During the last four decades, educational researchers and practitioners have intensively engaged in bringing about positive changes in schools. Therefore, the kinds of changes introduced to schools have become complex in nature and overwhelming in number--from improving teacher professional knowledge base and teaching repertoires to developing…

Educational policy debates around the definitions of, and prescriptions for, the development of qualified teachers have long ignored the role that social foundations can play in equipping new teachers for their roles in urban classrooms (Butin, 2005a; 2005b; Cochran-Smith, 2004; Sirotnik, 1990). This article examines the voices of a set of urban…

The foundation of all learning is rooted in the development of language and literacy abilities. Literacy development begins well before children enter school and can accelerate in an early childhood classroom setting. Teacher educators often hear about the importance of literacy development. In particular, the significance of phonological…

This article describes introductory practices used to prepare future urban teachers to implement critical literacy strategies in their classrooms. Based in a teacher education program designed to prepare teachers for urban multicultural settings, the authors provide an overview of critical approaches to literacy instruction, a rationale for why…

Second Language Teacher Education (SLTE) is affected by two factors; a rethinking of its knowledge base and instructional practices as a response to changes in our understanding of the nature of SLTE, as well as external pressures resulting from the expanded need for competent language teachers worldwide. The impact of these two factors is seen in…

The need to equip science teachers with knowledge, skills, and habits of mind to face the challenges of teaching science through inquiry informed this study, which analyzed the secondary science intern teachers' beliefs about inquiry before, during, and following a series of 2 consecutive science methods courses in an attempt to document the…

I investigated eight preservice teachers' understandings about culturally responsive pedagogy as they participated in a writing methods course in which they tutored children from different ethnic, socioeconomic, cultural, and linguistic backgrounds in an afterschool program at a local community center. I also investigated how these preservice…

This research focused on the perceptions of pre-service and beginning health and physical education (HPE) teachers in relation to their preparedness for teaching. A questionnaire was designed to engage with teacher professional standards addressing (i), professional knowledge; (ii), professional relationships and (iii), professional practice.…

In this paper we outline a new theoretical model of expert practice that identifies the importance of attentional skills. We report on a small-scale pilot study of the classroom practice of experienced teachers of mathematics based on this model, through which a method of articulating aspects of classroom practice has been developed. This study…

Creativity is seen as important to society by the current Prime Minister and the Department for Education and Skills and is present in curriculum documents applying from birth to 16 years old but with various shades of meaning. Unfortunately, the term creativity is used in English education and the larger society without a clear definition. The…

Despite current interest in promoting self-determination, the extent to which self-determination instruction is provided to students with visual impairments remains uncertain. The purpose of this study was to investigate the perceptions of a sample of teachers of students with visual impairments about issues that are related to self-determination.

The inaugural column in the "Content Literacy" department discusses the importance of teachers' assisting students in grades 4-6 to develop content literacy skills. The discussion centers on levels of literacy and diversity issues facing teachers and then identifies three fundamental elements that should be a part of every teacher's content…

Improving mathematics education in the United States has taken many forms. Our work has focused on two aspects: the content knowledge of teachers and a well-articulated coherent curriculum. Our aim was teacher "capacity building" that is enabling teachers to teach to coherent and significant mathematical curricular goals and describe the…

While the basic tenets of the RtI model are well-established in the literature, few studies have been conducted to describe its implementation in rural schools. We conducted a qualitative study in three rural schools that had been designated as pilot sites by our state department of education. A cross-case analysis of the data collected through…

This article describes two consecutive enactments of technology-oriented teacher professional development designs, aimed at helping teachers find high-quality online learning resources and use them in designing effective problem-based learning (PBL) activities for their students. To align with current professional development prescriptions, in the…