Teacher education programs in the United States face a variety of new accountability policies at both the federal and the state level. Many of these policies carry high-stakes implications for students and programs and involve some of the same challenges for implementation as they have in the P-12 arena. Serious dilemmas for teacher educators arise in these contexts, as compliance with prescriptive state mandates is often interpreted by faculty to signify a demoralizing loss of program autonomy and integrity, whereas noncompliance may result in loss of program accreditation. The authors describe how one teacher education program negotiated these dilemmas in a fashion responsive to local values and concerns while also meeting state requirements. Results are discussed in terms of tensions between (a) policy goals seeking alignment and coherence across institutions of higher education and (b) motivational conditions likely to engage faculty in the difficult work of programmatic renewal and change in teacher education.

The movement toward creating inclusive schools has accelerated rapidly over the past several years. As they learn more about the effects of inclusion on students with disabilities, consumers, practitioners, and researchers are becoming more interested in the effects of inclusion on students without disabilities. One area of great interest is the social relationships between students with disabilities and students without disabilities. The purpose of this study is to present case studies of four students without disabilities who are friends of students with moderate and severe disabilities in their classroom. Data for the case studies were collected through observations, videotaped samples, and interviews. The case studies illustrate the uniqueness of each friendship and highlight some similarities across relationships. Results are discussed in terms of their implications for promoting relationships in inclusive educational settings.

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No Child Left Behind Act accountability pressures and calls to close achievement gaps between groups of students have challenged school districts to achieve systemwide instructional improvement. These policies create learning challenges for classroom teachers and for school and district leaders. This article engages questions about organizational support for professional learning in the context of reform initiatives. A theoretical lens-called the Vygotsky Space-is used to analyze case study data from a reforming urban school district located in the Pacific Northwest. A job-embedded professional development structure called the Elementary Studio/Residency Model is explored in depth as are the learning processes of one participating teacher. The teacher's professional learning experiences are then connected with leadership actions and institutional supports for learning. The relationship between organizational change and district leaders' attention to practitioner learning and innovation is discussed.