March 2016

The fifth edition of the Handbook of Research on Teaching, AERA’s essential resource for scholars and students dedicated to the study of teaching and learning, will be released at the 2016 Annual Meeting.

Edited by Drew H. Gitomer and Courtney A. Bell, the Handbook covers a vast range of subjects in the realm of teaching and learning, including history, technology, literacy, testing, globalization, teacher preparation, and special education, among others. Each authoritative chapter provides a macrolevel view of the state of one large, integrated area of the field, based on scholarly analysis of more microlevel interactions of teaching and learning in classrooms.

Recurring themes noted by the editors include the purpose of education and teaching, sociocognitive and sociocultural perspectives, teaching and learning as systems phenomena, inequality of opportunity, teaching as adaptive expertise, and the interactive nature of teaching. Taking a “20,000-foot view,” the handbook will help to move the field forward by drawing on methodological and conceptual advances in other fields that can contribute to readers’ own areas of specialization in teaching research.

Drew H. Gitomer is the Rose and Nicholas DeMarzo Chair in Education at the Rutgers University Graduate School of Education. His research centers on the assessment and evaluation of teaching and related policy issues in teaching and teacher education. His current work focuses on a range of constructs, including the quality of classroom interactions, teacher knowledge, teacher beliefs, and student achievement.

Courtney A. Bell is a Senior Research Scientist at the Educational Testing Service, where she directs the Understanding Teaching Quality Initiative’s work on the measurement of teaching. Bell’s research collaborations focus on the measurement of teaching and how measures of teaching are understood and used at the intersections of research, policy, and practice. Her current studies use mixed methods to analyze the measurement of teaching and the validity of measures of teaching quality.

The Handbook will be introduced in a symposium at the AERA Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C., on Sunday, April 10, from 2:45 p.m. to 4:15 p.m. (Convention Center, Level One, Room 154 B). After an introduction by the editors, authors from the volume will provide rapid-fire presentations of their chapters with audience engagement.

At the Annual Meeting, the volume will be available for purchase from the AERA exhibit booth; free domestic shipping will be available for orders placed at the booth during the meeting. E-book editions of the full volume and each individual chapter will be available this summer.

Books published under the aegis of AERA meet the quality standards of the Association based on peer review. These publications reflect the views of the authors and editors, and not necessarily those of AERA or its governing Council. AERA publishes works to advance knowledge, to expand access to significant research and research analyses and syntheses, and to promote knowledge utilization.