WestEd Research Associate Candice Bocala’s article, “Experience to Expertise: The Development of Teachers’ Learning in Lesson Study,” was recently published in the Journal of Teacher Education.

The article presents a case study of how educators in one Northeastern school district participated in school-based learning through lesson study (LS).

The key questions guiding the study were:

  • How do teams of educators in one district participate in lesson study in mathematics?
  • What, if any, are the differences between educators with more or less exposure to lesson study, relative to their participation in lesson study and what they report to have learned?

Consistent with prior research, Bocala discovered that LS novices focused primarily on learning the routine and on the novelty of observing instruction. LS-experienced practitioners, in contrast, were comfortable with the routine and thus concentrated instead on how they elicited students’ thinking.

Read the article abstract.*

A member of WestEd’s Learning Innovations program, Bocala contributes to projects related to data use in education, professional development, educator evaluation systems, and special education. Her research focuses on the connections between teachers’ learning and organizational conditions that support collaborative work and continuous improvement.

* Access to the full article requires a subscription to the Journal of Teacher Education.