The study explored the verb clauses and thematic development evident in curriculum materials and in transcripts of teachers planning lessons using the materials. A central argument is that though teacher characteristics influence the ways they plan lessons with curriculum materials, the materials themselves influence teachers' planned lessons via…

The rapidly changing landscape of instructional materials in elementary education has involved both a wider range of available materials, particularly online, as well as increasing use of materials provided to teachers by other teachers on sites such as Pinterest and Teachers Pay Teachers. In this commentary, I outline three key shifts in…

We studied how the distal policy mechanisms of curricular aims and objectives articulated in official curriculum documents influenced classroom instruction, and the factors that were associated with the enactment of those curricular aims and objectives. The study was set in the U.S. context, where there is an ambitious effort to transform…

Elementary mathematics curriculum materials can serve as a lever for instructional change. In this paper, we promote a particular kind of instructional change: supporting teachers in learning to integrate children's multiple mathematical knowledge bases (MMKB), including children's mathematical thinking and children's home and community-based…

Eight middle school mathematics teachers' perceptions and uses of curriculum materials and the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics (CCSSM) were investigated. Adapting a noticing framework and models of dialogic instruction and direct instruction, teachers' noticing practices with curriculum materials and the CCSSM when planning, enacting,…

We analyzed 52 middle school mathematics lessons from multiple states and curriculum contexts to understand how teachers were enacting the CCSSM. The teachers stated that all of the lessons were CCSSM-aligned. We categorized curriculum materials according to two approaches, with one approach associated with curriculum programs funded by NSF and…

Building on the work of Ball and Cohen and that of Davis and Krajcik, as well as more recent research related to teacher learning from and about curriculum materials, we seek to answer the question, How can prospective teachers (PTs) learn to read and use educative curriculum materials in ways that support them in acquiring the knowledge needed…

The overall purpose of this study is to develop a measure of elementary mathematics teachers' curricular knowledge (Shulman, 1986) and curriculum use practices. In this paper, we present the first step in this larger effort--the piloting of one set of questions that document pre-service teachers' (PSTs') knowledge and practices for reading,…

The goal of this paper is to introduce the curriculum strategy framework as a way to characterize teachers' interactions with curriculum materials. The framework focuses on three key interpretive activities: reading, evaluating, and adapting curriculum materials. Describing an individual teacher's curriculum strategy involves identifying the…