This document presents the personal narrative of an adult literacy practitioner who has worked with Literacy Volunteers of America and a reading center in Connecticut and who signed up for the National Center for the Study of Adult Learning and Literacy (NCSALL) Teacher Research Project on Learner Motivation, Retention, and Persistence in 1998.…

This review of the literature discusses contemporary theories and models of action research that are being used by university faculty who are working with administrators and teachers to plan and conduct school-and classroom-based action research projects. The books that are reviewed provide educators with a variety of models for planning and…

The Illinois State Board of Education partnered with two outside groups, the National Computational Science Alliance (NCSA) and the North Central Regional Technology in Education Center (NCRTEC), to provide staff development, along with technological software, hardware, and support, to improve 6th graders' performance in the areas of mathematics,…

This paper positions action research within the wider field of teacher education, raising problematic issues inherent in the process of institutionalizing this form of teacher research. The paper also offers a self-study of the researcher's own practice. It considers teacher education in its broad sense as a continuum of ongoing professional…

Overcoming obstacles to teacher research about their own educational practices requires the formation of intellectual communities of teacher-researchers or networks of teachers. An analytic framework is presented for interpreting and evaluating the work of such groups according to how they use time, talk, construct texts, and interpret teaching…

Describes a long-term, critically oriented teacher-researcher group, noting troublesome issues and the group's attempts to expand teacher-researcher collaboration into daily education settings. The article includes personal narratives by the members, which stress the importance of a self-reflexive stance for collaborative research to accommodate…

Presents five pictures of fifth grade low-achieving students involved in reading-writing activities. Presents two alternatives to current classroom practices for nonmainstream students: prize the culture of nonmainstream students; and view storytelling as another literacy. (MG)

Describes how portfolio use motivated teachers to become researchers in their own practice, synthesizing personal and professional experiences of graduate level student teachers. A three-year followup showed how they became researchers, carrying into their professional lives habits of mind learned from preservice portfolio projects. They continued…

Investigated the impact of Professional Development School (PDS) activities on elementary student writing and mathematics achievement (using collaborative teacher research) after 2 years of school and university researcher participation, describing processes and outcomes of two PDS writing and mathematics skills programs. Focus group interviews…

This article offers an insight into the professional development and learning of an experienced teacher and middle manager in a secondary school stimulated by engaging in an innovative, mixed-mode Master's-level course at the Institute of Education, University of London. At its core is the personal narrative of the teacher as a learner based on a…

For many ESL teachers, finding time for research within the everyday activities of classroom teaching can be problematic. This is often the case with large classes and classes that have few contact hours, where it is difficult to include research activities, particularly those that centre upon gathering relevant information about individual…

The overarching aim of this research in the proposal was the following: In a number of early childhood centres and early years school classrooms that have already begun to explore in this area, to investigate effective pedagogy designed to develop five learning competencies over time. This project was developed in response to curriculum reform in…

This paper describes a self-study by doctoral students serving as university mentors, supervisors, and researchers in a preservice teacher education program; and presents a second-order action analysis of this first-order action research. The action research reported focused on the teaching of action research, teacher education practices, and a…

Findings are reported from a study that investigated the influence of a two-year cooperative masters of education program as a vehicle for professional development and school renewal. Semi-structured interviews and questionnaires were used to collect data from 25 experienced teachers based in 3 secondary and 2 elementary professional development…

This book presents nine studies conducted by teacher researchers who explore the oral and written discourse of learning communities--communities of students, communities of teachers, and communities in which students and teachers learn together. The studies focus on journal writing, conversation, story telling, geometry, computer technology, and…