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The Trials of a Poor Middle School Trying to Catch Up in Mathematics: Teachers' Multiple Communities of Practice and the Boundary Encounters

University of Southern Mississippi Gulf Coast, Long Beach

This article details a 5-year evolution of a middle school mathematics faculty serving predominantly economically at-risk students. Faculty members worked to improve students' mathematics test scores, used a scripted curriculum, and integrated National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) standards-based activities. Schools nationwide are transforming with the No Child Left Behind legislation, accountability mandates, and the NCTM standards. The demands on these teachers are typical of high-stakes systems. Drawing on Lave and Wenger's "community of practice" and Cobb, McClain, Lamberg, and Chrystal's extension, this article describes how teachers accommodate to the process of change and the group dynamics encountered within a school structure.

Key Words: mathematics education • communities of practice • professional development

This version was published on August 1, 2007

Education and Urban Society, Vol. 39, No. 4, 554-583 (2007)
DOI: 10.1177/0013124507302464


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