With new laws and increased accountability for teachers, conducting research as a teacher—researcher in one's own classroom is one means by which teachers can help increase student success and also document effective interventions. In this article, the authors provide an overview of the responsibilities and roles of a teacher—researcher and guidelines for conducting research in the classroom.

Teachers as Researchers

Articles on team teaching and school-based problem solving teams (SBPSTs) published in refereed journals from 1980 to 1997 were reviewed. The review was designed to (a) identify the types of published articles on team teaching and SBPSTs, (b) review articles on team teaching and SBPSTs published in refereed journals, (c) summarize the conclusions of published articles, (d) draw conclusions regarding the current research trends, and (e) present suggestions for continued research in teaming outcome research. This review begins with a characterization of team teaching and SBPSTs, followed by a description of the review process. Results indicate that most articles are anecdotal reports or technical guides for implementing both models. Results also suggest that research of both models lack experimental designs and generally report student-based outcomes. This review concludes with a discussion of the results and suggestions for continued research efforts.

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What's the Score and Game Plan on Teaming in Schools?: A Review of the Literature on Team Teaching and School-Based Problem-Solving Teams

We present two scenarios involving a family's experience in accessing a quality inclusive education for their young child to illustrate what it might look like if all stakeholders assumed responsib...

Implementing Inclusive Early Childhood Education: A Call for Professional Empowerment

Designing and Conducting Behavioral Research

Teachers as Researchers: Bringing Teachers' Voice to the Educational Landscape There are a number of studies addressing the possible benefits of teachers being engaged in research, but there is little research that explores what teachers themselves think about their role as researchers and how they evaluate themselves as researchers. The aim of this study is to present a small scale investigation into teachersí self-perception of doing research in mainstream schools. By doing research, teachers express their voice; teachers' voice is an expression of their frames of reference. This is also a way of making their perspective public. In Latvia, teachers do not have an active voice in the educational theory and research. This research indicates that research initiated by teachers provides a framework for strengthening teachers' voice. The research data present an analysis of teachers' self-evaluation of their research competency, ability to organize their own research activity and that of their children. The study highlights the factors that determine teachers' willingness to engage in doing research, as well as their expertise to organize and motivate children's research. The data from group interviews and questionnaires show a genuine degree of agreement on a number of main issues, such as teachers' motivation in doing research, their expertise to motivate children in doing their research, as well as teachers' openness to creative and imaginative insights brought about by the primary school children in their research projects. This study highlights several significant correlations between teachers' ability to carry out their own research and their ability to engage children in a meaningful research.

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Teachers as Researchers: Bringing Teachers' Voice to the Educational Landscape

In this article we describe a field-based teacher education project that used action research preparing teacher candidates to use learning strategies during educational partnerships with classroom teachers. Action research is described as linking theory with practice in teacher education. This article is the product of a teacher candidate working with a faculty advisor in reviewing the professional literature on metacognitive, process-oriented writing strategies and then applying the theoretically-based intervention in an authentic setting. The project also was designed to provide the teacher candidate with the experience of establishing educational partnerships in the form of team-teaching with a mainstream teacher. We also provide a background and overview of the PLEASE strategy for written expression. Following the overview, the results of a clinical investigation designed to assess the efficacy of the PLEASE strategy for written expression in a mainstream setting are reported. Results of the clinical ...

Kathy Chisholm

Papers

Action Research As A Tool For Preparing Specialists To Use Strategic Interventions in Educational Partnerships