Teacher observations have become a national education phenomenon, mandated by federal policies and promoted by philanthropists. They are crucial components of teacher evaluation systems that often have high stakes for teachers and school systems, but have sparked little innovation. Recent calls to make teacher evaluations better, faster, and…

In this article, the authors discuss a case study in which beginning teachers interviewed young adolescents as part of structured teacher education coursework designed to challenge teachers' low expectations for young adolescents. Based on pre- and postsurveys, pre- and post-focus group interviews, classroom field notes, and teachers' written…

This study explores the relationship between teacher knowledge and student learning in the area of mathematics by developing and evaluating an innovative approach to assessing teacher knowledge. This approach is based on teachers' analyses of classroom video clips. Teachers watched 13 video clips of classroom instruction and then provided written…

This article describes the theoretical framework, research base, structure, and content of a video-based professional development program implemented during 2 consecutive years with sixth-grade mathematics teachers from five low-performing schools. First, difficulties teachers encountered in responding to video-based prompts during the 1st year…