Lesson Study as a Promising Practice

Promising Practice:
Lesson Study

Jacquie Heller
EDUC 803
March 29, 2018
Introduction

The quality of the teacher is one of the strongest indicators of success for students in

today’s classrooms (Hattie 2012). It is important to consider the practices we are using in

teacher education and professional development in order to ensure outcomes that improve

teacher content knowledge and pedagogy. One form of professional development (PD) which

appears to have promise is a collaborative professional development approach from Japan called

lesson study.

Rather than bringing in outside experts, lesson study uses the professional knowledge of

the teachers to identify an area for their own growth then provides a structure for them to work

collaboratively in a recurring cycle of planning, observation and reflection to improve their

practice. Curcio (2002) identifies the four main phases of the lesson study process as

collaborative planning, lesson observation by colleagues and guests, analytic reflection, and

ongoing revision (Figure 1).

Figure 1. The Lesson Study Process.

1
 While the lesson study process has more commonly been used with in-service teachers

for professional development, there are an increasing number of studies examining its usefulness

in preservice teacher education. The highly adaptable nature of the lesson study structure can be

tweaked and adjusted to meet different needs as you will read in some of the studies included in

the literature review below. However, the process used in the United Kingdom is the model most

often being attempted now in the United States.

In this most common version of the lesson study process, teachers identify an area for

growth then a “knowledgeable other,” which could be a mentor teacher, content area specialist,

university partner or other colleague, helps them research and collaboratively plan a lesson

(Cheng & Wong 2014). Next the team watches one teacher, often the “knowledgeable other,”

model the lesson in a classroom while others observe and collect evidence of student learning.

Sometimes they identify one or two case study pupils to focus on for data collection. They meet

to reflect, share observations and refine the lesson. They continue the cycle with another teacher

modeling it in another classroom using the refined lesson plan. It is common to repeat this

process three times. At the conclusion of the process they reflect on their collective

understanding and use it to create a product of their learning that can be shared with other staff

and educators outside their building.

Lesson Study has been credited with bringing about Japan’s evolution of effective

mathematics and science instruction (Lewis 2002) and it is gaining popularity in the United

States. Substitutes are needed to cover all the classes for one grade level or team while the

teachers do their learning, modeling and reflecting so administrators must decide if the cost of

substitutes is the best way to spend their professional development budget. Operating from the

axiology that the value of something is a function of its consequences (Mertens & Wilson 2012),

2
we could evaluate the outcomes of lesson study by answering research questions about this

potentially promising practice such as:

1. To what extent does lesson study support teachers in the process of changing their

instructional practices?

2. What, if any, evidence is there that engaging in the lesson study process contributes to

building collective efficacy among a team of teachers?

3. How does the teacher learning that happens as a result of lesson study affect student

achievement?

In preparation for such a study we will conduct a review of the literature on lesson study,

identify themes in the current literature that could have implications for future practice as well as

future research, and finally draw conclusions about lesson study as a promising practice in

teacher education and professional development. A balance of articles involving preservice and

in-service teachers were analyzed and compared in an effort to better understand the role lesson

study may play within the area of teacher education and professional development. Overall,

positive outcomes were seen throughout the studies making this collaborative framework seem

encouraging as a promising practice.

Literature Review

Effective approaches to professional development consider educators as both teachers

and learners (Darling-Hammond 2017). When considering how to address teachers as adult

learners, the literature about how people learn by doing is by no means new (Dewey, 1938/1963)

and there is a bulk of knowledge grounded in the sociocultural views of learning. These ideas are

important when considering lesson study as an effective means of teacher education and

professional development since a unique aspect of lesson study is that teachers are learning

3
practices through participation in activity. There are four main activities that teachers engage in

during lesson study according to Curcio (2002) and this literature review will identify themes in

the literature during each activity including collaborative planning, lesson observation, analytic

reflection and revision, and documentation.

Collaborative Planning

During the collaborative research and planning phase all studies found many benefits and

few challenges. Cohan & Honigsfeld (2006) incorporated jugyoun kenkyuu – the Japanese

lesson study approach – into teacher preparation courses with both undergraduate and graduate

preservice teachers in order to create situations for the preservice teachers to think deeply about

instruction, learning, curriculum and education. Each candidate taught and video-taped the

lesson, got feedback and produced a lesson study report. According to the quotes from their

reflective papers the collaboration and dialogue about teaching gained through the lesson study

approach was seen as greatly beneficial.

Koustouris et al. (2017) also looked at using lesson study with preservice teachers but

broadened the typical lesson study model to include university-based lecturers as part of the

school-based teaching team. Video conferencing was used to give feedback rather than face to

face meetings. The authors wanted to investigate the issues experienced in using video-

conferencing to connect the dispersed members in the lesson study collaborative team meetings.

