Presents a framework for comparing and evaluating action research that transcends differences among existing models. The dimensions of the framework are theoretical orientation, purpose, and type of reflective process. The paper describes how the framework was developed and presents examples of how it can be used to analyze different approaches to…

Explores the extent of teacher inquiry and how professional development can promote schoolwide inquiry within seven urban elementary schools, highlighting the regular, systematic inquiry present in two schools and organizational contexts that facilitate inquiry. As a key element of professional community, the ways that inquiry contributes to other…

Describes an action research project conducted while teaching a course about action research. Eight doctoral students and a professor co-taught the course, demonstrating aspects of action research and modeled research methodology for their students. The project helped them study their own teaching and their students' learning and demonstrated…

Investigated preservice teachers' thinking on research, considering how it might inform approaches to inquiry-oriented teacher education. Surveys and interviews with preservice teachers involved in inquiry-oriented programs indicated that the programs only modestly influenced their thinking about research. To have more influence, goals must be…

Because educational research is the province of professors, knowledge available to people working within the schools is undervalued. Collaborative teacher-initiated inquiry capitalizes on teachers' insider knowledge and helps change the professional activities of researchers. For teacher-initiated research to prosper, it is best developed outside…

Research and practice are not necessarily separate. Teacher educators should define research as disciplined, reflective inquiry into practice. Drawing upon current conceptions and practices in teacher education, the article defines an approach to research on practice and presents a rationale for reflective inquiry into teacher education. (SM)

Examines how writing produced within school-based practitioner research functions in framing and guiding classroom practice and research processes, outlining a model from Saussurian linguistics and from hermeneutical theory. An analogy is drawn with practitioner research, which is characterized as the generation and analysis of a sequence of…

Identifies assumptions about teachers' work and working conditions evident in action research, examining patterns in the parameters of work and workplace issues and analyzing research and various projects from the 1970s and 1980s. Aspects of feminist theory are used to address tensions and contradictions in teachers' practice of action research.…

Presents quantitative and qualitative data from a study involving a university, school districts and teacher candidates. Preservice-inservice dyads were taught how to use action research to examine, analyze, and reflect upon their teaching. Results indicated general acceptance by both new and experienced teachers, with developmental differences…

Identifies two divisive patterns of tension within mentor-student teacher relationships (philosophical differences and tolerance for uncertainty) within a high school English teacher education program based on collaborative inquiry and teacher research. Interviews, observations, and written documents highlighted five differences in principles and…

This article focuses on the problems, dilemmas, and issues which confront facilitators of teacher-based action research in schools. Three action research projects in the United Kingdom are described. An attempt is made to clarify the theoretical and philosophical assumptions which underpin the action research movement in education. (IAH)

Examined the motivational effects of a teacher research initiative within an urban alternative school, studying participating teachers' self-efficacy, empowerment, collaboration, and perceptions of school climate via surveys, interviews, observations, and field notes. Growth occurred in general and personal teaching efficacies from pretest to…

Three teams of prospective teachers created and presented school "portraits" based on research in an elementary school. Their stories revealed that each team moved from an external point of view to one situated in the actions of teaching. Their efforts to construct their own stories had a powerful impact on their knowledge, relationships…

Narrative research creates such political issues as validation of narrative knowledge, relationships of power and authority, and distinction between the public and private domains. Issues examined are the politics of research in a "narrative" mode, which challenges traditional research; issues of power in collaborative research…

This article reports on a study which investigated the question of whether the motivational and attitudinal components associated with wanting to do well, taking risks, and having a progressive ideology are empirically associated with staff ratings of quality. Subjects were 133 preservice primary teachers in England. (IAH)