Challenges to Importing Japanese Lesson Study:
Concerns, Misconceptions, and Nuances

Lesson study is no longer "foreign" to teachers in the U.S., who are increasingly adopting the practice themselves. But, Ms. Chokshi and Ms. Fernandez are finding, they may lack the nuanced understanding that is necessary to use lesson study in the way that it was intended.

By Sonal Chokshi and Clea Fernandez

RECENTLY, there has been a rapid proliferation of lesson study groups in the United States.1 Since deep knowledge about lesson study is rare in the U.S., it is likely that some of these groups have an incomplete understanding of this Japanese practice. Some may focus on structural aspects of the process of lesson study or may mimic its superficial features, while ignoring the underlying rationale for them.2

Our purpose here is to clarify some of the guiding principles behind the process of lesson study by identifying three categories of challenges that U.S. practitioners of lesson study may encounter at different "developmental stages" in their learning about the process. We wish to help lesson study practitioners focus on core principles and more coherently define the purpose of their lesson study work, so that they can move beyond its procedural aspects toward richer, more sustainable practice.

Challenges to Launching Lesson Study: Common Concerns and Assumptions

In this section, we describe cultural and logistical roadblocks that some individuals perceive when they first encounter lesson study. By addressing these concerns and false assumptions here, we hope to offer both a justification and a rationale for doing lesson study, so that interested individuals can move beyond discussing obstacles and toward actually engaging in the process.

1. Lesson study is an exotic idea from a foreign country, so it can't be done in the U.S. Even though the formal process for lesson study was developed and popularized in Japan, there is nothing "exotic" about it. Lesson study not only possesses many of the features that are recommended by U.S. educators, it also organizes them into a coherent and systematic process.

Specifically, lesson study is teacher-directed, since teachers determine how to explore their chosen goals and address student needs through their examination of practice. This examination of practice is concrete, because the main activities of the lesson study process are embedded in the realities of the everyday classroom. Lesson study is also inherently collaborative, since teachers work together with a common purpose and draw from one another's experience and expertise. Finally, sustained lesson study work can help teachers build a shared body of professional knowledge.3

2. U.S. teachers will not be able to find time for doing lesson study. Although lesson study is time-consuming, it can also be highly rewarding, so finding time for it is not impossible once teachers have made a commitment to the practice. According to a survey we recently conducted, a majority of U.S. lesson study groups met at least once a week, and most of these groups even found time to meet during the school day.4

However, time for conducting lesson study will always be limited, so we advise U.S. practitioners to use specific strategies in order to maximize their available time. For example, lesson study meetings can be run more efficiently by assigning roles to group members, distributing materials for feedback beforehand, and so on.5 Administrators can also play a significant role in supporting lesson study, especially with regard to scheduling, obtaining substitute coverage, and allocating funds. Some administrators have found creative ways to maximize their existing resources.6

3. We can't justify lesson study to others without proof that it improves student performance. The concern that lesson study will not allow practitioners to measure and communicate their findings about student performance is closely linked to the U.S. cultural desire for quick results (along with education policy pressures that focus on measurement by means of standardized achievement test scores). Although there is not yet any formal evidence that directly links teachers' participation in lesson study to improved outcomes on standardized tests,7 this does not mean that lesson study cannot provide rich assessments of student performance. In fact, one could argue that the student artifacts that can be collected through lesson study provide a more nuanced picture than just the snapshot of student understanding that standard assessment measures offer.

While teachers may benefit from standardized outcome measures of student learning, lesson study provides ongoing information that allows teachers to continually tailor their teaching to their students' learning needs. By gathering concrete artifacts of student understanding (such as transcripts of student discussions, examples of student problem-solving strategies, lists of questions students ask, and so on), teachers are essentially compiling assessment portfolios for their students, and these can provide valuable, evidence-based insights into students' classroom performance and conceptual understanding. Lesson study thus provides a portal through which teachers can judge their students' work, improve their teaching practice, and document their own progress. Such rich documentation can also be used to make transparent to others how lesson study is being used to improve student performance.

