Research on learning to teach mathematics reveals that mathematics teaching is a complex process (Lerman, 2000) and classroom teaching and learning is a “multifaceted, extraordinarily complex phenomenon” (O’Connor, 1998, p. 43). Moreover, research reveals that the mathematics reform agenda has had an impact on what happens in the mathematics classroom, however, the impact has been superficial (Kazemi & Stipek, 2001) with teachers often retaining their pre-reform habits and attitudes in regards to mathematics teaching and learning (O’Connor, 1998). This study examined the reform discourse practices that three novice teachers, who had been enrolled in a reform based methods course during their preservice teacher education program, adopted, adapted, or ignored as they attempted to engage students in mathematical conversations. Data sources included interviews, field notes, artifacts, and transcripts of videotaped classroom lessons. The primary research questions guiding this study included: (1) What reform-oriented discourses practices do novice teachers, who participated in a reform-based mathematics methods course adopt? What practices do they adapt? What practices do they ignore as they engage students in mathematics conversations? and (2) What issues and challenges surface as novice teachers begin to enact reform-oriented discourse practices? Results indicated that despite holding beliefs that reflect the basic tenets of mathematics reform, theses novice teachers represent a continuum of practices ranging from traditional to reform. Evidence suggests that adopting the reform-oriented practice of eliciting different solutions was critical in the development of social norms that reflect mathematics reform. Eliciting different solutions served to focus classroom conversations on meaningful student generated explanations and justifications. Moreover, evidence suggests that enacting the practice of eliciting different solutions was instrumental in enacting other reform-orientated practices associated with the development of reform-oriented socialmathematical norms. Lastly, results indicate that the pressures of teaching in an underperforming school, as defined by state standardized high stakes tests, can impact a novice teacher’s ability and willingness to adopt mathematics reform practices.

The purpose of this phenomenological study was to examine elementary education teacher perceptions of the change process that occurred in a public-school district during the four-year transition from a traditional grade reporting process to a standards-based system. The director of elementary education and a district leadership team provided oversight as the initial teacher cohort participated in a full school year of planning and designing the new standards-based report card for kindergarten and was executed the following school year. First-grade cohort teachers began their initial year of planning and design the same year kindergarten began implementation. The second-grade teacher cohort followed with the same progression. This study was designed to collect qualitative data from district cohort teachers who participated in the shift to the standards-based report card. The evidence was used to determine the successes and challenges involved with the collaborative reform process between district leaders and grade level cohort members in designing, creating, and implementing the standards-based report card. The system-change that occurred was explored and compared to Fullan’s (2016b) three dimensions of change model. The results of this study demonstrate a general interpretation of how cohort teachers perceived the relationships and interactions that influenced the leadership quality, effectiveness, and sustainability of change.

Elementary school teachers serve a key role in the use and interpretation of standardized achievement test batteries (SATBs). If this role is to be properly exercised, teachers must be willing and able to use score information from such tests. Evidence suggests that teachers may not be skilled in making the interpretations that psychometricians intend from SATB score reports. To learn what purposes teachers believe SATB score reports appropriately serve, and what contents and formats teachers find useful in these reports, a survey research study was conducted. A questionnaire was administered to a sample of 671 elementary school teachers from Texas, Illinois, and Massachusetts, focusing on the purposes of SATB score reports in general, the purposes of specific formats and types of score reports presented in the questionnaire, and interpretations of the sample score reports. Background information about the respondents was gathered. Of particular interest was the amount of testing-related training they had experienced. A relationship between amount of testing-related training and teachers' opinions and interpretations of test score reports was hypothesized. Respondents generally approved of the use of SATB score reports for certain purposes, especially those that had no permanent consequences for students and no external evaluative implications for the classroom. Teachers disapproved of the use of SATB score reports for student grading, promotion/retention decisions, and teacher evaluation. Other proposed uses were moderately approved. Respondents were equally supportive of numerical and graphical formats for a class-level report, but strongly preferred a numerical/pictorial version of an individual student score report (i.e., displaying subscores as sets of confidence bands) to a narrative version. Teachers' interpretations of score reports generally did not agree with strict psychometric interpretations. This lack of a psychometric perspective was found regardless of the amount of training in testing issues the respondents had experienced. The author concludes with recommendations for action regarding the design of score reports to meet teachers' needs and psychometricians' intentions more effectively, the training of teachers to match their professional demands, and further exploration of this topic through qualitative research methods.

