SITE CONTENTS: ICD Home Casebooks NPEAT Indices Facilitator's Forum Bibliography Order Form   Are you printing this page? Click here for a printer-friendly version. Contact Information: Judy Shulman Director, Institute for Case Development WestEd 730 Harrison Street San Francisco, CA 94107 email: jshulma@wested.org Phone: (415) 565-3057 Fax: (415) 512-2024

Who | Why | What is on this site | Partners & Clients Who are we? What do we do? We are a group of teacher educators at WestEd who work with teachers, administrators and staff developers to write cases–candid, problem-based accounts that are crafted to stimulate discussion and reflection–and then publish them in thematic casebook so others can learn from their experience. These field-tested casebooks focus on such topics as: diversity in the classroom, mentoring new teachers, student groupwork, and teaching math concepts in grades four through eight. We also provide assistance on how to use cases effectively through facilitator guides, videos, and seminars on discussion methods and case writing; make presentations at professional meetings; and publish our research in books and journals. Why use case methods? Teachers and teacher educators have long been aware of the yawning gap between the principles of education taught in university preservice programs and the realities of classroom life. The current burgeoning interest in educational case methods is testimony to the promise of case-based teaching as a way of bridging that gap, and of easing the novice teacher’s entry into the classroom. A case holds attributes of both theory and practice, enabling teachers and students alike to examine real-life situations under a laboratory microscope. It is a piece of controllable reality, more vivid and contextual than a textbook discussion, yet more disciplined and manageable than observing or doing work in the world itself. What’s on this website? Descriptive information on the casebooks Sample cases with facilitator notes that you can try out in your teacher education and staff development programs Forum for interactive conversations on one of the casebooks, Groupwork in Diverse Classrooms Selected bibliography on case methods Future events Order form Selected partners and clients: Faculties in teacher preparations programs (e.g., California State University, Los Angeles, University of Maryland, University of Arizona, University of Nevada, Reno, University of Utah) School districts (e.g., San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles and Phoenix) State Departments of Education (e.g., California, Utah, North Carolina, and Connecticut) Professional Associations (e.g., American Association of Colleges of Teacher Education (AACTE), Association of Teacher Educators (ATE) National Staff Development Council, and the California Council for the Education of Teachers (CCET) Business/School Partnership (e.g., Joint Venture Silicon Valley Network: 21st Century Education Initiative )