While the challenge to retain highly competent teachers affects all schools, the crisis is critical in urban districts, which historically suffer from high teacher turnover (Ingersoll, 2004). This high turnover is especially problematic in the content areas of science (Ingersoll & Perda, 2010). Through ethnographic case studies the first year…

Students with emotional/behavioral disorders (EBD) can present intensive needs, requiring the intervention and instruction of well-trained and qualified teachers who work with them in the classroom. However, schools face serious shortages in the field of special education, particularly for staff who work with this population of children (McLeskey,…

The Summer Curriculum Writing Institute (SCWI) supports graduates of a university-based teacher education program during the induction years and beyond with the aim of impacting teacher quality. The purpose of this article is to describe the development, goals, research, and lessons learned during SCWI from 2005-12. The week focuses around the…

This narrative inquiry traces a beginning teacher's unfolding career over a six-year period in a diverse middle school in the fourth largest city in the USA. The work revolves around two conceptualizations: "stories to live by" and "stories to leave by." How these identity-related phenomena surface and play out in an…

While few would disagree that a key component of educating teachers to teach happens on the job, research rarely explores the schoolhouse as a site for teacher education. This study thus focuses on inservice as distinct from preservice teacher education and explores how beginning teachers' learning about mathematics and literacy instruction…

Beginning teachers most often are viewed as needing significant support in all areas of teaching. As a result, professional development (PD) associated with induction programs typically is presented by experienced professionals. This article describes one induction program's attempt to draw on the strengths within its network, engaging new…

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,…

Informal mentors likely play a substantial role in novice teacher learning, yet we know little about them, especially in relation to formal mentoring, which is the cornerstone to most induction programs. This study analyzes survey and interview data from 57 first-year mathematics teachers from 11 districts to investigate differences in the…

Casting special education teacher development as an avatar living in a virtual and changing landscape is a creative way to consider the current state of the field and project possible futures. In this commentary, the authors consider areas that may help strengthen the Avatar, including conceptualizing and identifying the outcomes of teacher…

This is the story of a teacher leader who helped lead change in an urban elementary school by creating a new culture of support for beginning teachers. Specifically, she led focused, collaborative inquiry around discussion-based teaching to improve teaching effectiveness, and she created a school-wide coalition of support for beginning teachers to…

While studies have shown that mentoring is essential to the development of new teachers, fewer investigations have examined what mentors learn about themselves and about mentoring through this role. In this study, the conversations between 13 mentors and their mentees were analysed, along with mentor self-evaluations and focus group data, over two…

Mentoring of new teachers is generally examined from the viewpoint of the mentees. In the present study, mentoring is explored based on reports from mentors within the context of the Israeli induction program. Recruitment variables (selection and training) were examined in relation to mentoring implementation (frequency, initiation, regularity,…

Purpose: This article is nested within a longitudinal project examining 6 teachers' journeys along their career cycles (Lynn & Woods, 2010; Woods & Earls, 1995; Woods & Lynn, 2001). Two participants from the initial 6 continue to teach K-12 physical education; 1 of these participants, Everett, is examined in the current study.…

Compared with many European countries, Finland has a shorter history of immigration. During the last 20?years, Finland has become a more multicultural society. Together with rising levels of immigration, teachers' concerns regarding how to manage an increasingly diverse school population have arisen. There are an increasing number of students…

University provision for academic development is well established in the USA, UK and many other countries. However, arrangements for its provision and staffing vary. In Australia, there has been a trend towards professional rather than academic staff appointments. Is this appropriate? In this paper, the domains of academic development work are…