EDC Center for Children and Technology (CCT) researchers Wendy Martin, Naomi Hupert and Noga Admon and New Mexico State University researcher Carmen Gonzales are the 2003 recipients of SIGTE Research Paper Award for their paper, "Real Teachers Making Real Changes: The RETA Model for Professional Development," the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE)'s National Educational Computer Conference (NECC) Program Committee announced last week.

The award, which is given by ISTE's Special Interest Group for Teacher Educators (SIGTE), annually honors the conference paper that best addresses issues related to either pre-service teacher education or in-service professional development related to technology. Each year a review committee comprised of SIGTE members selects one paper from among all the research papers submitted at the NECC conference for the award. To reach the decision, the committee first scores all the conference papers using a rubric based on the selection criteria used by the Journal of Computing in Teacher Education (JCTE). Then, committee members discuss the highest scoring papers before finally deciding on the most outstanding one.

This year's award winner, "Real Teachers Making Real Changes...," draws on research gathered from CCT's evaluation of New Mexico's Regional Educational Technology Assistance program, which offers professional development opportunities in the integration of technology into academic content to educators across the state of New Mexico while emphasizing the development of regional expertise among classroom teachers who can act as peer technology mentors in their communities.

"We liked it for a number of reasons, timeliness, applicability to other institutions, and writing quality," said Melissa Pierson, chair of the selection committee and president-elect of SIGTE. "We liked that it was a statewide effort, that it was supported by lots of data examples, and that it applies to the widest audience."

The four authors will be honored at the ISTE Membership Meeting, Monday, June 30, 2-3 pm and at the Special Interest Group in Teacher Education (SIGTE)'s Annual Meeting, Tuesday, July 1, 4:45 pm. And their research paper will be published in the JCTE journal.

Read the award-winning paper, Real Teachers Making Real Changes: The RETA Model for Professional Development