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The following HTML text is provided to enhance online readability. Many aspects of typography translate only awkwardly to HTML. Please use the page image as the authoritative form to ensure accuracy. statewide infrastructure, mentors are provided for all beginning teachers and principals. Peer review of and assistance with teaching skills are encouraged through competitive grants to school systems. In addition, funds are available to implement peer review programs and for the training of mentor teachers at regional professional development centers. The Ohio State Board of Education has authorized a waiver of its rules on teacher professional days to provide the flexibility needed to create time for professional development, and this has had beneficial effects. For example, Ohio’s Centerville School District was able to negotiate with the local teachers’ union to provide release time and $1,000 stipends for mentor teachers (Halford, 1998). Tangible incentives, district support, specialized professional support for mentors, and careful attention to the matches between mentors and new teachers are key components of Centerville’s program. SUPPORT FOR TEACHERS IN OKLAHOMA, MARYLAND, KANSAS, AND MISSOURIOklahoma has provided additional funds to its Commission for Teacher Preparation to launch professional development institutes that focus on the teaching of mathematics, the teaching of inquiry-based science, the use of technology in the classroom, and the training of mentors for beginning teachers.5 In Maryland, 240 new Professional Development Schools will be launched, expanding the current efforts of its 13 public universities. All prospective teachers in the state of Maryland ultimately will be expected to complete a year-long internship in connection with these PDSs (Maryland State Department of Education, 1998). Kansas also has committed to ongoing professional development and new induction programs that hold teacher education programs accountable for the performance of their graduates. The Kansas Teacher Development Coalition,6 a collaboration of state agencies, higher education institutions, and other educators, has been working to align preservice education and induction-related professional development with that state’s redesign of teacher licensure. Meanwhile, each of six Regents institutions in Kansas has established professional development school partnerships for the clinical preparation of new teachers. Missouri has established a Super-
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