In this study, we examined the perceptions of Ontario elementary (primary K-3 and junior 4-6) literacy coaches to determine their roles, beliefs, and practices. We interviewed thirteen literacy coaches working in one Ontario school board about their literacy coaching. All coaches interviewed were teachers with specialized experience working in a…

Teachers' understanding of the elementary school mathematics curriculum forms part, but not all, of the newly emerged field of mathematics for teaching, a term that describes the specialised mathematics knowledge of teachers. Pre-service teachers from a one-year teacher preparation program were studied in each of three years, using a…

There is a shortage of teachers in Canada qualified to teach in French; some researchers have suggested that this shortage is due to attrition. This study examined the retention in Manitoba of new teachers qualified to teach in French. Participants were 130 graduates from the only French teacher education program in the province. Attrition was…

This study investigated senior educators' viewpoints on teacher professional development (PD). To examine the nature and source of participants' perspectives, the study employed Bourdieu's notion of practice as socially constituted and contested. Interviews were conducted in southern Ontario with 24 senior Ministry officials, principals, and…

This study investigates the infusion of intercultural inquiry into subject-area curriculum courses in a teacher education program. Drawing from data that include questionnaires, student assignments, and interviews, the research focuses on how student teachers responded to critical explorations of diversity within curriculum courses in second…

Although a positive relationship between socio-economic status and academic achievement is well-established, how it varies with age is not. This article uses four data points from Canada's National Longitudinal Study of Children and Youth (NLSCY) to examine how the academic achievement gap attributed to SES changes from childhood to adolescence…

This article examines the racial diversity of the teacher population in Canada. In particular, we compare the number of teachers of colour in Canadian elementary and secondary schools from the 2001 and 2006 Census data with the diversity of the student and general populations. We also explore ways to understand the gap between the proportion of…

This study investigates what grade-3 teachers say they would do if faced with common test administration dilemmas--and why. Grade-3 teachers with experience administering Ontario's provincially mandated assessment were recruited through professional association newsletters and Toronto-area newspapers. They responded to an on-line questionnaire (n…

In this study we investigated Alberta high school counsellors' knowledge about homosexuality and their attitudes toward gay males. Three questionnaires were mailed to 648 high school counselling centres; 223 individuals returned the completed questionnaires. Most counsellors attained low scores in measured homo-negativity and high scores regarding…

This study examined relationships between the after-school literacy activities and test performance of students who passed and students who failed the 2003 administration of the Ontario Secondary School Literacy Test. It included both students who have been in the Canadian school system for most of their school lives and mostly use English as a…

This study is a survey and interpretation of professional development literature related to professional learning communities (PLCs) in schools. Current K 12 trade publications focusing on PLCs were analyzed against four different theoretical models of professionalism. Each model encourages and legitimates a different understanding of the…

Our analysis explores the agenda for student learning communicated in interviews with school district officials from four Ontario districts. Using research methods drawn from collective action framing theory, we identified six core frames and one broader frame in the discourse on student learning: (a) measureable academic achievement, (b)…

The purpose of this investigation was to gain insight into the features of 32 senior physical education courses from 22 school districts in British Columbia that have successfully maintained high enrollments of female students. Analysis of course outlines, interviews with teachers, and student questionnaires were used to collect data. The…

This study examined the effects of the gender of reading tutors on 173 third and fourth grade mainly inner-city boys identified as struggling readers. Reading achievement ("Alberta Diagnostic Reading Program") and reader self-perceptions ("Readers' Self-Perception Scale") were monitored over a 22-week reading intervention. Findings indicated that…

As two teacher educators and researchers, we explored dimensions of instructional practice in teacher education through online forums. In the course of this research, we drew upon our online interactivity as the basis for reflexive inquiry. Analysis entailed coding key themes to create a four-part rendering involving a hyperlinked poem, a video, a…