DOCUMENTTESUME ED 218 233 BP 020 12B AUTHOR Piper, Barbara TITLE 1 Teachers' Centers Exchange Directory. 1982. INSTITUTION Far West Lab; for Edud'ational Research and Development, San Francisco, Calif: Teachers' Centers Exchange. SPONS AGENCY National Inst. of Education,(ED), Washington, DC. PUB DATE 82 CONTRACT . 400-80-0103 NOTE 411p. EDRS PRICE MF01/PC17 Plus Postage. .DESCRIPTORS Educational Innovation;, Educational Resoutces.; Elementary Secondary Education; Financial Support; Foreign Countries; *Information Networks; Inservicw. Education; *Participant Chatarteristics; *Policy ' Formation; *Program Descriptions; *Teacher Centers; Teacher Participation,/ ;IDENTIFIERS . Canada; United States ABSTRACT . The 198 teachercenters listed in this directory comprise'a network of teacher center practitioners who communicate with the Teachers' Centerg-Exchange (Far West Laboratory.for . Educational Researgh and Development, San Francisco, California). .. Centers in the Uni.4pd States and Canada are listed alphabetically by state. Informa04on on each center includes:fhe.naie of the director, hours o operation, pKogram description,'evaluation methods, resources, staff personnel, setting, participaOts, fees and academic credits, school/college affiliation, sources of finandial support, dedision making processes, origin, and information services offered by the center. (JD) :, ', g ****.**********************ft***i*************************************** . Reproductions supplied bli EDRS are the best that can be made - * .* * from the original document. , * . *********************************A********************************** . .1 . , - ,' .. a Teachers' st V Centers. A THIS "PERMISSION T1>FIEPRODUCE Exchange GRANTED BY MATERIAL HAS BEEN V. Directo RET.OURCES TO THE EDUCATIONAL INFORMATION CENTER(ERIC)" t U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION NA/TIONAL INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES t INFORMATION ITh/s CENTER (ERIC/ document hasbeen reproduced received from the person or as originating organization Minor changes haVe'been made reproduction cfLality to improve Points of viewor opinions stated Barbara Piper men t do not necessarily sn this docu represent official Position or Policy NIE 1982 Far WesUaboratory for Educational Research and Development 1855 Folsom Street, San Francisco, California 94103 ay. 2 o a A , z . o f .0 A Jr \ I. 4 41 , I. The project presented orr4Orted herein was performed pursuant to a grant (NIE ContractNo.'400-802.0103) from the National Institute of Education,'DepartmentofEducation. However, the opinions expressed herein do not reflect the position uoatiob, the Department orr -policy of the NationalInstitute ,o of Education, or the Far WestLaboratory for Educational Research and Development, and noofficial endorsement by these agencies , 40 should be inferred. - 0 ^ NOTE TO READER'S 4- The Teache(rs' Centers Exchange has publis(ledthree 'directories of teachers' centers as, a way of makingVisible the network of teac.herscenter practitioners who were in conmunication with the Exthange.The directories also were des- igned to assist people with a strongrite rest.,i,,n ,teachers! -dentersto sample _the vari4ty of practice that \eists fn America.,to communicate 4.With each other, ;andlo yisit'tenters.Our new sedition,, replat=_ ing the 1980 >di rectory, 'ha's the safie. purposes. In empties izi nqt- that the directiiryis24 rebresentatii5n of'thenetwork of teachers' centers,viei ntend, -Ake clear that tte book does not :111st all American "teacjiers' cen,ters but onlythose-that are in' touch with the EXchange for informationon andinterchangeofexperience and help. The Exchange is supported by `t 1e Educational -Policyand Oranization Program of the National' .InStituteof Education as an ex erimen in the use of an informal, interactive network' to spre innovative practices tO enable mutval sharing and sup ort among educators.The Exchange opened at the Jar West La oratory for Educ'ational Research and Development,,.San.Fran-i cisco, in 1975 ,as a means of strengthening andstret.ching the natural communications network .operating 'among the'grassroots" 'teachers' centers that sprangup in the 'United States in the late 60s and early 70s The spontaneous ,,s,elf-initiated com- . munikations, acrosthat network were based on ,commbnal i ties of bel if an'd practi e twat made it possible for,educators of scant acqu intance from widely separated settings to inquire from, learn, from, .and reinforce ,each other. *Severalof ,the commonly held purposes of these centerswere as follows: . Os. *, Teachers' centers resp.ond,to teachers'own. definitions of thei r -continuing learning needs 'by offeringassistanceand instructionthat help teachers enrtch and aCtivate the. learn- ing experience of children in* their classrooms. * Centers provide an environment, where teacherSmay come to . work on materials or projects for their classrooms, recel.Ve instruction ind-rviduallyand together, and'teashand en- courage each other. = , * Centers advise and assist teadiers in their. schbols, working, in the Spirit of ftmling the teachers'-own starting points for improvement. * Centers urge teachers to takemore,. not less, responsibility for curriculum and instruction decjsions .in the schooland . - 'Nt 4i the classroom; they encourage teachers' to 'participateinthe ... design of professional developmehtpro,grams.; . , . ...., Ift 1982,thesecothmonal iti-es still apply- to ',att,d undergtrda .