Dialogues with Marilyn Cochran-Smith

Abstract

For more than 30 years, Dr. Marilyn Cochran-Smith has developed and directed research and contributed to publications about education and practitioner research, especially about teachers’ research and learning in inquiry communities. Her primary topics are inquiry communities, teacher research, teacher education for social justice, and practitioner research. In this interview, we sought information about the trajectory of Dr. Cochran-Smith and Susan Lytle's research about the teacher research movement and teacher research process, particularly learning and professional development in inquiry communities. We were also interested in her opinions about the Obama administration's education policies, especially teacher education research in the United States. This article is the full text of the interview the authors conducted with Dr. Cochran-Smith in December 2012 at Boston College.

Keywords:

• Marilyn Cochran-Smith
• practitioner research
• inquiry as stance
• inquiry communities

Notes

Dr. Lytle began her career in education as an English teacher in public secondary schools in Massachusetts and California and as a Peace Corps volunteer in Manila, Philippines. She arrived at the University of Pennsylvania in the early 1970s, where she began as a supervisor of secondary English interns, later became a faculty member, and was co-holder (with Cochran-Smith) of the Joseph L. Calihan Term Chair in Education, which she was awarded for her collaborative research on teacher inquiry. Dr. Lytle is also the founding director of the Philadelphia Writing Project (PhilWP), a teacher collaborative project with the School District of Philadelphia. PhilWP has been the primary site of her research. Committed to improving the quality of teaching and learning at all levels of education, including colleges and universities, Dr. Lytle has published widely on literacy and urban teacher education. She has worked closely with urban K–12 teachers, community college/university faculty, and adult educators to design and implement a variety of inquiry-based collaborative field-university projects focused on issues of literacy, culture, pedagogy, and social justice (see scholar.gse.upenn.edu/lytle).