Abstract

A growing body of research concludes that teacher knowledge is critical for high levels of student achievement. One mechanism for improving teacher knowledge is the development of "professional communities" of teachers at a school site. Indeed, many policy-makers and educators have placed considerable faith in these communities without a detailed understanding of the efficacy or dynamics of teacher interaction in the workplace.

This research study examined teacher professional interactions at one school site, and how those interactions were situated within a larger context of social and political forces during a period of reform. Three questions guided this study: What is the theory of action regarding teacher interactions and onsite professional collaboration espoused by the school leadership? What is the nature of the activities that constitute these interactions? What value or significance do the teachers attribute to these interactions?

Using ethnographic methods, this case study focused on teacher interactions during a period in which this charter middle school was undergoing substantial reform. The data sources included participant observations, teacher and administrator interviews, teachers' logs of their interactions, audio and video recordings of interactions, and school documents.

The school leadership believed that teachers should have a common classroom structure, teach common curricula, and make "their practice public." To do this, they provided regular opportunities within the school day for teachers to meet. Teacher informal interactions were primarily instrumental, focused on an urgent or short-term need, and attentive to a range of student needs, non-academic as well as academic. Teachers reported that their heavy workload and long hours precluded more reflective or sustained conversations with their colleagues.

Teacher interactions and activities take place within a particular social context. At this charter middle school, that context was a dynamic restructuring and reculturing of the school. The findings about teacher interaction raised by the original research questions are best understood within the context of this particular reform effort: transforming a school for student equity. In particular, the development of a school-specific culture, the urgency of the work, and the enactments of the "students first" policy were influential elements of the reform.