This qualitative study investigated how teacher participation in professional learning communities leads to shared expectations and understandings [among teachers] about teaching and learning within their schools, thereby establishing consistently high-quality instructional practice across classrooms. This multi-case study of four teacher teams…

This paper and its appended multi-media production describe the rationale and process of creating and presenting a "digitally saturated" (Lankshear & Knobel, 2003), multi-layered, synchronous "montage" (Denzin & Lincoln, 2003) of educational Action Research findings. The authors contend that this type of presentation, arising from the fusion of…

This paper presents a research that emerges from a set of community-based outreach activities associated with a large-scale, interdisciplinary project, Improvisation, Community, and Social Practice (ICASP), which focuses on the social and pedagogical implications of improvised musical practices. Working from the premise that musical improvisation…

This qualitative study explored 8 urban mentor teachers' experiences and perceptions of mentoring in a yearlong field placement in an Urban Teacher Residency program. Results indicate mentors' and preservice teachers' joint work provided a context conducive for professional learning and contributing to a larger social justice mission. However,…

Since the onset of No Child Left Behind (NCLB, 2002) schools have been focusing on raising test scores in reading and mathematics, while at the same time feeling pressured to reduce subjects such as physical education and health. It seems for many educators finding time in the school day for students' physical activity has become increasingly…

Teacher learning through professional development is a complex process and is not yet well understood. Some features of professional development programs are known to be important, such as a focus on learner needs, design of and reflection on classroom artefacts, and the creation and sustaining of communities of support for teacher professional…

This self-study explores the role of collaboration in the development of three new faculty members as teacher educator-researchers. The research finds that protocol-structured dialogue about artifacts of classroom practice promotes understanding of the complex relationships among teachers, student, content, and context. We also report on the…

Does extensive practice reduce or eliminate central interference in dual-task processing? We explored the reorganization of task architecture with practice by combining interference analysis (delays in dual-task experiment) and random-walk models of decision making (measuring the decision and non-decision contributions to RT). The main delay…

The purpose of this mixed methods research study was to explore teachers' perceptions of their professional behaviors when they worked in schools that awarded team performance pay. Teachers' archival responses from two questionnaires were analyzed using mixed methods data analysis techniques (Year 1, n = 368; Year 2, n = 649). Most teachers had…

Improving systematic use of student data to inform the work of teachers, schools, and districts has become a hot topic in education reform. Learning Forward's Standards for Professional Learning stress better use of data, and particularly student performance data, within an integrated approach to improving practice. While better use of data by…

Monte Vista Elementary School is one of 24 K-5 elementary schools in Las Cruces Public Schools, an urban district in southern New Mexico. The school's 450 students reflect the diversity of its Southwestern community: 75% Hispanic, 17% English language learners, and 68% free or reduced lunch, thus qualifying Monte Vista as a Title I school. Monte…

Through learning communities, schools can change to strengthen educator practice and improve student learning outcomes. So can districts. For 20 years, the authors have helped states, districts, and schools in the United States and Canada implement Whole-Faculty Study Groups, a design for learning communities. During the 2010-11 school year, they…

This study explored how the process of Response to Intervention (RTI) has changed the roles of three veteran special educators. The background knowledge of these teachers that helped make the initiative successful, as well as the "building blocks" that were present in the initial implementation of RTI models in their settings, were…

Numerous researchers have investigated distance education in postsecondary settings, but there is a paucity of research regarding the design and delivery of online professional development for K-12 educators. The goal of this mixed methods sequential exploratory study was to examine attitudes of middle grades educators toward an online…

The purpose of this reputation-based, multiple-site case study was to explore professional learning communities' impact on teacher classroom practice. The goal of this research was to describe the administrator and teachers' perceptions with respect to professional learning communities as it related to teacher practice in their school. Educators…