This article provides an overview of research conducted with Somali Bantu refugee students in two contexts: Michigan and South Texas. We provide recommendations for outreach to refugee families and their families, for instruction in the classroom, for advising and support for these children, and for implementing school and district policy as it…

This educational article is structured in a dialogue format and written for preservice and in-service teachers. It addresses GLBT (gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender) issues relevant for Grades K-12 as well as teacher education programs. We use a storytelling approach to highlight issues and concerns that GLBT students and teachers face in…

This article presents an innovative approach to preparing future teachers at a teachers college in Taiwan. The approach outlined here is designed to emphasize the beneficial effects of a feminist leader in providing an empowering educational experience to preservice teachers. The traditional university classroom approach often does not promote…

Given the culture of compliance produced at the intersection of standardization, high-stakes testing, and punitive measures for all who deviate from the hyperrationalized frenzy of accountability that currently prevails, how is it that I have the audacity to offer teacher-learners space to exercise their imaginative capacities, to envision and…

The primary goal of education is to provide meaningful instruction to all students while fostering generalization throughout the curriculum and beyond. As such, educators continuously seek out instructional methods and techniques to appropriately meet individual student needs while choosing "what" and "how" to teach. The current work provides an…

In this article, I examine the logic of holding teachers and teacher education programs accountable for their students' learning. Using a conceptual tool first proposed by Ryle (1949) called the "task-achievement distinction," I show that current assessment schemes, such as value-added assessment, credit or discredit teachers for achievements that…

The anticipated constraints imposed by the accountability process associated with standards-based reform on teachers' practice suggest a tension between teachers' desire for flexibility and the accountability mandates associated with reform initiatives. In particular, we posited that the teachers would negatively perceive the influence of…

This article explores the utility of Socratic dialogues in the elementary social studies methods course. Findings include preservice teachers' behaviors during dialogues, perceived strengths and challenges of using Socratic dialogues in teacher education, and the impact on student learning. Challenges and apprehensions encountered by the teacher…

Supporting a productive discourse is an important element of reform teaching, as it gives students opportunities to understand mathematical reasoning. In this study, the practices of an expert seventh-grade mathematics teacher are described to illustrate how she created and sustained a genuine mathematical discourse environment during the teaching…

As challenges are handed down from state and federal governments to demonstrate utility and efficiency within teacher education programs, it is important to stop and consider the role of teacher education within schooling. Perhaps we should prepare new teachers by asking, "How should we prepare new teachers?" By framing teacher education within a…

In this article, I am concerned with three key issues of teacher professional development--teacher learning, motivation, and transfer of learning. Each issue has received minimal attention in teacher professional development literature. The three issues are discussed, and a model of an integrative professional development approach is outlined,…

Over the past 20 years, the teaching profession has embraced the notion of the teacher as reflective practitioner, which has led to an increased emphasis on teacher education programs offering learning experiences that model and encourage reflective practice. This qualitative instrumental case study research explored the usefulness, benefits, and…

The examination of problem-solving processes continues to be a current research topic in education. Knowing how to solve problems is not only a key aspect of learning mathematics but is also at the heart of cognitive theories, linguistics, artificial intelligence, and computers sciences. Problem solving is a multistep, higher-order cognitive task…

In this study, we examine 122 preservice teachers' reported problems and assessed engagement styles using the LIBRE model stick figure. Qualitative and descriptive data were gathered using (1) a qualitative problem-solving activity to identify preservice teachers' problems and engagement preferences and (2) descriptive analyses to depict and…

A group of 87 teacher certification candidates in a program at a large university in Southern California took the California Teaching Performance Assessment task for assessing learners in 2004-2005. These candidates' tests were analyzed with qualitative research methods and their scores calculated with quantitative methods. Subsequently, three…