Considerable research suggests that standardizing curricular materials can undermine teachers' ability to facilitate learning. Nonetheless, U.S. school districts' curriculum guides have become increasingly standardized, with teachers being required to follow predetermined pacing calendars indicating which standards to teach during specific months,…

This qualitative case study describes how one beginning primary grade teacher benefited from collaborative lesson-planning meetings with her grade-level colleagues. The teacher accumulated knowledge of curriculum, pedagogy, and professional contexts as she participated in planning meetings each week during her first year of teaching. Furthermore,…

Guidelines are provided in this handbook for secondary level teachers on how to develop and use case studies in their social studies and economics classes. Among the contents are the following: (1) a description of the case study method and its educational goals; (2) the act of case discussion; (3) questioning techniques to use and sample…