They concluded that inclusion of other professionals on the lesson study team is beneficial

especially in fostering a collaborative culture for preservice teachers, but distance linking during

this collaborative process is dependent upon having the right equipment and technical support.

Voogta, Pietersb, & Handelzaltsc (2016) found benefits in the collaborative planning phase

for in-service teachers because traditional teacher development is usually passive in nature and

4
teachers are typically expected to implement the plans of others. Collaborative curriculum design

places the teacher as the main link in the chain and this study evaluated the effect of doing so by

using data from 14 doctoral theses to study the impact of collective design on both curriculum

change and teacher learning. The results showed collaborative design helped teachers take on

new pedagogy as well as subject matter knowledge, especially related to technology. It also led

to higher quality curricula and ownership reform from the involved stakeholders. The

involvement of the school leadership was found to be essential as collaborative teams needed

support in the process. The teachers had more agency, took ownership or their learning and

implemented the curriculum with more fidelity after engaging in the process.

Suh & Seshaiyer (2015) took the collaborative process even further and looked at the benefit

of vertical articulation across grade levels when a vertical team of elementary teachers used

lesson study to develop their understanding of algebraic concepts across grade levels. This gave

teachers the opportunity to collaborate with colleagues outside their normal team and pushed

their thinking beyond their immediate objectives. This collaboration led to relearning,

disequilibrium and awareness that was a catalyst for change. While it was very beneficial they

had to buy teachers time using grant money because most schools are not se up for this type of

collaboration so the authors suggest teachers need more release time for this type of professional

development activity.

Lesson Observation

Suh & Seshaiyer (2015) also found the classroom observation activity to be productive

because teachers got to revisit conceptual principles in previous grades, anticipate strategies

students would use and misconceptions they may have, and see multiple models and a pattern of

5
mathematical development. Another important outcome was to recognize the ways to scaffold

and differentiate for diverse learners.

While Suh & Seshaiyer were able to bring the teachers from a variety of teams together for

the observations, Koutsouris et al. (2017) used technology to connect a disperse team for lesson

observations and many of the findings in their study had to do with technical difficulties during

the video recording of the lessons. One school had trouble with the internet quality and spent

10% of the meeting time dealing with connectivity and sound quality. The position of the

cameras during the teaching of the lessons was an issue because the university-based members of

the team viewing the lesson remotely could either see the students or the board, but not both.

When teachers tried to use a mobile camera to get closer to the students it caused disruption that

altered student behavior. When they moved class to a quieter location to improve sound quality

of the recording that was also found to alter student behavior. They concluded that lesson study

is beneficial when observing lessons in person but distance linking is highly dependent upon

having the right equipment and at times the presence of that equipment can alter the essence of

the lesson being observed due to its impact on the students being recorded.

Mentzer et al. (2014) also found mixed results from the lesson observation phase of

lesson study. They led a three year science teacher PD called Leadership for Educators:

Academy for Driving Economic Revitalization in Science (LEADERS). It consisted of Project

Based Science (PBS), leadership courses and renewable energy content taught through a lesson

study approach. Data showed significant gains in two of the three foci – content knowledge and

leadership skills – but not in PBS. It is assumed much of the content knowledge was learned

during the collaborative planning and reflection activities of lesson study but the observation of

lessons should have given the teachers stronger PBS skills so the authors concluded they would

6
adjust the project design for the next cohort in order to improve summative results. Since lesson

observations are one of the things that set lesson study apart from other forms of professional

development we need more research focusing on this step of the process since these studies

found as many challenges as benefits.

Analytic Reflection and Revision

Norwich & Ylonen (2015) focused on the gains that could be acquired during the analytic

reflection after lesson observation. Their study used an assessment by response to teaching

(ART) approach and they coined the term lesson study for assessment (LSfA), meaning an

approach that focuses on improving teachers’ ability to assess student learning needs. The

teachers identified case pupils to study within the context of lesson study and included the case

pupil’s perspective on their own learning and on the process. They found the most important

mechanisms were providing honest, constructive feedback, analyzing lessons, and using prior

knowledge about student learning difficulties to refine and improve the lessons. One of the

primary outcomes was improved capability of teachers to use response to teaching approach to

assessment after their experience in collaborative analytic reflection. They were better able to

focus on learning conditions that affected student achievement rather than blame it on pupil

characteristics.

Cajkler et al. (2015) also found the analytic reflection activity of lesson study helped

teachers develop creative solutions to learning challenges. Their exploratory qualitative study

was conducted at secondary schools in England where they interviewed teachers and found

positive results from the collaborative planning and the lesson observations but the analytic

reflection had the greatest impact on teachers’ thinking about classroom practice. While they

acknowledged the positive outcomes they also cautioned that this process is time intensive. In

7
the current performance and data driven culture in education where people want results directly

linked to research based practices there were no immediate transformative changes, but with

sustained commitment lesson study shows promise.

