Improvement science enables researchers to focus on a theory of change in structures and processes in classroom practices. This improvement science intervention was designed to reorient practitioners toward new instructional norms that promote discourse between teacher-students and student-student during instruction. The purpose of this research study was to test a theory of action and accompanied intervention framework designed to help teachers better engage students through the creation of dialogic classroom environments. The action-oriented objectives of the study were: (1) To design an intervention that might observe and evaluate teacher efforts to implement new instructional norms in the classroom; (2) To identify the conditions that might facilitate or impede successful implementation; (3) To evaluate whether the intervention might generate desired outcomes; and (4) To assess the intervention's adaptability and utility for other classrooms and school-community contexts. If we can cultivate a dialogic classroom learning culture, then we might possibly increase student engagement in their own learning. This was referred to as our problem of practice (POP). Professional learning, classroom observations, coaching sessions, and teacher empathy interviews were utilized to gather data concerning the implementation and results of the intervention. Analysis of this data uncovered conditions that supported and impeded the implementation of the dialogic classroom as designed in the intervention. Chief among these barriers were teacher concerns that students lacked the academic/intellectual capacity to engage in dialogues, as well as the lack of time teachers perceived that they had to plan for dialogic learning. Teachers' narratives highlighted lingering deficit-oriented views of student capacities that need to be accounted for in future research and development. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2222/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]