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This study investigates beginning U.S. elementary teachers' competence for teaching mathematics and its development during teacher preparation and into the first two years of fulltime teaching. Data are drawn from three longitudinal case studies and include the Classroom Video Analysis survey, classroom observations and interviews about teachers' instructional decisions, and whole-day shadowing. A multi-case study design was used to examine the processes of perception, interpretation, and decision making in participants' comments on video clips of teaching episodes and in reflections about their own teaching. Findings support the central role of these processes in teacher competence and the generative power of reflections revolving around student thinking and tools, such as classroom discourse and visuals. Teachers' communities also played an important role in teachers' decision making. A model of teacher competence from a situated perspective is proposed and the Classroom Video Assessment is discussed as a measure of teacher competence in context.

This study examines the development of a specific sub-skill for studying and improving teaching—the generation of hypotheses about the effects of teaching on student learning. Two groups of elementary preservice teachers (PSTs) were compared: one group that attended a typical mathematics-methods course and one that attended a course integrating analysis skills for learning from teaching. Data consist of PSTs’ comments on video clips of mathematics instruction administered before and after course completion. Findings reveal that PSTs at the beginning of the program struggled to generate hypotheses with relevant evidence, often equating teacher behavior or student correct answers as evidence of student understanding. After course participation, PSTs who attended the course with integrated analysis skills significantly improved in their ability to generate hypotheses based on student evidence whereas their counterparts continued to display difficulties. Implications for teacher education and future research are considered.

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