Documentation and Dissemination

The last activity in the lesson study process is considered optional and some models end

the process after the last analytical reflection meeting while others go on to have the team

produce some product of their learning that can be shared with others and used in the future.

Voogta et al. (2016) and Suh & Seshaiyer (2015) were the only studies that focused on this

activity and they both found it to be an important one worthy of more research.

Voogta et al. concluded that teams not only learned from the collaborative process of

planning, observing and reflecting, but also learned from sharing their designed curriculum

materials with other colleagues because they had to explain the rationale behind their materials.

Teams do not often share their work with others so this was a valuable aspect of the lesson study

experience. The end product of the Suh & Seshaiyer study with vertical teams vas a vertical map

which provided a description of the skills, understandings and knowledge in the sequence in

which they typically develop for students. By documenting and disseminating their learning in

the form of this vertical map teachers had a lasting artifact of what algebraic learning looks like

and sounds like across the grade levels.

Implications for Future Practice

I work at Mason Crest Elementary, where the school’s mission statement is “High levels

of learning for all students and staff.” This shows this school’s dedication to ensuring that staff

development leads to changes in practices that improve student achievement. After reviewing the

8
literature on lesson study I plan to implement and evaluate this promising practice net school

year.

In 2017 Fairfax County Public Schools launched a new Planning and Pacing Guide,

substantially changing the reading and writing curriculum at each grade level. During the 2017-

2018 school year personnel from Fairfax County’s Language Arts office came to Mason Crest

Elementary to help the school’s literacy teachers plan and facilitate lesson study around the new

pacing guide for a few teams. That initial positive experience combined with the research

reviewed here has led the administration to approve the kindergarten, first grade and second

grade teams participating in a systematic lesson study professional development project during

the 2018-2019 school year. I will facilitate this lesson study model of professional development

to help Mason Crest teachers achieve a high level of learning about the content and instructional

practices in the new pacing guide. A summative evaluation will provide feedback to stakeholders

at Mason Crest Elementary in order to make judgements about program effectiveness and inform

decisions about continuation or expansion of the lesson study process for subsequent school

years.

Several lessons from the studies reviewed here will impact how I plan for the lesson

study experience at Mason Crest. First, it is essential that we have the support of administration

and a clear understanding that we are looking for long term sustainable changes in practices, not

a silver bullet. Next it will be important to ensure we have the culture in place to support

collaboration and constructive feedback, especially for those teachers who will be new to the

school and team. Finally, while I did not originally intend to include university personnel or

anyone outside the school as part of the lesson study team, I am intrigued to add that perspective

to our learning. If we do end up having any team members join us via technology there are

9
several studies that caution us to be sure we have confidence in our technology and think

carefully about how video recording the lessons affect student learning and behavior.

Implications for Future Research

One reason the knowing-doing gap exists in education is because many professional

development initiatives may increase teacher knowledge but do not inspire lasting changes in

teacher practices. Darling-Hammond, Hyler and Gardner (2017) reviewed 35 studies to identify

the features of effective PD, defined as “structured professional learning that results in changes

in teacher practices and improvements in student learning outcomes.” They found the seven

features of effective PD include being content focused, collaborative, reflective, using active

learning, models of effective practice, and expert support over a sustained duration (Darling-

Hammond et al. 2017). Many of the studies included in the literature review found positive

outcomes for using lesson study but future research needs to be done to evaluate lesson study in

terms of each of the seven features of effective PD.

When using the lesson study model of PD, the primary goal is for teachers to gain content

and pedagogical knowledge which will change and improve their instructional practices. Other

models of professional development such as attending conferences, workshops, book clubs and

peer observation do not allow for teachers to “try out” the new learning within the context of the

professional development thereby allowing the knowing-doing gap to grow. As Darling

Hammond et al. (2017) defined professional development as learning that results in changes in

practices we can use change management theory to evaluate the effectiveness of lesson study to

actually change teachers’ instructional practices.

10
 Knoster, Villa and Thousand (2000) use a framework for thinking about system change

that requires five elements in order for change to be sustained successfully. Those elements

include vision, skills, incentives, resources and an action plan (figure 2). If even one of those five

elements is missing the change will not be sustained successfully and will instead result in

frustration, resistance, anxiety or confusion. Lesson study could be researched as a promising

practice to determine if it fulfills the seven elements of professional development as well as the

five elements necessary for successful sustained change.

Figure 2. Knoster model for managing complex change.

