Teacher research is one of the fastest-growing and most promising forces for positive change in schools today. Its premise resonates with teachers at all grade levels: that teachers can construct useful knowledge about teaching and learning by systematically studying their own practice. Elements of teacher research have long existed; John Dewey envisioned teachers as reflective professionals who build theory from practice. A more direct connection can be traced to the "action research" movement of the 1950s and 1960s, which sought to improve the performance of organizations, including schools, by using group problem-solving cycles based on disciplined inquiry.

However, teacher research is a relatively new phenomenon. Jay Sugarman, a 4th-grade teacher in Brookline, MA, and cofounder of the Teacher Research Special Interest Group of the American Educational Research Association, feels that for years there has been little encouragement and support for teachers to study their own practice. "Teachers have been expected to implement the research findings of others," Sugarman says. "They have been the objects of study and not true collaborators in the inquiry process."