How to achieve school reform and organisational change has been a subject of much inquiry and interest by educators, education systems and academics. This volume advances both conceptual and methodological knowledge in understanding the cultural changes required at the school level to develop teachers’ collective responsibility for student learning. The concept of teachers’ collective responsibility is both intriguing and elusive as it traverses both sociological and psychological aspects of teaching. Five major but interconnected discourses: professional community; professional development; relational trust; accountability; and efficacy map the terrain of this complex phenomenon. Results reported in this volume provide clear evidence that collective responsibility is positively correlated the coherence between professional learning programs and the school’s learning goals, teachers’ commitment to enact those shared goals and teacher-to-teacher trust. In addition, teachers’ collective struggle to address pressing issues for teaching and learning, and pedagogical leadership, when embedded in the organisational capacity of a school, form a complex and dynamic set of factors influencing the development of collective responsibility. Drawing together these important findings surfaces a need to rethink how schools, education systems and academics pay attention to what falls between the cracks for school reform. This book addresses aspects of school culture that guide the choices in the development of teachers’ collective responsibility. Professional development, collective struggle, professional community, relational trust and pedagogical leadership as elements of school culture and organisational reform are modelled as a continuum of micro-political conditions interacting at the school level. This model offers new insights into the complexity of collective responsibility as a multi-dimensional phenomenon and is a useful guide to organisational change for school and system leaders and academics whose research interests are focused on the how of organisational change.

Technology Integration and High Possibility Classrooms provides a fresh vision for education in schools based on new research from in-depth studies of technology integration in exemplary teachers’ classrooms. This timely book meets the demand for more examples of effective technology integration by providing a new conceptual understanding that builds on the popular and highly influential theoretical framework of technological, pedagogical and content knowledge (TPACK). Technology Integration and High Possibility Classrooms details four rich case studies set in different contexts with students ranging from age 6 to 16. Each case study articulates in very practical terms what characterizes exemplary teachers’ knowledge of technology integration and how that is applied in classrooms. This highly accessible book clearly demonstrates how theory informs practice and provides new possibilities for learning in twenty-first-century schools.

The Use of Children's Literature in Teaching reveals the impact of politics, professional guidelines and restrictive measurements of literacy on the emerging identities of young teachers. It places renewed emphasis on the importance of creative teaching with children’s literature for the empowerment of teacher agency to enhance the learning of their students. Framing the debate alongside the issue of teacher autonomy, Simpson describes results from a two-year study, which brings together information from interviews, surveys, document analysis and digital stories from Australia, Canada, the UK and the US to assess the role of children’s literature in pre-service teacher education. Through cross-cultural comparison, this research captures the different levels of connection between politics, education systems, higher education and pre-service teachers. It exposes how politics, narrow views of professionalism and program structures in teacher education may adversely affect the development of pre-service teachers. This book presents a strong case that reading and responding critically to literary texts leads to better educational outcomes than basic decoding and low-level comprehension training. As such, this book will be of great interest to researchers and scholars working in the areas of teacher education and literacy and primary education. It should also be essential reading for teacher educators and policymakers.

How often do you hear, "The only parents who showed were the parents who didn’t need to be here." But how often do you consider time of day, lack of child care, cost of dinner, transportation, language of the presentation, even relevance of the topic—all real-world barriers for families of our historically underserved students. Here at last is a resource that will open up access and reveal all-new ways to forge more culturally inclusive partnerships with families and communities . . . partnerships that extend well beyond parent-teacher conferences, PTA meetings, and the occasional bake sale. The two big services Equity Partnerships provides? Using the Tools of Cultural Proficiency, you’ll Discover new concepts and strategies to engage families and communities—and reduce, if not eliminate, barriers--through four essential principles: communication, connection, collaboration, and community Engage in frequent opportunities to reflect on your own assumptions and values, then collaborate with colleagues to co-create systemic practices and policies for devising, implementing, and assessing family and community engagement actions in your schools and districts We know inherently that family and community engagement is critical to the success of our students. Let Equity Partnerships be your go-to tool for breaking down the walls that for too long have limited all of us. "Raising the next generation is a shared responsibility and privilege. These authors have been first responders for decades by promoting Cultural Proficiency as a means to ensure equity and access for all. In Equity Partnerships, they identify the powerful and critical link of family, school, and community engagement to strengthen families, build community support, and increase student success." --TRUDY ARRIAGA, Associate Dean for Equity and Outreach, California Lutheran University, and Coauthor of Opening Doors

In this second edition of Improving Instruction Through Supervision, Evaluation, and Professional Development we’ve maintained the conceptual framework while updating sections to provide the most recent research on instructional strategies that have the most promise of helping all students learn. Modifications of the law resulting from the reauthorization of the 50-year-old Elementary and Secondary Education Act—Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) (2015)—and their implication for practice are embedded throughout this new edition. Updated data collection tools for classroom observations are also provided. We included a link to a website that contains all the observation tools in electronic format so that observers can have the opportunity to collect data on a tablet or laptop, save the observation data as a PDF file and e-mail those data to the teacher observed. This new edition recognizes the reality that all principals are responsible for supervision, evaluation, and professional development of their teachers—tasks that are neither simple nor without conflict. The primary audience of this text is aspiring and practicing principals. We hope to help them understand both the theory and practice of supervision, evaluation, and professional development. However, observing instruction, collecting data for reflection, and having conversations about teaching, are not the sole provinces of principals. Master teachers, teacher leaders, and teacher colleagues can also benefit from the supervisory sections of the book, especially the chapters on high-quality instruction, improving instruction, and the classroom data collecting tools. The book provides numerous tools specifically designed to collect a variety of data in classrooms to improve instruction. Embedded in each chapter are exercises to apply Theory into Practice by responding to a set of questions posed by the key issues of the chapter. After the explication and illustration of the key concepts and principles of the chapter, actual Instructional Leadership Challenges as described by a successful practicing principal for reflection and analysis.

This edited volume showcases current science education research in Canada, from pre-Kindergarten to Grade 7, conducted in Canada by a diverse group of researchers from across the country. We draw on the themes that emerged from our previous book, Science Education in Canada: Consistencies, Commonalities, and Distinctions, to guide the structure of this book on elementary science education research. In particular, chapters on science teacher preparation; Indigenous perspectives; environmental education; science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM); and science, technology, society, and the environment (STSE) reflect a Canadian perspective. However, these themes are of global interest and authors include ideas for how science education research in Canada might be used by academics and researchers in other countries. This book builds a cohesive picture of current elementary science education research in Canada, highlighting themes that will resonate with international readers.