Improving Teaching through Lesson Study

Teacher Education Quarterly, Winter 2005 by Rock, Tracy C, Wilson, Cathy

A strong need exists for teachers to experience sustained, high-quality professional development in order to improve student learning and teacher instruction. However, teacher professional development efforts are often criticized by educators for their lack of continuity and ability to produce effective change in teacher practice and student learning (Loucks-Horsley, Hewson, Love, & Stiles, 1998). After examining the findings of The Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), Stigler and Hiebert (1999) conclude that "American teachers aren't incompetent, but the methods they use are severely limited, and American teaching has no system in place for getting better. It is teaching, not teachers, that must be changed" (p. 10 ). Many educational scholars believe that a critical component of any educational reform effort should be to provide teachers with opportunities and appropriate support structures that encourage the critical work of on-going improvement of pedagogical practice (Darling-Hammond & McLaughlin, 1995; Garet, Porter, Desimone, Birman, & Yoon, 2001; Sparks & Hirsh, 1997).

This article presents a professional development initiative developed by a university-school partnership based on the Japanese lesson-study model described by Stigler and Hiebert (1999) in The Teaching Gap. Lesson study (jugyoukenkyu), an inquiry model of teacher professional development, is used extensively throughout Japan and has begun to capture the attention of the American educational community as a potential strategy for enhancing teacher professional development in America ( see Lewis & Tsuchida, 1998; Lewis, 2000; Stigler & Hiebert, 1998; Yoshida, 1999). As we seek understanding of what is required of professional-development experiences that leads to real improvement in how teachers teach, examining the process of lesson study may provide valuable insight.

The purpose of this study is to describe the effects of the lesson study process on six upper-elementary teachers from a city school system in the southeastern United States. The study will specifically address the following research questions: (a) How do these teachers perceive lesson study as a professional development process? and (b) How will engaging in lesson study affect these teachers' instruction? The findings of the study are important in determining if the model is effective in helping teachers to examine and improve their practice. "To date, the number of US sites where lesson study is successful (judged by teachers' accounts of its usefulness in improving instruction) is still very small, and it is likely these sites had important supporting conditions in place for lesson study" (Lewis, 2002a, p. 33). Indeed, there is a need for research that examines the supporting conditions that enable lesson study to succeed at particular sites (Lewis, 2002a); therefore, this issue will also be examined in this report.

Lesson Study

Lesson study involves groups of teachers meeting regularly over a period of time (ranging from several months to a year) to work on the design, implementation, testing, and improvement of one or several "research lessons" (Stigler & Hiebert, 1999). Research lessons are actual classroom lessons, taught to one's own students, that are (a) focused on a specific teacher-generated problem, goal, or vision of pedagogical practice, (b) carefully planned, usually in collaboration with one or more colleagues, (c) observed by other teachers, (d) recorded for analysis and reflection, and (e) discussed by lesson study group members, other colleagues, administrators, and/or an invited commentator (Lewis & Tsuchida, 1998).

During a three-year investigation of Japanese education, Lewis (2000) found that Japanese teachers were able to successfully shift their approach to teaching science from "teaching as telling" to "teaching for understanding" through intense studying and sharing during lesson study. Japanese teachers believe that time spent studying their lessons will subsequently improve their teaching. Furthermore, they believe that the most effective place to improve their teaching is in the context of a classroom lesson (Stigler & Hiebert, 1999). Japanese teachers consistently credit research lessons as the key to individual, school-wide, and national improvement of teaching (Lewis, 2000).

Rather than Japanese teachers working as individuals in their professional development, a collaborative approach is used. Through lesson study Japan's teachers work in a unified effort to study classroom lessons and initiate positive change for instructional practice and student learning. To help achieve a unified effort, Japan's teachers follow eight steps for collaborative lesson study. The steps include: (1) defining and researching a problem, (2) planning the lesson, (3) teaching and observing the lesson, (4) evaluating the lesson and reflecting on its effect, (5) revising the lesson, (6) teaching and observing the revised lesson, (7) evaluating and reflecting a second time, and (8) sharing the results (Stigler & Hiebert, 1999). The process for completing the eight steps requires a group of teachers to collaborate and share their ideas, opinions, and conclusions regarding the research lesson. This process requires substantial time and commitment; however, it serves as a catalyst that encourages teachers to become reflective practitioners that use what they have learned from research-based lessons to collegially revise and implement future lessons. In addition, their new found knowledge of instructional practice is shared and discussed with their peers at the school level, and possibly even at a broader regional or national level. Through lesson study, Japanese educators have instituted a system that leads to gradual, incremental improvements in teaching over time (Stigler and Hiebert, 1999).