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The purpose of this paper is to answer the question, what progress student teachers make during one academic year, while being trained in a professional learning community, using objective classroom observation, using lesson preparation templates that match their developmental stage and stage-focused mentor feedback.

The teaching skills of the student teachers (n=101) were measured at the start and at the end of the academic year. For the measurements, the standardized and psychometrically tested International Comparative Analysis of Learning and Teaching observation instrument is used.

The student teachers achieved a small growth on the basic teaching skills and a medium growth on two of the three advanced skills for teachers.

Because of the lack of a control group, causal conclusions cannot be made. This research provides knowledge on the actual observed level of teaching skills of student teachers trained in a close collaborating professional learning community.

Little is known about the actual growth of observable teaching skills of student teachers in elementary education. Teacher training colleges and internship schools in the Netherlands are in search of better ways to collaborate more closely in order to improve the quality of teaching of their student teachers. These findings can inspire teacher training communities to improve their own teaching quality and the teaching quality of their student teachers.

The purpose of this study is to explore how lesson study (LS) can be transitioned to an online mode, with the purpose to derive recommendations for performing online LS while being loyal to the defining elements of a face-to-face LS.

A theoretical analysis into the core components and procedures of LS resulted in five big ideas that capture essentials of LS. Using these big ideas, constraints were derived for online LS and a pilot online LS was performed. Data were collected on the process and team members' reflections. The experience in the pilot was mapped against the outcomes of the theoretical analysis.

Setting up close collaboration and the observation of the online lesson appeared to be the most challenging issues. A set of recommendations in the form of do's and don'ts was derived from the experience.

The set of recommendations can be applied by practitioners who face the challenge of performing LS in an online environment, and can serve as a start for further research in online LS.

The original contribution of the article is the combination of the theoretical analysis of LS combined with the practical experience in the pilot. This gives rise to a framework that can help understanding LS in general and online environments in particular.

Lesson study has emerged as an approach to improving the quality of teaching in the USA. The purpose of this paper is to provide an investigation into teachers’ attitudes toward lesson study. Evidence suggests that lesson study may increase teachers’ content knowledge and their ability to anticipate student misconceptions during lessons. Nevertheless, certain issues have surfaced in the literature. Teachers may struggle with the demands of collaboration, critique of their lessons, and observation of their teaching. Moreover, lesson study may conflict with the existing mandate-monitor culture within many school districts. Understanding how teachers perceive lesson study is vital to gauging the effectiveness of the process.

In all, 55 teachers at two elementary schools in urban Los Angeles participated in the researcher-designed survey. For the teachers in this study, participation in lesson study was mandatory, and most had participated in a version of lesson study that emphasized following the established curriculum and district-approved strategies. Data were analyzed using correlational analysis.

Results yielded significant associations between teachers’ comfort levels with collaboration, lesson observation, lesson critique, and their support for lesson study. Higher degrees of control by the district over the lesson study process were linked to teachers feeling less responsible for student learning.

The findings from this study have important implications for the prospects of lesson study as a model of teacher development in the USA.

This paper fulfils a need to investigate factors that impede and promote the effective implementation of lesson study in the USA.

The purpose of this study was to explore middle and secondary mathematics preservice teachers' (PST) perceptions of the benefits, challenges and impacts of implementing lesson study.

This paper presents a single case study in the university context. Embedded units of analysis included a group of middle and a group of secondary mathematics PSTs, who were in the internship year of a teacher preparation program.

This paper presents several perceived benefits, challenges and impacts according to PSTs. PSTs indicated benefits included their focused student observations and their collaboration in lesson design. Perceived challenges included observing as a nonparticipant observer and aspects of planning. The different impacts occurred in three phases: planning, observing during teaching and reflection.

First, the study participants included a small group of middle and secondary mathematics PSTs from one university in central Texas. Second, the PSTs in this study were not able to reteach the lesson, which may have influenced their perceptions.

Mathematics teacher educators could use insights from this study as they implement lesson study or other field experiences to support PSTs in their growth as mathematics teachers.

This paper examines PSTs' perceptions, which could benefit mathematics teacher educators as they consider how to introduce or implement lesson study with PSTs.

This paper investigates the effectiveness of metacognitive teaching methods on students' reading comprehension through a lesson study case conducted in Shanghai.

This study adopts an experimental design with control groups and experimental groups. Plan–do–check–act (PDCA) cycles of lesson study were conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of modeling, self-questioning, think aloud and KWL strategy in Chinese language lessons. Metacognitive teaching strategies were implemented at a junior high school in Shanghai. The data was collected via lesson observation, interviews and pre- and posttests.

Results identified a significant difference between the incremental scores of students' reading comprehension in the experimental group and control group. The findings from the lesson observation showed that metacognitive teaching strategies in Chinese language developed students' reading comprehension. Moreover, PDCA cycles of lesson study helped the teachers improve metacognitive teaching strategies.

Few studies have been conducted to validate metacognitive teaching through lesson study in the context of China schools, and this study contributes to a new research dimension of lesson study on developing pedagogical practices to improve student learning outcomes.

The purpose of this paper is to examine how lesson study can lead to teacher learning and improvement of instruction by developing teachers’ mathematical-task knowledge and by supporting teachers’ selection, modification, and implementation of mathematical tasks. Mathematical-task knowledge includes knowledge needed to use tasks that require a high level of thinking and reasoning.

A qualitative case study design was used to explore the learning and instruction of three teachers as they went through the process of lesson study, developed knowledge around mathematics tasks, and made changes to their instruction. Methods included direct observation of lessons, semi-structured interviews, and participant observation.

