Given what we know about new teacher attrition--most teachers leave within their first five years in the field--specialized support during early years of teaching is critical. But should this support look different across different contexts and grade bands? What does supportive teacher education and induction look like for middle level educators…

The authors of this article are two teacher educators who worked collaboratively to co-teach an interdisciplinary English and US history class to eleventh-grade students in an urban high school. They wanted to ensure the methods they were teaching preservice teachers were current and effective. The article discusses the foundational beliefs that…

The authors of this article describe their inquiry into implementation of the writing-focused Common Core State Standards in a co-taught English 9 class in an urban school. They describe instructional moves designed to increase student success with an assignment called the Gift Essay, with particular focus on planning and other organizational…

In today's educational environment, schools struggle to meet the academic needs of every student. Many schools are challenged by the use of a response-to-intervention framework in which too many students need strong interventions. This article details a data-driven, decision-making response-to-intervention reading team model in which teachers,…

The successful participation of students with disabilities in a general education classroom is generally presumed to be contingent on the creation of classroom communities that can nurture the qualities of equity and care and where different forms of diversity are valued. However, there has been less scholarship that documents the production of…

This article focuses on the evolution of the classroom literacy block as a learning space where teachers and students renegotiated activities for independent vocabulary and word work within a high-stakes reform environment. When a second grade classroom teacher and literacy support specialist decided to co-teach, they invited all students in the…

Two educators recount critical dilemmas in the development of a secondary level interdisciplinary teaching team, discussing three phases in the development of the team: consolidated, laissez-faire, and shared power. Lessons learned include: it is difficult, if not impossible, to separate issues of interpersonal relations from substantive team…

Central Middle School, part of the Millard Public School District, is a grade six through eight urban school located in Omaha, Nebraska. Omaha has a metropolitan and surrounding suburban population of approximately one million. Along with approximately 800 students in traditional middle school teams, CMS also offers a Montessori mini-magnet and…

This narrative inquiry weaves Schwab's commonplaces of curriculum and Clandinin, Pushor, and Murray Orr's narrative commonplaces through stories of conflict between a professional developer and 30 high school lead teachers. In her role as manager of a mathematics leadership institute situated between two urban public school districts and a…

This article describes the three-year evolution of a team-taught teacher education class entitled the "Social Contexts of Education" in the setting of an urban high school. The course developed a number of innovative practices, including collaborative instruction by K-12 and university faculty and the development of a parent engagement…

Considered a successful university-operated, urban middle school serving an overwhelmingly African American student body, "Charter" Middle School was dechartered suddenly, then merged a year later with students from a neighborhood school to become "Choice" Middle School, a school of choice in the urban district. Using a situated learning framework…

As a Missouri school's experience shows, mastery learning and cooperative learning can produce more positive results when applied together than when used separately. An agenda for success depends on a strong mission statement, parent involvement, and teacher teams to develop corrective and enrichment activities. (five references) (MLH)

Describes Oyster Elementary School's award-winning two-way bilingual (Spanish-English) program. The school's success has been maintained by strong parent and community support, high academic standards, and ongoing professional development efforts. However, cultural, generational, and socioeconomic differences among staff, students, and parents…

Argues how the professional knowledge context, or landscape, shapes effective teaching, teachers's knowledge, what knowledge is seen as essential for teaching, and who is warranted to produce knowledge about teaching. It recounts three stories to illustrate this argument, interpreting each in terms of the professional knowledge landscape. (GR)

The article describes two elementary level basic skills programs operating in Alabama, one tailored for and operating throughout the state, and the other funded for 10 Appalachian Alabama schools by the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC). The article details the way two schools use their ARC funds. (SB)