4. American teachers can't do lesson study because they have inadequate content knowledge. Although a rich content-knowledge base would fuel deeper conversations about practice8 and lead to more effective lesson study work, content knowledge does not need to be perceived as a gatekeeper that prevents this work altogether. In fact, we would argue that lesson study can serve as the vehicle by which practitioners can deepen their understanding of content.9

At the most basic level, the collaborative nature of lesson study allows U.S. teachers to "fill in the blanks" for one another, because the activity of planning a lesson together creates many opportunities for teachers to learn basic content from their colleagues. More important, the content knowledge developed during lesson study is learned in an embedded context, because the task of learning the content is closely intertwined with the authentic activities of teaching and can be immediately applied to the classroom. However, we would like to emphasize that learning content knowledge through lesson study is not an automatic process. Lesson study practitioners will encounter many opportunities to learn, but they will have to recognize them and develop productive strategies for doing so.

5. American teachers will be too nervous and self-conscious to open their classrooms to their peers. Since observations in U.S. classrooms have traditionally been conducted in the context of performance evaluation, it is not surprising that American teachers report feeling anxiety about publicly teaching lessons for their peers. The important difference here is that, unlike traditional classroom observations, lesson study is generally conducted in a way that shifts the focus from evaluating the performance of the teacher to assessing the instruction.10 In addition, ownership of the lesson is diffused across the group of teachers who planned the lesson. Consequently, teachers are less nervous than they would typically be in such a public situation.

The way in which U.S. teachers view classroom observations has led some to mistakenly infer that lesson study is an opportunity to showcase exceptional teachers as opposed to typical, novice, or even preservice teachers. However, a study lesson does not have to be executed perfectly in order for it to lead to a fruitful post-lesson discussion; in fact, an imperfect lesson could still yield many rich opportunities to learn.

It is important to view lesson study as a shared opportunity for teachers of all "levels" to learn from one another. With this goal in mind, lesson study practitioners should structure the post-lesson feedback discussion in a way that maximizes the richness of the discussion while also minimizing the personalized feelings that would typically be associated with this activity. For example, protocol guidelines can provide common rules of etiquette and norms for constructively talking about the observed lesson, while a designated moderator can help keep the discussion concrete and focused.11 Furthermore, lesson study practitioners can begin their post-lesson reflections by focusing on what they learned from teaching the study lesson (e.g., whether or not the study lesson helped them learn about the goal they set out to explore), instead of just commenting on performance (e.g., "the lesson went really well"). Finally, lesson study practitioners are encouraged to develop the mindset that constructive criticism is welcome because it is likely to lead to more effective practice. As one teacher commented, "In order to grow as a teacher, we need to be open to share and accept constructive criticism."

6. We can't conduct lesson study together because we all teach so differently. In lesson study, the focus is not on deciding which teaching philosophy is superior. Instead, the focus is on trying out practices -- representing any teaching philosophy -- in actual classrooms and then determining the success of these practices from the concrete classroom-based evidence. In fact, by continually exploring practices, testing them, and discussing whether or not they met the needs of students, lesson study provides a vehicle by which teachers can explore different pedagogies in a way that transcends just "talking rhetoric."12

Furthermore, the concrete research focus of lesson study should prevent planning discussions from getting bogged down in abstract debates. For all the intensity with which teachers conduct these inevitable discussions, it is important to remember that lesson study is really about exploring different paths to the same goal -- greater student learning and teacher efficacy. Finally, there are many meeting strategies, such as implementing a who-gets-the-last-vote rule, that can help prevent conversations from getting stuck in endless debates.13

Challenges to Understanding Lesson Study Work: Important Misconceptions to Avoid

The growing number of lesson study groups suggests that many lesson study practitioners have been able to surmount the obstacles described above, at least initially.14 However, what happens once these groups have begun to conduct lesson study? In this section we focus on misconceptions that lesson study groups may inadvertently adopt after they have mastered the basics of the process. By addressing these misconceptions, we hope to help lesson study practitioners better understand the purpose of their activities and hope to shift their focus from the isolated products of lesson study work to the underlying intellectual process of lesson study.

1. Lesson study is about creating a unique, original, or never-seen-before lesson. Even though teachers are responsible for drawing up a detailed lesson plan as part of the lesson study process, the ideas for the lesson -- and even excerpts of the lesson plan -- may be adapted from a variety of sources. Parts of the lesson may be borrowed from a textbook, modified from other lessons, or derived from the existing curriculum (especially if it provides the everyday context for the study lesson). On the other hand, if the teachers decide to teach a topic that is not covered by their textbook, they may need to develop an original lesson from scratch.

In any case, the lesson should not be arbitrarily creative. Rather, it should be both relevant and useful for teachers when examining their practice. The study lesson should investigate issues of pedagogy and content that teachers typically struggle with, it should be grounded in the realities of the school, and it should not be isolated from the curriculum or everyday experiences of the students.15 In other words, the driving force for the lesson should not be originality alone, but the fact that it provides a rich vantage point from which teachers can think about their teaching.