Social justice is a final consideration for future research about lesson study as a

promising practice in teacher education and development. When examining educational

outcomes through the lens of social equity, one of the major factors to consider is student socio-

economic status. Educators must question our practices to determine what we could do to help

mitigate the effect of student socio-economic status. The research shows collective teacher

11
efficacy, defined as the “collective self-perception that teachers in a given school make an

educational difference to their students over and above the educational impact of their homes and

communities” (Donohoo, 2017), is three times more powerful and predictive than socio-

economic status (Hattie, 2012).

Educators with high collective efficacy focus on student struggles and show persistence

and a willingness to change and try new teaching approaches because they know it impacts

student learning. We must add to the existing knowledge of practices that impact collective

efficacy by evaluating the effectiveness of lesson study not only as a form of professional

development that brings about a change in practices but also as a means to cultivate collective

teacher efficacy and thereby improve student achievement.

Conclusion

The research presents evidence that lesson study provides teachers with a framework to

engage in collaborative and reflective work to improve their practices. Not only are teachers

improving their content knowledge and pedagogy, but they are analyzing student learning and

using that information to revise and create more effective lessons.

This synthesis shows lesson study to be a promising practice for both teacher education

with preservice teachers and professional development with in-service teachers. It also shows its

effectiveness across content areas and grade levels as the studies were conducted in elementary

schools and secondary schools. Further research is needed on the effectiveness of video

recording as part of the process to determine how lesson study might best be used with teams

who are not all on site. While each aspect of lesson study was found to have benefits, the time

spent in collaborative planning and reflection had greater impact in some studies than the time

12
spent in lesson observation so the role of teachers during this activity needs to be further studied

as well.

While it definitely has promise, the effectiveness of lesson study as a form of

professional development that changes practices and builds collective efficacy is yet to be

determined. Its popularity in Japan and other countries may not translate as well to the American

culture with our focus on competition over collaboration, but in schools that operate as

professional learning communities and engage regularly in collaborative processes this may help

maximize outcomes for teachers, both preservice and in-service.

13
 References

Cajkler, W., Wood, P., Norton, J., Peddler, D., & Xu, H. (2015). Teacher perspectives about
lesson study in secondary school departments: a collaborative vehicle for professional
learning and practice development. Research Papers in Education, 30(2), 192-213.

Cheng, W., & Wong, W. (2014). Does Lesson Study work? A systematic review on the effects
of Lesson Study and Learning Study on teachers and students. International Journal for
Lesson and Learning Studies, 3(2), 137-149.

Cohan, A., & Honigsfeld, A. (2006). Incorporating ‘Lesson Study’ in teacher preparation. The
Education Forum, 71(1), 81-94.

Curcio, F. R. (2002). A user’s guide to Japanese lesson study: Ideas for improving mathematics
teaching. Reston, VA: NCTM.

Darling-Hammond, L., Hyler, M., & Gardner, M. (2017). Effective teacher professional
development. Palo Alto, CA: Learning Policy Institute.

Dewey, J. (1938/1963). Experience and education. New York, NY: Macmillan.

Donohoo, J. (2016). Collective Efficacy: How Educators’ Beliefs Impact Student Learning.
Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

Hattie, J. (2012). Visible learning for teachers: Maximizing impact on learning. New
York, NY: Routledge.

Knoster, T., Villa, R., & Thousand, J. (2000). A framework for thinking about systems change.
In R.A.Villa & J.S. Thousand (Eds.), Restructuring for caring and effective education:
Piecing the puzzle together. Baltimore, MD: Paul H. Brookes.

Koutsouris, G., Norwich, B., Fujita, T., Ralph, T., Adlam, A. & Milton, F. (2017). Piloting a
dispersed and inter-professional Lesson Study using technology to link team members at
a distance. Technology, Pedagogy and Education, 26(5), 587-599.

Lewis, C. (2002). Lesson study: a band-book of teacher-led instructional change. Philadelphia:

Research for Better Schools.

Mentzer, G., Czerniak, C., & Struble, J. (2014). Utilizing program theory and contribution
analysis to evaluate the development of science teacher leaders. Studies in Educational
Evaluation, 42, 100-108.

Mertens, D. M., & Wilson, A. T. (2012). Program evaluation theory and practice: A
comprehensive guide. New York, NY: Guilford Press.

Norwich, B., & Ylonen, A. (2015). A design-based trial of Lesson Study for assessment

14
 purposes: evaluating a new classroom based dynamic assessment approach. European
Journal of Special Needs Education, 30(2), 253-273.

Suh, J., & Seshaiyer, P. (2015). Examining teachers’ understanding of the mathematical learning
progression through vertical articulation during Lesson Study. Journal of Mathematics
Teacher Education, 18(3), 207-229.

Voogta, J., Pietersb, J., & Handelzaltsc, A. (2016). Teacher collaboration in curriculum design
teams: effects, mechanisms, and conditions. Educational Research and Evaluation, 22(3),
121-140.

15