Section archive - Theories & Approaches

This paper examines school–university partnership and formative feedback within student-teacher field experience. The authors examine the qualities of a three-way dialogue about student-teacher progress, and the issues that militate against feedback being used to maximise professional development. This small study of additional support for students on field experience indicated that there were positive outcomes regarding the three-way dialogue about student-teacher progress. This dialogue gave a greater focus to the whole feedback process, encouraging the student to consider the learning goals of placement more clearly. And, particularly from the tutor point of view, this more intensive contact with the partner schools helped by giving an even greater incentive to the tutors to have a secure professional relationship with each other and thus with the schools.

This paper provides the details of the systemic change occurring over a five-year period through a comprehensive evaluation model. The results of the comprehensive evaluation plan indicate, over time, increases in the implementation of building-level supports, rated performance of co-teaching partnerships and grades for students with disabilities in co-taught classrooms. The evolution of the model extended to include web resources, interactive webinars, onsite coaching and specific evaluation feedback and recommendations to individual schools and teachers.

Drawing on extensive survey and administrative data on all teachers, students, and schools in a large, urban district, this study investigates whether certain kinds of field placement schools predict later teacher performance. It finds that teachers who learned to teach in field placements with stronger teacher collaboration, achievement gains, and, to a lesser degree, teacher retention were subsequently more effective at raising student achievement. However, these kinds of schools were less likely to be used as field placements.

The purpose of this article is to describe an important aspect of organizing a Networked Improvement Community (NIC) by a large national effort, namely, the role of leadership structures. The article analyses a case study of the formation of a particular NIC, the Mathematics Teacher Education Partnership (MTE-Partnership). Six factors were identified as particularly important: convening the network, development of a membership framework, development of participation structures, building the leadership and hub functions of the partnership, development of an effective infrastructure for communications and developing human and material resources needed for the partnership to function effectively.