2. There will be no benefit from just a few lesson study lessons; it's important to conduct lesson study for as many lessons as possible. Obviously, it is impractical to bring the level of meticulous planning required for lesson study to every single lesson that will ever be taught. However, the effects of intensive work on just a few lessons can be quite far-reaching. By engaging in the formal process of lesson study, teachers will carry an informal "lesson study mentality" into their daily practice (e.g., paying greater attention to anticipating student solutions). Teachers who have conducted lesson study can also develop and apply the general teaching principles that they extract from this collaborative examination of practice. They might, for example, pose different types of questions to provoke students' thinking or employ better methods for presenting student work on the board.

The experience of engaging in lesson study can inculcate in these teachers a disposition toward continual improvement of their teaching. The important idea here is to avoid looking at work on each study lesson as a discrete event that is isolated from other teaching activities. Lesson study practitioners will obtain even more benefits if they integrate what they learn from their lesson study experiences into their other professional experiences.

3. Lesson study is about perfecting a single lesson. Although it is tempting to work to perfect a single lesson, it is important to remember that the reason for conducting lesson study in the first place is to improve one's practice. Revising a lesson too many times is likely to yield diminishing returns with regard to the richness and quality of the ensuing discussions and to narrow the scope of the principles that could be generalized from the lesson study work.

Furthermore, a lesson can never be "perfect." The purpose of revising and reteaching a lesson is for teachers to reflect on what they learned from implementing the lesson in the classroom, what it taught them about the goal they set out to explore, and how to improve their practice.

4. Lesson study is about producing a library of tried-and-tested lessons for others to use. Even though we encourage teachers to build upon one another's lesson study work, we do not advise anyone to automatically import others' study lessons into their own classrooms. The teachers who conduct lesson study plan their lessons with a particular goal in mind and for the specific needs of their students and classrooms. This is not meant to prevent teachers from learning general principles of teaching, new ideas or tools for teaching a particular concept, or strategies for assessing student understanding from a study lesson. However, we must emphasize that study lessons are not meant to be compiled into a single, unified, "one-size-fits-all" curriculum. In other words, it is acceptable to borrow and adapt lessons for targeted purposes, but not without a deeper understanding of the rationale and practices behind them.

Lesson study is more about engaging in the intellectual process that fuels its activities than it is about the isolated products of these activities. Therefore, it is important to emphasize the value of record-keeping. In order for lesson study groups to share their intellectual work, they must maintain accurate and detailed records (such as meeting notes and working drafts) that capture their thinking. Such records help make the group's thinking explicit, embed the concrete products of this work in a larger intellectual framework, and allow the lesson study group to communicate its findings both within and outside their group.

Challenges to Deepening and Sustaining Lesson Study Work

After engaging in lesson study for a time, some groups may reach a plateau where they find themselves simply going through the motions. The participants might feel that lesson study is working for them because they are "learning so much," but in many cases this can be considered incidental learning -- knowledge picked up as a by-product of the lesson study process. This kind of incidental learning is very different from the purposeful learning that we have seen experienced lesson study practitioners bring to the process.

By highlighting important nuances about lesson study in this section, we hope to help lesson study groups make the distinction between incidental and purposeful learning, so that they can engage in a deeper and more sustainable lesson study process. It is also conceivable that even experienced practitioners could go through numerous iterations of lesson study and still remain oblivious to these nuances. We urge groups to monitor their work vigilantly in order to avoid these pitfalls.

1. The focus on research is an automatic part of the lesson study process. Merely selecting an issue to investigate and following a prescribed set of activities will not instill the research focus that is central to lesson study. Lesson study groups need to make sure that they rigorously pursue their research question at every step of the process. The research goal of a lesson study group should not only outline the hypothesis or questions to be investigated, but it should also set forth guidelines for observing the lesson, thus providing a framework for identifying and gathering evidence. Furthermore, the research goal should guide the interpretation of that evidence during the post-lesson discussions and revisions. It is also critical that a group's chosen research focus not get lost in the minutiae of planning and execution. Finally, since a token research question will not drive a coherent lesson study process, lesson study must be framed by a broad and meaningful research objective.16

2. Doing lesson study means adopting Japanese teaching practices. One phenomenon that we have observed in the U.S., probably because lesson study has been popularized in the argumentative framework of the findings of TIMSS (Third International Mathematics and Science Study), is that many educators assume that lesson study is a vehicle for becoming a Japanese-style teacher. However, Japanese teaching practices are not synonymous with lesson study. For example, a lesson study group that decides to explore the use of the chalkboard may consider methods used by Japanese teachers, but participants do not have to use the chalkboard as Japanese teachers do in order to be engaged in lesson study.

