Lesson Study Communities: Increasing Achievement with Diverse Students

“If you are seeking a more effective way to improve teaching and learning for your students or innovative ways to help teachers become actively involved in their professional career, you will enjoy opening the door to lesson study.”
—From the Foreword by Akihiko Takahashi

Employ one of the most promising strategies for linking professional development and student achievement—lesson study!

Educators have been examining the Japanese lesson study model for years, but the dissimilar environment in U.S. schools has prevented a widescale adoption of this effective form of professional learning.

Lesson Study Communities demonstrates how to translate each step of the Japanese lesson study process to the educational environment of U.S. schools. Offering specific strategies that have been tested and successfully used with ethnically diverse students, this book incorporates a culturally responsive approach to curriculum, instruction, and assessment. Working in impoverished schools with ELL and low SES students, Wiburg and Brown’s program made significant progress toward closing the achievement gap in poorly served communities.

Applicable to math, science, reading, language arts, and social studies programs, this implementation guide:

1. Explains how to connect lesson study to school or district instructional goals
2. Provides case examples and step-by-step guidance
3. Reveals how lesson study can be integrated into daily work
4. Offers extended learning activities and exercises

Addressing the challenge of changing student demographics, this book includes guidance on assessing readiness for lesson study, planning the research lesson, gathering data, modifying the lesson, and sharing findings.

About The Authors:
Dr. Karin M. Wiburg is Associate Dean for Research at New Mexico State University and continues to spend one quarter of her time involved in research related to mathematics education and closing the achievement gap on the border She was a professor of curriculum and learning technologies in the C&I Department in the College of Education (COE) at NMSU since 1994. Prior to that she taught in higher education in California and served as Coordinator of the Technology Consortium at the San Diego county office. She also spent 13 years as a teacher and administrator in the Seattle Public Schools in areas related to math, technology and reading.

She has been involved in distance education since 1987 when she used an Apple II computer as a SYSOP for a teacher network in California. At NMSU since 1993, she coordinated a specialization in Learning Technologies which included distance education programs at the masters and doctoral levels. She has received numerous grants for technology and mathematics and science education, has co-authored three textbooks and has written numerous articles for publication. She has been a frequent presenter at national conferences and is primarily interested in the improvement of learning environments, Staff developers, teachers, and administrators committed to increasing student achievement will find this to be a significant stride toward ensuring academic success.

Susan W. Brown, PH.D.: Currently is Principal Investigator/Project Director for several grants, including the Southern New Mexico Science, Engineering, Mathematics, and Aerospace Academy, in the College of Education at New Mexico State University in Las Cruces, NM. Her research focus is science education and the under-representation of minority students and females in the fields of science, math, and engineering, and the grants reflect this focus. Besides the grant work, she teaches early childhood and elementary science methods at New Mexico State University, as well as work with NASA as an Aerospace Education Specialist. Throughout her teaching and research career she has earned numerous awards such as the 2004 New Mexico State University Outstanding Research, Presidential Award for Excellence in Science Teaching, the Disney/McDonald Award, Who’s Who Among America’s Teachers, and special recognition from the New Mexico legislature. She is nationally board certified and has facilitated many educator’s workshops, presented and published nationally and internationally.