"If we expect results for every child, as we do with No Child Left Behind, then we must support teachers who get the job done in America's toughest classrooms," U.S. secretary of education Margaret Spellings has said.

And that's exactly the idea behind the Orange County Public Schools' (OCPS) new Recognizing Excellence in Achievement and Professionalism initiative, which kicked off just a few weeks ago.

Known locally as "Project REAP," the multi-year initiative is the result of a Teacher Incentive Fund (TIF) grant that the district won earlier this year. TIF grants are designed to encourage the country's most effective teachers to work in the most challenging schools by offering financial incentives to educators who raise student achievement, close achievement gaps, or choose to serve in the nation's neediest schools.

A hallmark of REAP is its performance-based compensation program which encourages individual improvements in teacher effectiveness and student achievement across OCPS, particularly in schools attended by low income, minority, and disadvantaged students. OCPS serve a primarily minority student population: 35 percent of students are white; 27 percent are black; 30 percent are Hispanic; 4 percent are Asian/Pacific Islander; and approximately 3 percent represent other racial backgrounds.

WIDE World will play a significant role throughout the life of REAP, providing comprehensive online and on-site professional development to the participating schools, which include the district's three highest-need secondary schools and their seven feeder middle schools.

"OCPS needed a provider that could deeply engage its entire faculty, enrich their content knowledge, boost their understanding of 21st Century teaching strategies, and enhance their leadership skills," explains WIDE World executive director David Zarowin. "WIDE World has a strong history of success in each of these areas, both domestically and internationally. We look forward to working with REAP participants to meet their needs and build a first-rate professional learning community."

Year One of REAP is focused on laying the groundwork for the coming years. For example, at some point during Year One, all teachers and administrators are advised to participate in WIDE World's foundational online course Teaching for Understanding 1 (TfU1). The course will help synchronize teachers, teacher leaders, and administrators early in the initiative by establishing a common instructional language among them.

Remarkably, more than 500 OCPS teachers and administrators enrolled in the September semester of TfU1, immediately signaling their enthusiasm for and commitment to the initiative.

In addition, each of the ten participating schools has formed a leadership team that will provide ongoing, building-level support to program participants . . .

When you walk into Roland Stark's WIDE World office, you're likely to find him smiling, neck-deep in piles of colorful pie charts or complicated excel spreadsheets.

Roland, our resident statistician and research maverick, simply wouldn't have it any other way. He likes to say he's the guy who spends his time "in the trees" studying the intricate nuances of WIDE World's various successes and challenges.

Since he just finished tabulating the results of WIDE World's 2007 One-Year Follow-Up Survey, we thought it would be fun to invite him out from the trees so that he could tell us a bit about what he found in the forest. What are WIDE World participants saying about us one year after taking an online course?

Below, in a question-and-answer format, Roland tells us why it's important for everyone to know what former participants are doing with WIDE World ideas, what he found most interesting about this year's results, what it all means for you and your students, and why you should read his full (but brief!) report on the WIDE World website.

Believe us, it's worth clicking through to the report -- you can read about the kinds of long-term changes your online colleagues have made in their classrooms and, yes, you will even get to see a few of Roland's legendary pie charts!

Roland, why does WIDE World conduct these surveys?

It's common that people will get a short-term boost in confidence or techniques after a professional development course. It's more important for us to know whether they found things in WIDE World courses they could continue to use a year later.

We wanted to reach out to as many people as possible, so we invited the participation of almost everyone who took our English and Chinese courses in 2006 -- people for whom we had current email addresses. We didn't offer any incentives. We simply appealed to those folks who wanted to contribute to a worthwhile effort and the response rate was really good at about 26%.

In your opinion, what was the most remarkable finding?

I found it remarkable to see that only 1% of respondents said the Teaching for Understanding framework is not important to their practice. That leaves a lot of people saying that TfU continues to have a sustained impact on the way they conduct their daily work!

With large groups of teachers being signed up by district administrators, a lot of participants are completely new to the ideas of WIDE World and TfU, so this finding tells me people have truly learned something important that has caught on or stuck for them.

I also found it remarkable that the results remain consistent even when you break down the demographics. We looked to see if there are groups that are benefiting more than others, but it's consistently positive when you look across urban/suburban/rural, US/international, subject areas/grade levels taught, years of teaching experience, levels of educational degrees, and so on.

Benefits to teachers are only half of the equation on everyone's minds -- what did you find in terms of student benefits?

When I reflect on the 2006 and 2007 survey results together, I see a chain developing. It seems people are reporting that their students are more confident and getting more engaged in their schoolwork. And, as a result of that, students are taking greater responsibility for their learning and taking on more challenging work. All of this is resulting in deeper student learning and ultimately better achievement.

What do we mean by "better achievement"?

For starters, we mean that students are thinking more widely and independently looking for connections outside of their particular topics and subject areas. We mean that they are better able to teach their peers certain skills successfully.

In a lot of cases, students who are involved in the process of coming up with the criteria that defines good work or good performance leads to visibly greater student investment and, in turn, results in greater achievement. They share common goals and can support one another.

Again, when you break down the demographics, you might expect to see a different set of results in schools with more rigid curriculum and a stronger emphasis on standardized test preparation when you compare them to those without. So, we looked into the background of the schools themselves and the contexts in which WIDE World participants are working. It turns out TfU is beneficial to both.

"One question I often hear is, 'Does WIDE World offer a degree program?'," reports Sandrine Bertrand-Cadi, WIDE World Customer Support liaison. "Many of our participants inevitably fall in love with Harvard-based philosophies like Teaching for Understanding and ask us for advice on how to find related master's and doctoral opportunities since WIDE World does not currently offer degree programs."

If this sounds like you, then you'll be interested to know the Harvard Graduate School of Education offers an on-site, one-year master's degree program called Technology, Innovation, and Education (TIE).

Did you know that several of your WIDE World colleagues -- participants, coaches and instructors -- are graduates of TIE?

"TIE was a fabulous professional experience that marks a turning point in my career," explains Susan Wirsig, TIE graduate and current instructor of WIDE World courses Teaching to New Standards with New Technologies 1 & 2 (TSNT 1 & 2). "After eight years as a classroom teacher, the program provided me with the time, space, and structure I needed to review the beliefs I held about teaching, expand my vision, and ultimately look at teaching and learning through a different lens -- a lens shaped by solid research and ongoing, stimulating dialogue with thoughtful educators."

Even our co-founders Dr. Stone Wiske and Dr. David Perkins are long time members of the TIE faculty. In fact, when Stone authored WIDE World online courses TSNT 1 & 2, she built the curriculum using key concepts from graduate level courses she teaches as part of the TIE program . . .

We'd like to extend a hearty welcome to all of our September 2007 course participants, new and returning, including:

Our US Clients

• San Diego Unified School District (CA)
• Orange County Public Schools (FL)
• Joy of Learning, Miami (FL)
• Kentucky Department of Education (KY)
• Lakewood School District (NJ)
• NYC Public Schools [IS318, PS69, PS81, University Neighborhood Middle School, and Manhattan School for Children] with support from Harvard Club of New York (NY)
• Smithtown Central School District (NY)

Our International Clients

• Sociedad Inmobiliaria Educacional Limitada (Chile)
• Jing An Education Bureau (China)
• King's College (New Zealand)
• Ang Mo Kio Primary School; Manjusri Secondary School (Singapore)
• Bendemeer Secondary School (Singapore)
• International School of Port of Spain (Trinidad and Tobago)