Lesson study is a process through which teachers can explore the effectiveness of many different practices, some of which they might learn from Japan. But the central idea of lesson study is that it is meant to be a generative process through which teachers continually improve and redirect their teaching as needs arise from their students and classrooms. Lesson study is therefore not meant to be a vehicle for teachers to assume an entire set of static teaching practices. On the contrary, it is intended to encourage teachers to adopt practices based on dynamic experience and deep reflection.

3. Lesson study naturally leads to rich conversations about practice. Despite the reservations that American teachers may have about receiving harsh criticism from their colleagues, the opposite phenomenon tends to occur with U.S. lesson study practitioners: when sharing their feedback about the observed lesson or examined lesson plan, teachers and other observers maintain politeness at all costs and offer superficial and tentative feedback rather than constructive criticism.

The very purpose of lesson study is to provide a nonthreatening context for teachers to share constructive and concrete feedback about the lessons that they have planned or observed together. In order to take advantage of this potential, participants must consciously learn to negotiate the delicate balance between politeness and critical honesty. Yet there need not be a tradeoff between the two. Our observations of Japanese teachers have revealed that critical honesty can be delivered effectively only with politeness, concrete evidence, and precise language.

Furthermore, it is important to remember that the activity of sharing feedback is not just about exchanging token critiques of a single lesson; instead, the broader goal of sharing critical feedback is to inject "intellectual honesty" into the teaching profession. Only when teachers begin to "problematize" their teaching and view their learning through specific lenses designed to examine practice can they truly wrestle with the real problems that lesson study allows them to explore.

Planning the Journey

Some of the challenges to implementing the kind of lesson study described in this article are easy to identify and address, while others are more subtle and difficult to overcome. In fact, one could argue that lesson study is easy to learn but difficult to master. This epigram captures the paradox that lesson study is both invitingly executable (once groups have participant buy-in and have addressed basic obstacles) and difficult to penetrate (once they attempt to deepen their work).

Like a map, lesson study is a tool for going somewhere. But the important questions to keep in mind are where we want to go, how we want to get there, and what signposts we will use along the way. Below we offer a few suggestions to help lesson study practitioners better plan their journey. As with a map, there are multiple paths to the destination, so we encourage lesson study groups to modify these suggestions according to their particular needs.

1. Shift from conducting discussions about lesson study to actually engaging in lesson study. The danger in dwelling on questions about the practice of lesson study is that it can paralyze lesson study groups and prevent them from moving forward. The best way to learn about lesson study is simply to do it. No matter how many structural supports, strategies, and experiences a lesson study group has prepared for, it can never anticipate the real issues it will face or the solutions that will evolve along the way. Although we advocate action, we must also emphasize that it is important to build in time for reflection so that lesson study groups can continually evaluate their own progress.

2. Build bridges between lesson study groups. Without a broad and diverse lesson study network, U.S. lesson study groups risk becoming isolated entities that generate limited insights. It is critical for lesson study groups to share their strategies and pool their intellectual resources (including exchanging lesson study reports). Only then can the isolated experiences of individual U.S. lesson study groups generate a shared professional knowledge base in the U.S.

However, following such a networking strategy does not imply that synergy is automatically achieved or that there is safety in numbers. After a time, even clusters of lesson study groups can become insular in their attitudes and work. In order for lesson study clusters to be worth more than the sum of their parts, they must continually evolve, both internally and externally, in the depth and breadth of their experiences.

3. Rely on knowledgeable others to inject critical feedback into your lesson study work. Since professional development in U.S. schools has traditionally been directed by outside professionals,17 the appeal of lesson study is that it is a teacher-directed process. However, merely shifting the locus of control of professional development does not guarantee well-run discussions or meaningful lesson study activity. The lack of a common professional knowledge base and the dearth of U.S. experience with lesson study highlight the need for outside experts and knowledgeable advisors. These individuals can aid the work of U.S. lesson study groups by providing information, guidance, and feedback at critical junctures in the lesson study process.18 In fact, many U.S. lesson study groups have already enlisted such outside advisors to react to their lessons, to participate in planning meetings, and to augment existing knowledge.19 Thus lesson study can carve out a role for experts and still remain a teacher-controlled activity.