<p> This research investigates grades kindergarten - 5 English as a Second Language (ESL) and General Education (GE) co-teachers' perceptions of one another's roles, strengths, and areas for improvement in co-teaching academic language and content to English language learners (ELLs) in the GE classroom. Theories of social constructivism and cooperative learning guide this study, which approaches co-teachers' perceptions as a function of how they make meaning of their social interaction and experiences (Vyogotsky, 1978; Villa, Thousand, &amp; Nevin, 2004). Using QUAN-qual sequential explanatory design, this descriptive study uses survey methodology and small-scale follow-up interviews to create an illustrative, descriptive portrait of ESL and GE teachers' perceptions of one another's roles and professional development needs. Quantitative and qualitative survey results are triangulated with qualitative interview findings. </p><p> The integrated findings illuminate the areas of convergence and divergence in ESL and GE teachers' perceptions as co-teachers of ELLs in the GE classroom. The main conclusions are discussed with regard to existing literature on co-teaching. Overall, ESL and GE teachers appeared to have a general understanding of one another's roles, yet some perceptions diverged with regard to sharing responsibilities and whether the GE teacher was the "primary instructor". In addition, this study concludes that despite availability of some common planning time, co-teachers frequently desired to improve the quality and quantity of their co-planning, co-teaching, and reflection on students' needs. Co-teaching strengths that were identified include openness, flexibility, and the ability to differentiate instruction. However, in order to improve co-teaching, both ESL and GE teachers perceive the need to gain skills and knowledge in one another's areas of expertise. Data analysis shows that co-teachers' desired professional development topics and types of offerings interrelate thematically with perceived strengths and areas for improvement. </p><p> The study concludes with a discussion of implications for school administrators and teacher educators, including pre-service teacher educators, who want to support ESL and GE co-teachers. The discussion also addresses the implications for ESL and GE teachers whose co-teaching practice may benefit from reflection on the findings of the study. Finally, directions for future research emanating from this study are offered.</p>

<p> The seven-month participatory qualitative inquiry (Emerson, Fretz, &amp; Shaw, 2011) explored how a first grade team in a metro Charlotte elementary school perceived and enacted instructional grouping and differentiation for English Learners within a prescribed literacy curriculum. Informed by a Vygotskian theoretical framework for understanding the social construction of teacher identity (Holland, Lachicotte, Skinner, &amp; Cain, 1998), the study examined how institutionalized practices interacted with teachers' lived experiences and professional subjectivities to mediate how they made sense of and potentially improvised their teaching of the English Learners in and outside of mainstream classrooms. Data analysis revealed the complexities of teachers' professional selves as they made sense of their teaching within the structure of "Balanced Literacy." Findings included teachers' recasting of English Learners as "struggling readers;" the ambiguity of ESL within the context of the standardized reading curriculum; and, finally, the conflicting subjectivities of teachers as they negotiated the remediation of English Learners. </p>

<p> With the new goal of K-12 education being to prepare students to be college and career ready at the end of high school, education needs to start changing at the elementary school level. The literature suggests that teachers need reflective professional development (PD) to effectively teach to the new standards and to demonstrate change to their current instructional practices. This mixed-method multiple-case study investigated the impacts of a reflective professional development (PD) in changing elementary school teachers' instructional practices. </p><p> Teachers Instructional Portfolios (TIPs) were scored with a TIP rubric based on best practices in teaching mathematics problem-solving and science inquiry. The TIPs were also analyzed with a qualitative coding scheme. Case descriptions were written and all the collected data were used to explain the impacts of the reflective PD on changes in teachers' instructional practices. </p><p> While we found no predictive patterns in relation to teachers changing their classroom practices based on the reflective PD, we claim that teachers' desire to change might contribute to improvements in instruction. We also observed that teachers' self-assessment scores tend to be higher than the actual TIP scores corroborating with the literature on the usage of self-assessment to evaluate teachers' instructional practices.</p>