=-- , \ much wider:and more etlectic ne%ork, of teathers' 'centers;.in- .1 ,,ii ...,.........,.- 01 'vti corporati;ng many of the original as well as dozensof new cen- ters that have beenfor-Med in the 'p-ast seven years. If the reader practices orenvisions similarapproaches\to /1, inservice, education, the directory maybe useful in locating inspiration, information) andtechnical assistance. Ail 198 en-, tries in the -directory arewritten to a common format,This is intended to help readers makecomparisons and select ideas rather than to adopt whole "models."This format tends to shape al 1 prograMs .toward a commonmode, but there are entries that are not typicalteachers'centers'. Theseare'included be-. cause,they are valuable resourcesfor centers or suggest pro- graming innovations and becausethey participate in thenetwork. There is a wide variety among- centers :some a re full - fledged and long - experienced,,others have barely begun.; some are comprehensive inservice?Chemes,- but most are focused programs aaiming to serve a defined 'andlimited, group of teachers or to function as an alternative forpof inservice.Some df-the cen- ters desCribed here are forteachers' only, others 'define"teach- ers" as parents, coinmunItypeople', or ;anyone from whomchildren learn.Some are aniftly- funded, but manystruggle to survive. The sources of support are alsovaried.Sponsorship of the cen- ters is by schooldistrict; independent; consortiumof several districts' sometimes joined by colleges,universities, or other agencies; county office ofeducation.of intermediate service di_s-trict; cooperative arrangementbetween a school district and a college oruniversity; a single collage oruniversity; or the US Department of Education-Teacher Centers Program (ofthe 36 centers that were notrefunded by the federal TeacherCenters fun-ding commitment expired, 32 Program after their three-year , are -sti 1 1operating),. < Appearance \ in this directory doesnot validate a teachers' center as asuccessfulor replicable program.Rather, it 'in-, dicates the center's self-definitionas a participant in the teachers: center movement andthe Exchange staff's judgment that the program described canstitnulate ajid energize readers- - not to copy or adopt aparticular. teachers' centerinodel--but to improvise, adept, andinvent their own.Readers should de- cide. to visita center on -thebasis of correspondence or con- versation with the center staff,not. solely on ,the basis of th directory description.Omission from the -directory isnot 'in- tended toimply that a centeris not genuine or worthy; it simply means that:it was nbtin substantivecommunication with the Ex-.' change, at the time of writimg.As the.title i ndicates , this is a directory ofthe Teachers' Centers'Exchange. For more information andr!eference to consultants on all aspects'of teachers' 'centerwork, readers are invitedto"write or phone theTeachers' Cenfe s:Exthange,Far West Laboratory for, Educational Research 'and, Deveopment., 1855 Fol s'oni Street, San Francisco, California 94103, 15) 565-3095, ihe,Exchangealso maintains two East Coast .office :Lorr'aine Keeney, Grange Avenue, Little Compton, Rhode Island02837, (401) 635-4817;Gretchen° Thomas, PO Box 1047, Ams"ton,Cojuiectioutc06231, (203) 537-1-306. -,Kathleen DeVaney Ma r,c-h 1982 g 5 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS We owe thanks to teachers' centers staff, who carry out the local programs supporting teachers' professional growth, who share'their information'and expertise with others in the net work of teachers' centers, and who provided the descriptions of their centers-included in this volume. Kathleen Devaney, Bill Hering, Gretchen ThoMas, and Lor- raine Keeney_provided-firsthand information about centers and suggestions°to make the de-slriptions accurate and comprehen-t sive. Jean Sims administered production of the book, and Karen Britton, Deborah Weinstein, and Bob Henry typed the r manuscript. Chet Tenaka ssisted with book design, and Mary-. ann Moise coordinated prin ing. Bret Rohmer created .our April 1977 directory cover, andwe have continued-hts-distgn:--Steve_. _ Stripp offered data,