Even though faculty are obviously vital to the work of internationalizing academia, "surprisingly little work has been published that addresses the roles, responsibilities, and problems faced by faculty on an operational level" (Dewey and Duff 2009, p. 491). This chapter examines the motivations, supports, and barriers faculty are facing…

Teacher education in the 21st century is encountering increased scrutiny, added pressure, and escalating external regulations but does not have practical and immediate solutions for improving programs. While reforms in teacher education call for additional and improved clinical practice for candidates, through strengthened partnerships with local…

When professional learning communities (PLCs) are developed to promote the academic achievement of English language learners (ELLs), the results can benefit not only ELLs but the whole school. This article examines the ventures of three high schools that implemented PLCs as part of a Title III National Professional Development Project. The authors…

The purpose of this study was to gather information on experiences of regular education teachers concerning inclusion practices for children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). Three research questions were addressed in the study. The first research question identified experiences of regular education teachers in the areas of preservice…

The purpose of this study was to investigate teachers' and administrators' perceptions of the implementation and effectiveness of Response to Intervention (RTI) strategies in their schools. The study used a mixed-methods research design. Data were collected through multiple-choice and open-ended surveys administered to elementary English language…

This study examined the relationship between turnover of school leadership personnel and school climate as perceived by teachers. The study focused on Jewish day schools in the United States in different cities and states. Fifty Jewish day schools (ranging from preschool age to high school) participated in the study with 200 teachers from these…

Students in a rural elementary school in the southeastern United States were not performing well in comprehension development. Educators at the school needed more information on ways to enhance student understanding and performance. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore how elementary teachers' implemented comprehension…

Rapid change in organizational structure sparked a need in one private school district to design and implement an efficient communication system in distance learning environments. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to improve the collaboration process among teachers and administrators in this highly safeguarded population in a way that…

High school teachers today work in challenging, high-accountability instructional environments, striving to meet the needs of upwards of 100 learners per day. Rapidly growing numbers of English-language learners (ELLs) in U.S. classrooms have added to these pressures. Rather than using collaborative structures to face these challenges, the…

In the ideal, reciprocity in qualitative inquiry occurs when there is give-and-take between researchers and the researched; however, the demands of the academy and resource constraints often make the pursuit of reciprocity difficult. Drawing on two video-based, qualitative studies in which researchers utilized video records as resources to enhance…

Higher education institutions are currently undertaking a challenging process in moving from teacher-orientated to student-focused approaches. Students' ability to asking questions is fundamental to developing critical reasoning, and to the process of scientific enquiry itself. Our premise is that questioning competences should become a central…

This paper offers a conceptual model and rich narratives that describe the contexts in which teacher leadership emerges and the many ways that leadership is enacted. Drawing on qualitative case studies of seven Maine, USA schools, the authors found that teachers initiated their own professional learning efforts with the central goal of improving…

In order to provide increasing support for students with disabilities in inclusive classrooms in high-stakes testing contexts, some schools have implemented co-teaching models. This qualitative case study explores how 1 special education teacher (Anna) and 1 general education history teacher (John) make sense of working together in an inclusive…

This article will map the process of collaborative professional enquiry in an attempt to make sense of the structural elements evident in creating a "Community of Collaborative Professional Enquiry" (CCPE). At the heart of each CCPE examined was a collaborative, improvement-focused intervention that was designed and implemented by…

This paper features a case study of one US K-8 school district pioneering the use of "lesson study," a teacher professional development approach adapted from Japan. The case explores events that occurred in the district over more than 4 years (Spring 2000-Fall 2004) as lesson study spread nationally and within the district. We document four…