Inspired by Theodore Schatzki's "societist" approach--in which he advocates a notion of "site ontologies"--in this article, we outline our theory of practice architectures (a theory about what practices are composed of) and ecologies of practices (how practices relate to one another). Drawing on case studies of four Australian…

Teachers have many problems transferring theoretical knowledge into practice. That's why teacher educators seek ways for connecting theory and practice in their pre-service teacher education programs. This study describes the activities and the effects of these activities for connecting theory and practice, as well as the recommendations of major…

Preservice teachers have difficulty incorporating research-based instructional strategies and often revert to those observed during their own school years. This study describes how preservice teachers used a framework of planning, implementation, feedback, and reflection to try research-based teaching practices from their methods courses and…

Uses two examples of fieldwork on the Indian sub-continent on which to base a model for a participatory practice in Theatre for Development (TFD). Offers a brief contextualisation of TFD within the development discourses of modernization and participation. Outlines four key elements for this type of participation: passion, story, contradiction and…

Administrators, particularly those who engage in instructional leadership, play a key role in school improvement. Past research describes the types of activities instructional leaders engage in but has paid little attention to how they do it. The authors use the case of one school to unpack instructional leadership as a practice, paying close…

Problem-solving teams substantially influence organizational performance in restructured schools. This article examines the concepts of teamwork and team effectiveness, as related to functions of problem-solving teams. A case study of a successful team effort to improve elementary students' reading scores provides a framework for developing…

Illustrates how a group of teachers went about addressing the issue of turning theory into classroom practice, to illuminate the nature of the issues to be addressed when teachers seek to engage in the theory-into-practice process. Presents a table (created by this group) which is a framework for turning a theory of learning into classroom reading…

Presents an overview of curriculum-based measurement (CBM) and a discussion of the general lack of implementation by practitioners. Six case studies illustrate the transition of one teacher from a skeptical opponent of CBM to a strong advocate who incorporates CBM in her instructional program for low-skilled readers. (Author/CR)

Focuses on what the authors have learned from six exemplary teachers of writing who teach within high-stakes accountability systems. Notes that based on what they have seen in the teachers' classrooms and discussed with them and their students, their response to the reality of high-stakes testing is the need to "teach true and to the test in…

A discussion is presented on the lack of fit between educational research and educational practice. It is pointed out that traditional research is likely to be particularly inaccessible to female practitioners who may feel more aliented by and excluded from the world of research than their male colleagues. Teachers need to participate actively in…

This paper presents a case study of a reading disabled 9-year-old student with a profound single naming-speed deficit without a phonological deficit. It explores how a naming-speed deficit affects reading performance and theoretical assumptions regarding the role of naming speed in reading. A reading program specifically designed to address…

Suggests Roger Deldime of the University of Brussels is one of the foremost francophone theorists of theatre sociology and has a special interest in children's theatre and education. Presents a detailed case study to examine how a strong and principled theory of theatre's role in children's lives has been successfully turned into a thriving…

This paper presents findings from a 4-year ethnographic research study into school leadership relating to how a particular principal with a well-informed adult development perspective actually employed it through her practices in support of teacher development in a school. This work focuses on leadership, adult development, and teacher development…

Used case study of an urban elementary school to examine connections between educational research and practice at the school level. Compared the school's new "protocol" process for group discourse to the research orientations within discipline-based, institutional, and teacher research. Uncovered the key role of discourse conventions in…

Presents an ethnographic study that explores young bilingual children's early literacy experiences in three different languages (English, Urdu and classical Arabic) and in three strikingly different types of classes in England. Focuses on one bilingual boy of a Pakistani background. Aims to integrate non-dominating language and literacy practices…