Institutions of higher education have a primary mission of providing a quality eduation to all of its student, including students with disabilities. This practice brief describes tools used in an innovative approach to teaching observations that were designed to improve access for students with disabilities through inclusive teaching strategies,…

This article focuses on the development of professional learning communities (PLCs), which are communities within schools, composed of voluntary participating teachers facilitated by school principals with a specific task to accomplish as part of a larger innovation project. Four PLCs were observed during 3 years by using questionnaires and…

This article considers ethnographic data collected during undergraduate students' transition to higher education. Drawing on communities of practice theory, the research focuses on the psychological process of identity as a trajectory, considering how reconciliation and negotiation of identities across and between communities influence transition.…

Recently there has been growth in researching teacher agency. Some research has considered the relationship between teacher agency and professional learning. Similarly, there has been growing interest in professional learning communities as resources for professional learning. Connections have been made between professional learning communities…

Purpose: Data use cultures in schools determine data use practices. Such cultures can be muted by powerful macro accountability and organizational learning cultures. Further, strong equity-oriented data use cultures are challenging to establish. The purpose of this paper is to engage these cultural tensions. Design/methodology/approach: The data…

The Professional Learning Community model of professional growth an development is an increasingly popular method of teacher training. Commonly abbreviated and referred to as PLCs, this style of professional learning is characterized by its focus on small groups and individualized learning. While the PLC has nearly become a standard feature of the…

Neo-liberal educational policies that are being implemented globally work to foster competition among schools and teachers, as well as among children. In this situation, teachers must often come to accept the dominant representations of curricular policy developed by higher authorities. In this study, a case study design is used to describe how…

In an attempt to address declining persistence rates of university STEM majors (Science, Teaching, Engineering, and Math), concerns regarding retention rates and waning STEM faculty participation in faculty development, we report on a year-long professional development program called the STEM Professional Academy to Reinvigorate the Culture of…

Music education scholars have questioned the effectiveness of isolated workshop and conference experiences on improving music teacher practices in the classroom. A model of professional development that potentially addresses these concerns is the professional learning community (PLC). In previous investigations of music teacher PLCs, the…

This article is based on a research and development project conducted in one upper secondary school in Norway. The participating teachers have been part of a three year longitudinal study, and the findings in the present study are from their third and final year of a professional development study. The aim of this study was to find out how…

In Sweden, tutoring in the mother tongue is a special support measure primarily intended for newly arrived students to facilitate their transition into the Swedish school system. Tutoring is premised on the collaboration between the class teacher, responsible for subject-related expertise, and the tutor, who contributes with knowledge of the…

This study investigated a group of six junior primary school teachers' learning as they collaboratively inquired into teaching practice they observed together. The focus of the study was on understanding how teachers collaborated around observed teaching practice to improve their pedagogy. The design involved four iterative stages of co-planning,…

The study examined whether and how teacher practice can be influenced when the existing research bases on best pedagogical practice and personal motivation were operationalized and then supported with opportunities for self-reflection. Administrators created a professional development experience, called Instruction Cadres, focused on peer…

The purpose of this qualitative case study is to identify how PLCs influence the high school English teachers' practice in response to key instructional shifts within teaching standards in the Southwest United States. Legislation from the last two decades puts expectations in place that raise the bar for American students and their teachers…

The study presented in this article forms part of a wider project promoting collaboration between junior researchers from different universities with the objective of rethinking and improving teaching practice in relation to the use of technology. The article describes research carried out during the 2012/13 academic year aimed at developing…