The purpose of this article is to present a systems-based mentoring model of technology integration that follows a research-based path. The model moves teachers through four specific stages of technology adoption toward using technology to support learning in more student-centered ways. The model describes how a mentor can negotiate the interplay…

Much is written about teacher leaders and the impact they have in promoting and influencing change. This is a reflection from four teacher leaders from four secondary high schools of a rural, non-government system of schools as they seek to build a capacity in the learning and teaching of mathematics and science within their schools. The original…

Teacher leadership is difficult because teachers often lack encouragement and opportunities to implement ideas that deliberately and strategically interact with and tap power structures in schools. In this study, a book club of university faculty and middle school teachers provided teacher leaders with a template for change around concepts…

This study examined the classroom practices of five pre-service teachers from three secondary schools in a large southeastern state. Through classroom observations, survey responses, reviews of refection logs, and focus-group interview responses, we centered on the issue of developing classroom authority as a means to effective classroom…

A few years ago, the authors began to consider how to foster more intentional teacher leadership development among all clinical teachers who mentor teacher candidates in their Professional Development Schools. A Professional Development School (PDS) is an in-depth school-university partnership designed to bring about the simultaneous renewal of…

Introduction: The perceived information needs of teachers who specialize in reading instruction for at-risk first graders were studied and related to frameworks for the role of social context in information needs, seeking and use. The frameworks considered were: disciplinarity, role theory in work settings, small worlds and information grounds and…

Physics First--a movement to invert the traditional science course sequence to teach physics at the ninth-grade level--is gaining interest. However, there is limited literature exploring how to support teachers in successfully implementing Physics First. To address this, a professional development (PD) program supporting a cadre of teacher-leaders…

The purpose of this study was to explore the link between elementary principal work and teacher professional development in a setting of school change. It was a study of principals' purposeful behaviors and efforts as their school communities experienced curricular change or reform measures. It was not known to what extent the role of the…

Several recent studies have been conducted on teacher professional development (PD) but few have focused exclusively on elementary music teacher PD. Prominent music education researchers encourage additional research to provide generalizability across the field. In answer to this call for broadening the base of research in elementary music…

School reformers hope that converting comprehensive high schools into collections of small schools will produce results similar to those realized in freestanding small schools. This comparative case study revisits two "conversions" as they complete the grant funding that supported the reform, in order to explore the extent to which…

Six high-performing/high-poverty schools provide insights into what it takes to make a dramatic turnaround. School leaders had to make tough calls--and many of those decisions were about how to use resources. The budget in a high-performing, high-poverty school is a moral document, reflective of the school's beliefs about the conditions necessary…

Teaching teams can hold the promise of being an ideal vehicle in which collaborative action research is conducted. This case documents the mixed results of a team leader's efforts to improve teaching and introduce inquiry-based professional development through action research in a community college. This case paints a realistic and…

The teacher leaders and school administrators at Nipher Middle School in Kirkwood, Missouri, have recently embraced a new set of strategies for supporting learning for all students. During the weekly problem-solving conversations that are a part of their response-to-intervention model, it became evident that clusters of students with unique and…

The purpose of this case study was to identify effective leadership practices of an African American principal in a high achieving school, and the relationship to those the leadership practices found in the literature. This study focused on an African American female principal, located within the Piedmont geographical area of a southern state. The…

"Teacher leadership" is often described as a murky concept that refers not to a particular position, but rather to varied formal and informal leadership roles that teachers play within school communities. Teacher leadership may involve shaping curricula, choosing instructional materials, leading professional book clubs, planning staff…