This study explores the use of critical conversations in a field-based practicum setting to develop dispositions toward, and understandings of, equitable teaching practices. To date, few studies have examined how mentors and mentees use shared reflection to examine issues of equity alongside learning how to teach. Using self-study methods and…

This study investigates the collaboration between two teachers, a dance teaching artist, and a researcher within an educational design research project, that integrated creative dance into fifth-graders' reading and writing processes. To study this design team, we draw on the theoretical field of new materialism and the methodological field of…

The purpose of this study was to compare elementary classroom teachers' actual practice and perceived importance of English Language Arts professional development in five professional development dimensions: alignment, content and modeling, active learning, collaboration, and follow-up, in high and low mastery, low needs schools. The schools…

The collaborative action research reported here strives to extend a prior study that dealt with the effects of integrating a general music course of study with the total curriculum of a first grade class. This second study used a similar plan in which a fifth grade teacher and a music teacher worked cooperatively to provide a curriculum that…

This case study examines the implementation of "Foreign Language Activities" (English language education), which officially began in Japanese elementary schools in 2011. Subjects in this study included 37 Japanese classroom teachers (20 males and 17 females) in four elementary schools in Tokyo. The Teacher Foreign Language Anxiety Scale…

The purpose of this qualitative case study was to determine the effect of lesson study on teachers' mathematical understanding. This study reviewed a three year program called SEISMIC which implemented lesson study within a school district. The goal was to increase teacher and student understanding of mathematics' Teacher understanding of…

This essay presents a reflective account of a preservice teacher's experience in her fieldwork practice. The author, a professor in the preservice teacher's education institute, acted as a critical friend and joined in the reflection as an equal. Based on the voices of the preservice teacher and a group of primary teachers, this essay presents a…

Education leaders and much literature exhort teachers and school leaders to use data more often and more effectively to guide planning and decision making--called, "data driven decision making." This term is ubiquitous in literature and reform discourse, but "on the ground," so to speak, practitioners face significant challenges in analyzing,…

This study investigates the influence of a school's pre-existing social resources on the implementation of a comprehensive literacy-coaching program (Content-Focused Coaching [CFC]). Elementary schools were randomly assigned to receive a CFC-trained coach (n = 15 schools) or to continue with the literacy coaching resources that are standard for…