In the end, lesson study has the power to keep teachers in control because it honors and professionalizes their work. As Denise Jarrett Weeks and Jennifer Stepanek write, "Lesson study approaches teaching as intellectually demanding work rather than a set of skills to be implemented. The attention paid to each lesson honors the importance of teaching as a profoundly complex and interesting endeavor."20 Once teachers make a commitment to professionalize their teaching experiences, they can invite others to challenge them and help them achieve their goals.

2. See Sonal Chokshi and Clea Fernandez, "Impact of Lesson Study," paper commissioned by the Board on International Comparative Studies in Education, Committee on a Framework and Long-Term Research Agenda for International Comparative Education Studies, NAS/National Research Council, Washington, D.C., March 2003; Clea Fernandez, "Learning from Japanese Approaches to Professional Development: The Case of Lesson Study," Journal of Teacher Education, vol. 53, 2002, pp. 393-405; Clea Fernandez, Joanna Cannon, and Sonal Chokshi, "A U.S.-Japan Lesson Study Collaboration Reveals Critical Lenses for Examining Practice," Teaching and Teacher Education, vol. 19, 2003, pp. 171-85; and Clea Fernandez et al., "Learning About Lesson Study in the United States," in Edward R. Beauchamp, ed., New and Old Voices on Japanese Education (Armonk, N.Y.: M. E. Sharpe, forthcoming). Catherine Lewis also devotes a chapter to six common misconceptions about lesson study in Lesson Study: A Handbook of Teacher-Led Instructional Change (Philadelphia: Research for Better Schools, 2002).

3. James Hiebert, Ronald Gallimore, and James Stigler, "A Knowledge Base for the Teaching Profession: What Would It Look Like and How Can We Get One?," Educational Researcher, June/July 2002, pp. 3-15.

4. An initial version of this survey was conducted in collaboration with Catherine Lewis of Mills College. For more information about the data, please visit www.tc.columbia.edu/lessonstudy/lsgroups.html.

5. See Fernandez and Chokshi, op. cit.

6. Lynn Liptak, "It's a Matter of Time," RBS Currents, Spring/Summer 2002, pp. 6-7.

7. One might argue that it is premature to talk about student performance or other outcome measures associated with lesson study in the U.S., since the process is still being explored and adapted. Teachers must first come to understand lesson study and do it well, before it can be treated as a testable intervention.

8. Liping Ma, Knowing and Teaching Elementary Mathematics (Mahwah, N.J.: Erlbaum, 1999).

9. Clea Fernandez, "Lesson Study: A Means for U.S. Teachers to Develop the Knowledge of Mathematics Needed for Reform-Minded Teaching?," manuscript submitted for publication, 2003.

10. This principle does not imply that the teacher is not part of the equation. Obviously, one can still learn from the teacher's unique style and rapport with students, but the focus should be on learning, not judging.

11. To download sample discussion protocol guidelines for lesson study, please visit www.tc.columbia.edu/lessonstudy/tools.html. See also Fernandez and Chokshi, op. cit.

12. This is not meant to suggest that teachers in a lesson study group should not engage in rapport-building activities or conversations. The importance of such conversations is that they help teachers to 1) understand one another's perspectives, 2) instill respectful norms for exchanging ideas, 3) develop a shared vocabulary for exchanging ideas, and 4) establish some common ground.

13. See Fernandez and Chokshi, op. cit.

14. Chokshi and Fernandez, op. cit.

15. Fernandez and Chokshi, op. cit.

16. Joanna Cannon and Clea Fernandez, "'This Research Has Nothing to Do with Our Teaching!': An Analysis of Lesson Study Practitioners' Difficulties Conducting Teacher Research," manuscript submitted for publication, 2003; and Fernandez, Cannon, and Chokshi, op. cit.

17. Linda Darling-Hammond, The Right to Learn: A Blueprint for Creating Schools That Work (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1997).

18. Tad Watanabe and Patsy Wang-Iverson, "Role of Knowledgeable Others," paper presented at the First Annual Lesson Study Conference, Stamford, Conn., November 2002.

19. Fernandez et al., op. cit.

20. Denise Jarrett Weeks and Jennifer Stepanek, eds., "Lesson Study: Teachers Learning Together," Northwest Teacher, Spring 2001.

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