New RRE Volume Explores the Significant Challenges in Changing Teaching Practice


May 2019

The 2019 volume of Review of Research in Education (RRE), titled “Changing Teaching Practice in P–20 Educational Settings,” casts a sharp lens on the challenges and opportunities faced by those who work toward changing teaching practice as well as those who research these efforts.

The volume, released in May, was edited by Terri Piggott and Ann Marie Ryan (both at Loyola University Chicago), with Charles Tocci (also at Loyola University Chicago) serving as associate editor.

“We are very excited to see this volume in print,” said Pigott. “The authors provide reviews that examine change to teaching practice from a variety of perspectives and a range of disciplines with an eye toward the enormous scope of the field.” 

The table of contents and abstracts can be viewed here.

In their introduction, the editors provide an informative overview of the volume and the authors’ contributions. They note that, “taken as a whole, these chapters consider some of the most critical problems facing educators and scholars today: how our history shapes our present-day possibilities, how we develop the capacity of educators to change and improve practice, the innumerable aspects that can be changed, which dimensions of teaching [to] prioritize, and emerging issues [that] will shape this work in the coming years.”

The volume’s four sections focus on the history and policy of changing teaching practice; the capacity of teachers to make changes; how to change practice in numerous settings in various ways; and emerging issues for practice. The chapters cover a wide array of subjects such as diversity work in classrooms, teacher professional development, improving writing instruction, trauma-informed practices in schools, and improving educational opportunities for postsecondary students. The volume’s final chapter focuses on community schools and the impact they have on teaching practice.

AERA members who selected RRE as their journal of choice have already received this volume. Members who wish to add this volume as an additional journal can do so by logging in and clicking the "purchase additional journal" link ($20, or $10 for students). Nonmembers interested in purchasing the volume may do so by clicking here and selecting the individual subscription option.

Terri D. Pigott is associate provost for research and professor of research methodology at Loyola University Chicago. She was formerly dean of the School of Education at Loyola University Chicago. She received her PhD in education from the University of Chicago, specializing in measurement, evaluation, and statistical analysis. Her research focuses on the methods for meta-analysis, including handling of missing data, power analysis in meta-analysis, and individual participant data meta-analysis.

Ann Marie Ryan is an associate professor of education in the School of Education at Loyola University Chicago. She received her PhD in curriculum and instruction from the University of Illinois at Chicago. Her teaching and research concentrate on the preparation and professional development of educators. She also researches the history of Catholic schooling in the United States from the early to mid-20th century with a focus on the intersections between Catholic schools and public education reforms.

Charles Tocci is an assistant professor of education at Loyola University Chicago. He earned his doctorate at Teachers College, Columbia University, where he also worked as senior research associate at the National Center for Restructuring Education, Schools, and Teaching. His research explores the ways teaching practice has changed and remained consistent over time. His work has been published in Review of Research in Education, Educational Philosophy and Theory, and The Washington Post.