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This paper clarifies and expands the definition of teacher professional practice, grounded in the commonplaces of professionalism outlined by Lee Shulman. We present the Professional Development: Research, Implementation, and Evaluation (PrimeD) framework as a lens for transforming professional development into a practice that engages teachers as professionals. This discussion explores teachers’ roles in both their classrooms and the profession. The inclusion of PrimeD evaluation and research in the development and practice of mathematics teachers addresses Shulman’s professionalism commonplaces. PrimeD was tested as a lens for professionalism in mathematics teacher education programs at four universities. In the study, teachers collaborated as professionals on developing and testing novel ways to approach mathematics lessons. In general, teachers’ efforts to conduct structured experimentation in their lessons were disconnected from traditional views of the role of a teacher. As a result, teachers who did develop and test lesson trials in this PD program did not frequently continue experimentation. Typically, teachers wanted to collaborate on testing classroom activities but did not have resources to do so (e.g., time, collaborative planning). Systemic changes are needed to promote sustainable change, allowing teachers to collaborate and share the results of classroom research. 

The STEM teacher workforce in the United States has faced a host of pressing challenges, including teacher shortages, pervasive job dissatisfaction, and high turnover, problems largely attributable to working conditions within schools and districts. These problems have been exacerbated in high-needs districts with fewer resources and more students from low-income communities. Since social network research has shown that workplace relationships are vital for retention, this study investigates the demographic and relational antecedents to what we dub ties of retention. We explore how demographic and relational properties affect the likelihood that teachers have “retention-friendly” networks, characterized by connections important for retention. Our analysis of data from a sample of 120 STEM teachers across five geographic regions identifies key demographics (i.e., site, gender, career changer, and prior teaching experience) and relational properties (network size, positive affect, and perceptions of bridging) associated with ties of retention. We discuss the implications of our findings for the STEM teacher workforce and for teacher education programs. 

This paper examines how 17 secondary mathematics teacher candidates (TCs) in four university teacher preparation programs implemented technology in their classrooms to teach for conceptual understanding in online, hybrid, and face to face classes during COVID-19. Using the Professional Development: Research, Implementation, and Evaluation (PrimeD) framework, TCs, classroom mentor teachers, field experience supervisors, and university faculty formed a Networked Improvement Community (NIC) to discuss a commonly agreed upon problem of practice and a change idea to implement in the classroom. Through Plan-Do-Study-Act cycles, participants documented their improvement efforts and refinements to the change idea and then reported back to the NIC at the subsequent monthly meeting. The Technology Pedagogical Content Knowledge framework (TPACK) and the TPACK levels rubric were used to examine how teacher candidates implemented technology for Mathematics conceptual understanding. The Mathematics Classroom Observation Protocol for Practices (MCOP2) was used to further examine how effective mathematics teaching practices (e.g., student engagement) were implemented by TCs. MCOP2 results indicated that TCs increased their use of effective mathematics teaching practices. However, growth in TPACK was not significant. A relationship between TPACK and MCOP2 was not evident, indicating a potential need for explicit focus on using technology for mathematics conceptual understanding.