This lesson study project supported teachers in developing mathematical-task knowledge and in making change to instructional practice. The teachers discussed in this paper added to their understanding of mathematical tasks and changed how they implemented tasks after lesson study. The teachers began to challenge students to go beyond memorizing or executing procedures to deepen the students’ understanding of mathematical concepts. Teachers developed key insights and understandings of mathematical tasks, triggering shifts in their thinking, and changes to instruction. Collaboration and reflection altered the selection, modification, and implementation of mathematical tasks.

This study reveals the connections between features of lesson study and the pathways that lead to learning and improvements to instruction. Limitations included the demands of the school district’s pacing guide and curriculum, and a limited number of interviews and observations were conducted after lesson study.

There are many different ways lesson study has been implemented in the USA, yet the effectiveness of many lesson study projects is still unclear. This study reveals more about the lesson study process, what features are important, and how these features lead to development of knowledge and practice. This study examines how teachers within the same lesson study group added to their knowledge and practice and how different features of lesson study prompt them to make changes.

Lesson study is a vital approach to improve teaching and learning that Japanese teachers have been utilizing for a century. Lesson study, however, has only recently been recognized as a teacher development strategy in Laos and started implementing in teacher training colleges (TTCs) in 2015. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the extent to which teachers have gained an understanding of the procedure of lesson study and to reveal their initial concerns about its implementation.

This research reports on lesson study implementation in a Lao TTC during 2015-2017. Data were collected from 11 classroom observations, lesson study reports, lesson study guidelines, and 70 open-ended questionnaires.

Data analysis revealed the initial experience of teachers in the suburb schools in applying lesson study to enhance teaching and students’ learning outcomes, and their concerns regarding lesson study procedure including time management, the format of the lesson study report, and collaboration with lesson study facilitators. The importance of lesson study experts to facilitate the teachers’ lesson study became clear. In addition, school principals and administrators have an important role in empowering teachers to engage confidently with lesson study.

This study is the first trial project of school-based training for in-service teachers in a TTC and partner primary schools. The aim of the project is to strengthen and promote collaborative learning. To progress lesson study, it is very important to be sensitive to the teachers’ issues in the early stages of the introduction of lesson study.

Over the last 15 years, Japanese lesson study has attracted growing interest as an alternative to conventional teacher professional development. Despite its popularity and results, the descriptive knowledge base of authentic lesson study in Japan is still limited to a few cases from elementary math and science teachers. The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the expansion of the lesson study descriptive knowledge base by offering a first-hand account of two American educators’ experience with lesson study at the secondary level while working as licensed teachers in a Japanese school.

Using an autoethnographic case study methodology, the authors document their personal experience working through a complete lesson study cycle with a ninth grade English course in Japan, systematically reconstructed from field texts and deliberate co-construction techniques.

The paper describes significant cognitive and socio-cultural adjustments that were required to participate in the process, and highlights essential skills and mindsets for lesson study: fashioning a coherent lesson storyline, articulating and testing working hypotheses, relying on evidence to guide planning and reflection, embracing collective ownership of improvement, and persisting with problems over time.

This first-hand account provides a distinctive inside look at lesson study from an American perspective and offers a rare description of Japan-based lesson study at the secondary level. The detailed records and insights contribute to researchers and practitioners emerging understanding of prerequisite skills for lesson study.

The urgency of improving the schools call for a distributed instructional leadership model where teachers are not just recipients of professional development, but also active leaders who are coaches and mentors for their peers. The purpose of this paper is to examine the teacher leadership development system in Shanghai, and identify pathways to constructing actionable models that develop and maximize instructional expertise.

This is a qualitative study. Purposive sampling was conducted to select four teaching-study groups from a frame that included all certified “expert teachers” from a large Shanghai district with about 9,000 teachers. Grounded theory approaches were used to understand “what actually happens in the teachers’ world.” Participative observations (of lesson delivering and collaborative decoding), semi-structured interviews, teachers’ reflective journal entries, and video recording of group work and lessons were the main measures of data collection.

Three key features of expertise infusion were identified: recognizing, differentiating, and labeling teacher expertise at multiple mastery levels; providing expert teachers with support and leadership responsibilities to lead practice-embedded and cross-school peer learning; and creating a roadmap for teachers to chart continuous learning pathways individually and build an enhanced content pedagogical knowledgebase collectively.

Results from this study provide the impetus for further exploration in how Shanghai continuously share and improve good teaching systemically, which could be informative to US schools and districts in their effort of redesigning professional development that maximizes available expertise among teachers and stimulates teacher-led action research for student learning.

This paper explores the potential and pitfalls of Lesson Study (LS) in Dutch initial teacher education (ITE). This context is examined through data drawn from student-teachers and teacher educators participating in LS.

Three case studies of three teacher education institutes in the Netherlands are presented, focusing on student-teachers' learning in two cases and teacher educators' learning in the third case.

The case studies show that LS in the context of Dutch ITE has high potential. All cases yield clear benefits for working collaboratively as a result of participating in a LS. Student-teachers appreciate the explicit focus in LS on how students learn and teacher educators stress how LS may strengthen their role as “teachers of teachers.” Time, planning arrangements, commitment and a LS facilitator are highlighted as essential conditions for LS application in ITE.

The three cases address a specific ITE context focusing on different target groups (student-teachers and teacher educators in applied and/or research universities). Consequently, results are explorative regarding Dutch ITE.

The potential of LS in Dutch ITE is recognized and stressed; this study may act as a catalyst for further and wider application of LS in this context, taking into account possible pitfalls and conditions.

This is one of the first studies exploring the potential of LS in Dutch ITE using both student-teachers' and teacher educators' perspectives.