The Missing Link

Say "professional development," and many teachers cringe. But the growing realization that practice is out of sync with the reform agenda is spurring widespread interest in rethinking teachers' on-the-job learning.

Like most teachers, Maggie Brown Cassidy doesn't have to be prodded to tell a horror story about professional development.

Once, Cassidy sat through a presentation about the detrimental health effects of drugs and alcohol. It included a film strip that showed an autopsy. All Cassidy could think about was the wheezing teacher next to her, a heavy smoker, and how uncomfortable the session must have made him feel.

"It was just one of those mandates, that teachers need to have a certain number of hours of instruction in certain areas," recalls Cassidy, who teaches secondary French in Brattleboro, Vt. "It was done in a very insensitive way. And it needed to be so general that it was pretty much a...