As a special education coordinator of students with learning disabilities, I come into contact quite frequently with students who are considered twice exceptional. My role is to provide support to teachers on how to best meet the needs of the students with special needs in my school district. It is imperative that collaboration occurs between…

The present study attempts to report a collaborative cycle of professional development in teaching elementary school mathematics through lesson study. It explores a practice of lesson study conducted by teachers aiming to improve their knowledge of pedagogy. The study adopts an ethnographic approach to examine how collaborative teaching within an…

Reflection and collaboration are two activities teachers can use to change and improve their practice. However, finding the time and space to do so can be challenging. The collaborative reflective teaching cycle is a structured activity teachers can use to engage in reflection and collaboration. This article describes how a seventh grade teaching…

Teacher learning, as well as the development and testing of curriculum materials, are key for teaching lessons that bring the goals of the Next Generation Science Standards to life in classrooms. Lesson study is a process that links standards, teacher learning, curriculum materials, and instructional enactment together to facilitate student…

Formal mentoring is the cornerstone of most teacher induction programs, but teachers receive support from informal mentors as well. The authors report on findings from a study of 57 first-year mathematics teachers in 11 school districts to describe who teachers' formal and informal mentors are, how teachers work with them, and how the functions of…

This study explored the connections between teacher leadership and a professional development model focused on problem-solving, Math Teachers' Circles (MTC). Surveys were completed by 213 MTC participants resulting in three years of data across multiple sites. A mathematics education leadership framework provided a data analysis tool. Findings…

Academics are collaborating more as their research questions are becoming more complex, often reaching beyond the capacity of any one person. However, in many parts of the campus, teamwork is not a traditional work pattern, and team members may not understand the best ways to work together to the benefit of the project. Challenges are particularly…

One of the greatest challenges facing education systems is implementing the changes that make schools, and therefore, nations, internationally competitive. The resistance to change, the possibilities of change, and the roles the many and various stakeholders play in leading change have been noted by scholars on the topic of change in school. While…

Research has made it clear, the effectiveness of teachers vary greatly (Nye, Konstantopoulos, & Hedges, 2004), and teacher differences account for some of the variation in student achievement (Rowan, Correnti, & Miller, 2002). The federal act of mandating teachers to be "Highly Qualified" will not single-handedly improve student…

This paper aims to explore student experiences resulting from collaborative teaching and learning of academic literacy and content knowledge, for multiple objectives at a South African University of Technology. Using the qualitative research approach, undergraduate students who attended the Communication Skills course were randomly selected. Data…

This study aims to augment the current understanding of how practicing teachers perceive and implement disciplinary literacy and in what ways they collaborate with researchers in a disciplinary literacy project. To do this, we collected and analyzed transcripts of the meetings from a disciplinary literacy project that was a university-school…

Over the last decade, most states have adopted new college- and career-readiness standards in math and English language arts (ELA), standards that call for the mastery of ambitious content and raise expectations for student success and classroom instruction. To support teachers in the implementation of these new, challenging standards, the Center…

In school districts and charter school networks nationwide, instructional leaders are developing plans to address the enormous challenges faced by their students, families, teachers, and staff over the past year. To help kick-start the planning process, the Thomas B. Fordham Institute presents "The Acceleration Imperative," an…

This report describes an online course developed to support education systems to build an aligned and sustainable approach to integration of 21st Century Skills (21CS). 21CS are those skills that are considered particularly important to succeed in today's knowledge-based society in which innovation and technology are predominant. Prominent…

This guide is designed to help teachers and administrators use data to continuously improve equity in schools. Educators can also use data to engage students, parents/guardians, the community, and others who want to make positive changes in schools to increase equity. The purposes of the guide are to: (1) Introduce MAEC's Equity Audit Tools as a…