In 1996, Paul Deering, now a National Middle School Association West Region Trustee and University of Hawaii professor, established the Masters Degree in Education with a Middle Level Emphasis Program (MLMED) at the University of Hawaii. The MLMED is a two-year program that focuses on five standards that encompass the research-based middle level…

This paper describes an extended action research project run in a large secondary school over an 18-month period. The work was part of a wider strategy for change within the school. The data presented here describes some of the features of the change process and reflections on its impact. A key aim was to challenge and enable teachers to modify…

The purpose of this study was to examine the experiences of three science teachers attempting to transform their practice by conducting action research on feminist science teaching. The teachers engaged in systematic, self-critical inquiry of their own practice and joined 8 other science teachers to engage in collaborative conversations about the…

Randall Eberts explores the role of teachers unions in public education. He focuses particularly on how collective bargaining agreements shape the delivery of educational services, how unions affect both student achievement and the cost of providing quality education, and how they support educational reform efforts. Eberts's synthesis of the…

The purpose of this project was to examine whether students in three sections of a team coordinated interdisciplinary course received the same educational experience. An essay covering three aspects of Native American history was evaluated for content and critical thinking. Significant differences were seen between classes in describing cultural…

Seven middle-level schools in a large suburban district created an open enrollment system for advanced English and science courses. The advanced courses provided students with an opportunity to learn through the use of primary sources, high-level literature, and a variety of projects. A vertical teaming process in each middle-high school…

Reform-based curriculum materials have been suggested as a mechanism to make inquiry-based instruction more prevalent in secondary science classrooms, specifically when accompanied by comprehensive professional development (Loucks-Horsley, Hewson, Love, & Stiles, [1998]; Powell & Anderson, [2002]). This research examines the implementation of a…

Purpose: This article explores distributed leadership as it relates to two teacher teams in one public secondary school. Both situational and social aspects of distributed leadership are foci of investigation. Methods: The qualitative study used constant comparative analysis and discourse analysis to explore leadership as a distributed phenomenon.…

This paper explores a model of professional development that theoretically extends to new teachers a bridge from inquiry-oriented preparation into the first years of teaching. Inquiry-oriented teacher education habituates novice teachers into professional habits of heart and mind that are difficult to sustain given the reigning modes of…

This paper discusses a study on the efficacy of co-teaching; reviews related literature on the topic of co-teaching at all levels (noting benefits, drawbacks, and necessary elements); presents the results of an open-ended survey conducted with students who were team-taught; and presents the co-teachers' reflections on the experience. The research…

The growth of educational teams in collaborative reform initiatives spurs a need for team assessments to assist in promoting functional team environments, productive team work, and member satisfaction. This study applied a multitrait-multimethod framework (D. Campbell and D. Fiske, 1959) to assess team functioning and team leadership. Four case…

What kinds of interaction take place in a history department? What might be their value? Between 1999 and 2003, Simon Letman, then history teacher and Director of Studies at The Royal Hospital School in Ipswich, set out to discover how the rich variety of between-teacher- interactions, so much a feature of the department he had worked in for…

Although all areas of the country share certain educational challenges--such as having quality teachers in every classroom; making every school a peaceable, safe environment in which to learn; and ensuring that every child learns to read well and comprehends science and mathematics at a functionally high level--each region confronts a unique set…

The authors examine the literature that sets the foundation for a lesson design cycle for differentiating instruction in inclusive classrooms. Use the cycle to differentiate at the four design points of understanding the learners, delineating content and materials, assessing what learners know, and differentially arranging teaching/learning…

Coteaching and cogenerative dialoguing are ways of learning to teach that truly bridge the gap between theory and praxis, as new teachers learn to teach alongside peers and more experienced teachers. These practices are also means of overcoming teacher isolation and burnout. Through cogenerative dialogue sessions, new and experienced teachers,…