Negotiating Power and Possibilities: Situated and Dynamic Collaboration in a Multi-Agency Professional Development Initiative

• In Event: Moscone Center West Roundtable Session 4
  In Roundtable Session: Considering Teachers and Teacher Education Through Critical Lenses

Abstract

This paper explores teacher professional development (PD) as a boundary zone between the assumptions and understandings of different agencies within a collaborative project. Using Cultural Historical Activity Theory (CHAT), it highlights different goals, histories and commitments that collided and intermingled to create tensions, contradictions, and opportunities for expansive learning. Although the use of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) created a common goal, interagency participants acted under different conceptions of effective PD. In an era of increased collaboration among agencies, this paper reconceptualizes interagency teacher PD, serving as both a cautionary tale and a vision for the future.

Authors

• Rebecca Buchanan, University of Maine

• Judith A. Scott, University of California - Santa Cruz

• Lucinda Pease Alvarez, University of California - Santa Cruz

• Margaret Clark, Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts