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This study reports findings from a multisite cluster randomized controlled trial designed to validate and scale up an existing successful professional development program that uses a cognitive strategies approach to text-based analytical writing. The Pathway to Academic Success Project worked with partner districts affiliated with 4 National Writing Project (NWP) sites in southern California. Informed by a wide body of research on the efficacy of strategy instruction to enhance students' academic literacy, the intervention aimed to help secondary school students, particularly Latinos and mainstreamed English learners, to develop the academic writing skills called for in the rigorous Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts. Two hundred thirty teachers from partner districts affiliated with the NWP sites were stratified by school and grade and then randomly assigned to the treatment or control group. Treatment teachers participated in 46 hrs of training and learned how to apply cognitive strategies by using an on-demand writing assessment to help students understand, interpret, and write analytical essays about nonfiction texts. Multilevel models revealed significant effects on a holistic measure of an on-demand writing assessment (d = 0.32) as well as on 4 analytic attributes: content (d = 0.31), structure (d = 0.29), fluency (d = 0.27), and conventions (d = 0.32). Four dimensions of scaling up--spread, reform ownership, depth, and sustainability--are also discussed.

In this article, a group of inservice providers and beginning researchers describe their experiences in learning to conduct evaluation research on a long-term school-university partnership program. We offer the practical lessons we learned in how to undertake such a study, and we share the immediate and powerful effects that the process of conducting the research had on the way we envision and enact our inservice work. As the director of the inservice program noted, the problem we were addressing changed from "How can we convince others that we do good work?" to "How can we make our work better?" This is a question at the heart of professional learning communities. (Contains 2 tables.)

Implicit theories about the malleability of skills/abilities have been shown to predict learners' willingness to participate in learning opportunities. The authors examined whether college professors' implicit theories about the malleability of teaching skills predicted their willingness to engage in professional development (PD) related to teaching. One hundred thirty faculty members completed a questionnaire measuring implicit theories about teaching skills and interest in several PD opportunities. Implicit theory of teaching scores predicted faculty members' interest in PD and their PD choices. The findings have implications for colleges/universities, which face increased pressure to engage faculty in PD in order to meet goals for institutional excellence. (Contains 3 tables.)

As coordinating institution for the 2006-9 Carnegie Affiliates program, Loyola Marymount University (LMU) has found that "SoTL" and "Community" each contribute to develop the other and both work together to influence campus culture regarding teaching and learning. This article describes the groups, events and initiatives that have emerged and supported SoTL at LMU, the outcomes that have been observed to date as the university explores the role of SoTL on campus and the challenges and opportunities for SoTL work at LMU in the future. The results reported herein have been informed by a survey of university administrators, faculty and instructional technology staff engaged in SoTL work on the LMU campus and by recent discussions associated with major events held on campus within the last year. While SoTL is seen as having had a significant positive impact on faculty teaching practice, student learning and campus culture related to teaching and assessment, some LMU faculty and administrators still have an incomplete understanding of SoTL. The question of how or whether SoTL is to be valued and counted in decisions about tenure and advancement in rank is only beginning to be addressed and that presents both a challenge and an opportunity for the future of SoTL at LMU. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]