Mentoring is a common form of support for beginning teachers. State and district mentoring policies vary along a number of dimensions, yet policymakers have little evidence to draw on in designing effective mentoring programs. We use quantitative and qualitative data from a study of beginning middle school mathematics teachers in 10 districts to…

This study examines elementary- and middle-grade teachers' understanding of the mathematical learning progression as they participated in a 6-month professional learning project. Teachers participated in a professional development project that consisted of a 1-week summer content-focused institute with school-based follow-up Lesson Study cycles in…

This study sought to examine how educators are using Twitter to increase their professional learning opportunities beyond the boundaries of traditional professional development offers, and whether educators feel a greater sense of fulfillment receiving professional development through networking and community learning than they do through…

The Learning Partners Program (LPP) is designed to promote interschool collaborative learning. Using the Framework for Great Schools as a lens, the program creates triads of schools by matching a host school with strong practices in a specific learning focus area (LFA) with two partner schools interested in strengthening their practices in that…

Due to growing student demand for flexibility concerning time and space, blended instruction continues to expand in colleges and universities (Garrison & Kanuka 2004). In order for institutions to reach higher levels of effectiveness in blended learning, pedagogical approaches that impact the way higher education faculty design and deliver…

This article argues for the importance of teaching research as a creative practice. The authors recommend geography and conversation as generative metaphors for teaching and learning creative research methods, offering examples from their undergraduate composition courses. Creating knowledge as a researcher requires posing the question to be…

Teacher candidates rely on mentors working in their college-based teacher education programs and mentors working in the college's partner schools to support their development as future teachers as well as their Teacher Performance Assessment (edTPA) preparations. This study describes a semester-long collaboration between a clinical professor,…

There is an increased focus in teacher education on research-based teaching as a means to develop a more research-based professional knowledge. However, research from several Western countries shows that neither school-based nor university-based teachers are familiar with how to integrate research-based knowledge in professional teacher practice.…

This paper reports the effects on children, teacher candidates, and classroom teachers of a PDS-based initial certification course in the teaching of literacy. In this course, teacher candidates work with individual struggling readers on a range of literacy tasks, and the classroom teacher and university faculty member serve as course…

Lecture videos have become an increasingly prevalent and important source of learning content. Lecturergenerated summaries may be used during a video lecture to improve student recall. Furthermore, the integration of a guest lecturer into the classroom may be a beneficial educational practice drawing the learner's attention to specific content or…

Many secondary math and science teachers don't understand the nature and application of engineering adequately to transfer that understanding to their students. Research is needed that investigates and illuminates the process and characteristics of development that addresses this gap. This mixed-method study examines the developmental experiences…

This article focuses on a research study of social studies candidates' self-efficacy beliefs in teaching writing. They coached high school writers online during their content-area literacy course in an effort to assist the high school students in revising their multigenre papers. Over a period of 6 weeks the candidates and the high school students…

The early childhood period from birth to age 8 is an exciting one for growth, development, and learning. It is when children begin to develop social-emotional competence, and it is also a time when children's emerging skills may result in behaviors adults and peers find challenging. It is important that adults who care for and teach young children…

Problem: There is an existing cycle of questionable grading practices at the K-12 level. As a result, districts continue to search for innovative methods of evaluating and reporting student progress. One result of this effort has been the adoption of a standards-based grading approach. Research concerning standards-based grading implementation has…

"Teaching in Context" provides new evidence from a range of leading scholars showing that teachers become more effective when they work in organizations that support them in comprehensive and coordinated ways. The studies featured in the book suggest an alternative approach to enhancing teacher quality: creating conditions and school…