This article draws on interview data to analyze how instructional program coherence in 7 elementary schools in 2 Michigan districts seemed to affect novice teachers' induction experiences. Of the 7 study participants, 4 were at schools that had adopted a common language arts framework and had opportunities to collaborate with colleagues and…

A 5-year prospective, quasi-experimental investigation demonstrated that grade-level teams in 9 Title 1 schools using an inquiry-focused protocol to solve instructional problems significantly increased achievement. Teachers applying the inquiry protocol shifted attribution of improved student performance to their teaching rather than external…

Consistent with the theme of this issue, we describe the details of one continuing effort to build knowledge for teacher education. We argue that building a useful knowledge base requires attention to the processes used to generate, record, and vet knowledge. By using 4 features of knowledge-building systems we identified in the introductory…

To understand how teacher education might build the knowledge it needs, the editors of this issue investigate how organizations outside of education create and maintain "self-improving" systems that enable them to learn how to get better at what they do. To learn about knowledge building in teacher education, the research reported here also looks…

Using the results of three studies, this report compares the effects of a direct instruction strategy to those of basal approaches in teaching elementary mathematics. Results support a more direct approach to development that teaches students preskills, strategies, correction procedures, and methods of internalizing a strategy. (DR)

Using an ethnographic approach, this article describes the factors influencing the curriculum planning of a fifth grade teacher. (Author/MP)

Case studies described 12 middle-school teachers' instructional yearly, unit, weekly, and daily planning on the basis of a background questionnaire, interview protocols, an analysis of written plans, think-aloud typescripts, and a questionnaire. A process model best characterized teachers long-term planning, while an agenda-formulation model fit…

Describes the mental process that teachers engage in while making preactive planning decisions, and presents a general-process model of teacher planning consisting of three stages: (1) problem finding, (2) problem formulation/solution (design), and (3) implementation, evaluation, and routinization. (MP)

Research on teachers' judgments, instructional planning, and decision making during classroom interaction is reviewed. (MP)

Comments on three areas of general concern in the whole language movement: developmental theoretical underpinnings; "do's and dont's" of whole language instruction; and the future implementation of whole language teaching and learning. (BB)

Explores relationships among student performance prior to instruction, problems students are assigned and performance after instruction in fourth-grade mathematics. Results indicate that assigning challenging materials may lead to notable gains on test of fourth-grade mathematics. Discusses implication of results for possible modification of…

Examined self-assessment as a means of teacher learning that develops teachers' understanding and use of discourse strategies to support instructional conversation. Found that teachers' analyses did not grow more precise, but interpretations of talk revealed growing ability to treat discourse as an object of knowledge. Explored features of the…

Examined one third-grade teacher's portfolio of her literacy instruction for a school year along with her reflections on how creating the portfolio influenced her teaching and thinking. Uses other teachers' self-report data to extend this teacher's reflections on the pedagogical and nonpedagogical effects of the teacher portfolio. (BB)

To find out what lesson plans formats were most useful to novices, five elementary and seven secondary student-teachers in English and history were asked to modify traditional linear formats according to their needs and to document their experimentation during student teaching. Also compares planning needs of elementary/secondary novices.…