures, replace prescription and compliance with a culture of continuous inquiry, and help...

This book is comprised of six case studies that were commissioned by the National Center for Restructuring Education, Schools, and Teaching (NCREST) at Teachers' College, Columbia University, New York City, New York. Five elementary and one middle school from Kentucky, Florida, Indiana, South Carolina, and Maine are represented. They present a pers...

Presents three categories of an expanded view of scholarly activity in education: (1) studying programs and school cultures to better understand and describe the impact of practice; (2) creating new frames and strategies for taking action; and (3) transforming research and practice through collaboration between schools and universities. (SLD)

This collection of 12 essays examines the school's need to establish a collaborative environment as a precondition for its own development. The following chapters explore the necessary shift in schools from a bureaucratic to a professional mode: (1) "Recanting Bureaucracy: A Democratic Structure for Leadership in Schools" (D. L. Clarke and J. M. Me...

Until now, the curriculum debate has overlooked the interrelationship of the change process, school culture, classroom context, and curriculum content. Educational restructuring will not succeed without close school/university collaboration and new thinking about the teaching and learning knowledge base. Paternalistic treatment of educators must st...

Identifies five building blocks of school restructuring forming the foundation for comprehensive educational change. Identifies four overarching restructuring issues, including administrative and teacher leadership, the dilemma of process versus content, balancing student and teacher needs, and achieving a balance between action and reflection. (23...

Though "change agents" are widely used to help with current school improvement programs, little is known empirically about the skills they need to function effectively. This article reports findings from a two-year study of 17 change agents working in three New York City improvement programs. Interview, observation, and ranking data were collected...

Explores "second-wave" reform efforts aimed at restructuring schools and reshaping teacher roles to permit greater autonomy, responsibility, and status. As better working conditions increase teacher satisfaction, education will compete more favorably with other professions as a career choice. Includes 16 references. (MLH)

The second wave of reform involves a comprehensive view of restructuring schools. This means rebuilding relationships among all school community members, changing organizational arrangements, and rethinking the curriculum. Written by second wave educators committed to professionalizing teaching and building a more collaborative school culture, the...

For a school to have a community of leaders, teachers must have opportunities to assume more responsibility, more decision-making power, and more accountability for the results. Teacher leadership can help build collegiality and break down communication barriers. Shared leadership models will persevere only if they are used to reorganize the work o...

Use of the vignette as a tool in qualitative educational research is relatively new. Vignettes were used to capture the nuances of the work of teacher specialists in the New York City (New York) Teacher Centers. The teacher specialists had shared with evaluators their belief that despite a deserved reputation for effective work, they had a sense of...

The recent thinking of 20 experts in the field of school improvement is represented in this collection of essays. The authors have participated in studies from the national level to the single school level, have been involved in past and present reform efforts, and have contributed to educational policy and theory. In this book they go beyond their...

Studies about how schools improve indicate that the process of improvement happens simultaneously on two levels: the individual teacher level and the level of the school as an organization. Staff development, networking, and problem-centered activities are current approaches found promising for school improvement. (Author/MLF)

Graduates of the National Writing Project (NWP) speak of their experience with marked fondness. They attribute the Project with "transforming" their profes-sional lives, reigniting their "passion for teaching," and "changing my life." With comments such as these, it is no wonder that teachers and others with an interest in improving education might...

En: Cuadernos de Pedagogía Barcelona 2002, n. 319, diciembre ; p. 38-42 El National Writing Project (NWP) es una red de comunidades de aprendizaje de docentes que funciona en Estados Unidos. Todas sus sedes tienen en común un conjunto de prácticas sociales características, que se rigen por la convicción de que cuando los maestros comparten y critic...

En: Cuadernos de pedagogía Barcelona 2008, n. 375, enero ; p. 83-87 Frente al fracaso para mejorar la enseñanza mediante controles burocráticos, se apuesta por un enfoque que implica a los docentes como actores primordiales de su propia formación. Se defienden las políticas que estimulan el desarrollo profesional de los docentes, apoyando a las org...