Practice Makes Progress: Using Lesson Study to Teach High Leverage Practices to Preservice General Educators

Teacher education has lagged in preparing general educators with the knowledge and skills necessary to support the learning of students with disabilities within inclusive classrooms. This study illustrates how small-scale action research can be used in higher education to analyze teacher preparation practices in a concerted effort toward improvement. Participants included (n =35) preservice teachers in a graduate-level university teacher preparation program in the Pacific Northwest. Mixed methods were utilized to examine the impact of lesson study on preservice teacher self-efficacy and capacity to teach students with disabilities within their respective practicum placements. First developed in Japan, lesson study facilitates a collaborative effort between teachers to improve instructional knowledge and skills. In this study, a new variation of lesson study was developed to align teacher preparation course content with High Leverage Practices in special education. Outcomes from this study indicate the need to align coursework with practicum experiences to optimize the acquisition of knowledge and skills through deliberate practice. In addition, this study highlights how High Leverage Practices can serve as a pedagogical bridge between the perpetual division of special and general education teacher preparation programs.