This article explores challenges of applying an ethnographic approach, combining participant observation and interviews, to a study of organizational change. The exploration is connected to reform changes, as they are constructed in the interaction between managers and teachers, in a Danish Upper Secondary High School. The data material is…

This paper describes a collaboration between a mathematician and a compositionist who developed a sequence of collaborative writing assignments for calculus. This sequence of developmentally appropriate assignments presents peer review as a collaborative process that promotes reflection, deepens understanding, and improves exposition. First, we…

We explored the use of the learning study (LS) model in developing Swedish pre-school science learning. This was done by analysing a 3-cycle LS project implemented to help a group of pre-school teachers (n?=?5) understand their science educational practice, by collaboratively and systematically challenging it. Data consisted of video recordings of…

This article reports on a semester-long project where a TESOL professor and English Education professor modeled collaborative teaching and explicitly taught collaboration skills to a coscheduled teaching methods class consisting of TESOL and Secondary English teacher candidates. Data were collected in the form of pre- and postsemester surveys. In…

As teachers organize classroom schedules to meet curricular demands and time constraints, they strive to seek ways to motivate and sustain student engagement in quality vocabulary instruction, enjoyable learning experiences, and interesting informational books. This article addresses these concerns and describes a vocabulary acquisition strategy…

Reports from 13 Further Mathematics Knowledge Networks supported by the National Centre for Excellence in the Teaching of Mathematics [NCETM] are analysed. After summarizing basic characteristics of the networks regarding leadership, composition and pattern of activity, each of the following aspects is examined in greater depth: Developmental aims…

The authors present three strategies for making sense of students' mathematical thinking. These lenses make the abstract idea of "making sense of student thinking" more manageable and concrete. We start by taking an initial look at a student's idea, going deeper, and finally looking across several ideas.

Bullying is a significant concern in schools, and both bullies and victims are at risk for negative outcomes. In this study, 239 sixth-grade teachers completed questionnaires about their perceptions of four components of school climate: high-risk student behaviors, school-wide barriers to learning, principal support, and cooperation among…

This article reports the findings of the 2011 results of 'very rural' Kentucky high schools on the Teaching, Empowering, Leading and Learning (TELL) Survey to determine whether differences existed between high and low performing rural schools across specific survey items. Schools with ACT scores one standard deviation (or more) above their…

Teacher learning in the workplace is situated within a complex context involving the individual and multiple aspects of an educational organization. The present action research study uses a socio-constructionist inquiry lens to further research the local and multifaceted nature of professional learning in schools. The goal is to re-conceptualize…

Roughly half a million U.S. teachers either move or leave the profession each year--attrition that costs the United States up to $2.2 billion annually. This high turnover rate disproportionately affects high-poverty schools and seriously compromises the nation's capacity to ensure that all students have access to skilled teaching, according to…

Teachers exhibit leadership behaviors of a service nature in their collaborative work with fellow educators. When additional school staff follow the teacher's example by engaging in servant leadership behaviors, a chain-like reaction or virtuous effect may occur. The researcher hypothesized that significant levels of agreement for servant…

Results of the evaluation suggest the SLO process is related to some positive outcomes for teachers and students. However, evidence indicates a need for program refinements to address discrepancies in SLO performance by staff role and school. A separate report was published in September 2013 [ED629046].

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore strategies to develop communities of practice (CoP) to improve teaching in a school context. Design/methodology/approach: A cross-sectional questionnaire is developed to collect data from participants in a project that aims to cultivate a CoP to improve their small class teaching skills. A total of…

Purpose: In school improvement studies, randomized experiments are rare. A special problem is the assignment to the experimental and control groups, taking into account the different starting conditions at the schools in terms of school improvement competencies. The purpose of this paper is to take the example of an intervention study conducted in…