Inquiring Minds: Learning Opportunities Knock

Although the term "professional development" typically conjures up images of half-day seminars and after-school workshops, such activities represent only one kind of learning opportunity. Increasingly, reformers are calling for a broader view that would recognize and encourage teachers' participation in a richer array of activities. Below are examples of various types of professional development. Some involve formal courses or programs that take place outside of schools, and some are tasks that teachers can, and do, perform as part of their jobs.

Texas A&M University in Corpus Christi offers first-year teachers a coursework program aimed at strengthening their instructional skills and, more generally, improving their likelihood of staying in the profession.

The program allows beginning teachers to take three university courses in areas of particular interest. A university supervisor observes each participant and later helps the new teacher design personalized plans for improving instructional skills. After completing the program, many teachers have gone on to complete a master's degree at the university or...