This case study introduces the notion of an operative system to describe elementary teachers' knowledge and practice. Drawing from complex systems theory, the operative system is defined as the network of knowledge and practices that constituted teachers' work within a lesson study cycle. Data were gathered throughout a lesson study…

Much has been written recently about the role of talk in content-area learning, including science learning. However, there is still much to be learned about how teachers begin to engage students in the kinds of peer-to-peer conversations that help them make sense of their investigations in science and that advance their conceptual understandings.…

In this article, I explore the relationship between teachers' preparation for the middle grades and their students' learning opportunities. I draw on data from a longitudinal case study to compare how a specialized middle grades preparation and a secondary social studies preparation relate to middle grades students' learning…

This article presents a cross-case analysis of two fourth-grade teachers' instruction while preparing their students for an English language arts test. Both teachers taught in high-needs urban public schools and were identified as effective teachers of balanced literacy through a multiple nomination process. This article uses situated…

Previous research suggests that elementary teachers vary in their enactment of science curriculum materials and may not always engage students in substantive sense making. This mixed-methods study investigates elementary teachers' use of science curriculum materials to engage students in the scientific practice of comparing and evaluating…

Designing infrastructures to support instruction remains a challenge in educational reform. This article reports on a study of one school system's efforts to redesign its infrastructure for mathematics instruction by promoting teacher leadership. Using social network and interview data from 12 elementary schools, we explore how the…

In most classrooms, there are students who have academic, behavioral, and/or interpersonal challenges that can disrupt the classroom community. In some cases, these challenges can build momentum, leading to a negative reputation or "story" that can follow the student throughout school. This academic, yearlong case study focused on Mae Graham, an…

Using artifacts of teachers' practices, classroom observations, and interviews, we explore how 2 novice history teachers use writing in their middle school classrooms. Both teachers focused on evidence-based, interpretive writing in their preservice work, an approach promoted by their methods courses. After graduation, one teacher continued this…

As prekindergarten becomes a more common feature in elementary school, little is known about how early childhood stakeholders are incorporating their child-centered practices into the standards-based accountability reforms that define elementary school. This article addresses this issue by presenting a case study that examined the implementation…

In this article we explore educators' use of Jean Piaget's theories concerning cognitive development to refute proposed social studies standards in Arizona. We describe the work of Piaget as well as the National Association for the Education of Young Children's developmentally appropriate practices as they apply to primary-grade children's…

The purpose of this article is to introduce a framework for understanding relationship quality between middle school students and their teachers. The framework draws on findings from 3 literatures (motivation, attachment, and sociocultural) and from analyses of a year-long case study in a rural middle school. I begin with a brief overview of the…

This case study reports the feasibility of the Partnership Schools Comprehensive School Reform (CSR) model for school improvement in a Title I elementary school. Interviews were conducted and documents were collected for 3 years to study whether and how the school implemented key policy attributes--specificity, consistency, authority, power, and…

This study examined two upper-elementary teachers' learning through use of potentially educative mathematics curricular materials without additional professional development. Findings indicated that curricular materials can be an effective professional development tool for some teachers. One teacher's instructional focus and rationale for…

This case study uses activity theory to analyze the conceptualization of teaching for an elementary school teacher in her first full-time job teaching a kindergarten/first-grade class. Findings center on teacher's use of integrations and the decentering of the classroom. Rather than sustaining concept of constructivist teaching, the teacher…

Used multiple case-study design in year-long study to assess literacy teaching and learning in two half-day kindergartens at an at-risk school. Found that literacy teaching most often centered on letter recognition and sound/symbol relationships, with few opportunities for children to engage in meaningful dialogue centered on books. Four of 11…