Discusses the recent interest in teacher research and inquiry, arguing that part of what makes it an official movement is that teacher research stems from various intellectual traditions and educational projects. Identifies five trends that characterize the movement and discusses the future of the movement in the face of current reforms that…

Systematic intentional inquiry by teachers makes accessible some of teachers' expertise and provides universities and schools with unique perspectives on teaching and learning. A four-part working typology of teacher research is proposed, with examples of the four types: journals, essays, oral inquiry processes, and classroom studies. (IAH)

Student teachers can learn to reform teaching by working with experienced teachers struggling to be reformers. Two approaches are (1) critical dissonance, or incongruity between what students learn in college and what they experience in student teaching; and (2) collaborative resonance, or intensifying the influences of both experiences by linking…

Shares a longitudinal conversation among faculty over the meaning of social justice, investigating individual understandings of its meaning and finding commonalities necessary to teach for social justice. Participants unanimously supported teaching for social justice, but their definitions ranged along a continuum of beliefs. The study identified…

Describes a multi-year, collaborative research and professional-development project at Boston College known as "Seeking Social Justice." The project provides a "proof of possibility" for other faculty groups trying to infuse social justice into preservice teacher education despite profound differences in politics, disciplines,…

Considers various ways in which teacher education outcomes are framed in research, policy, and the media, examining the impact of such framings on the role of teaching and teacher education in promoting democratic values and arguing that researchers and teacher educators must help shape the questions raised in the policy arena, as they strongly…

Explores some of the tensions between inquiry and outcomes in preservice teacher preparation, positing three outcomes of an inquiry stance: complex notions of what counts as learning for K- 12 students; examination of attitudes, values, and beliefs about diversity, U.S. society, and teachers' responsibilities; and understandings of teacher…

Preservice and inservice teacher education must prompt teachers and educators to question issues of race, class, and ethnicity and develop appropriate courses of action. Teacher research is useful in that regard. Teachers can use research in work with other teachers and teacher educators to examine their knowledge, attitudes, and behavior. (SM)

Despite the fact that most teacher education programs report that they have thoroughly incorporated diversity perspectives and multicultural content into the curriculum, external examinations often prove to the contrary. Likewise, synthesizers of the research on teacher education have consistently concluded that despite more than two decades of…