Critical Friends Groups in an

Teacher research is a team sport; an endeavor most success-ful when teachers are in dialogue to formulate questions, analyze data, and come to new understandings about children, childhood, teaching, and learning. Yet as Shannon Johanson and Lisa Kuh explain, in early childhood settings, “It is a challenge not only to find time to discuss teaching, but also to develop an intellectual community to share expertise and conversations that go beyond discussing the typical daily routines, scheduling, staffing, and regulations.” Fortunately, Johanson and Kuh offer a structure that promotes collaboration: Critical Friends Groups (CFGs). Drawing on data col-lected at the Child Study and Development Center at the Universi-ty of New Hampshire, they describe how CFG meetings encourage collaborative communication among teachers about teaching and learning. They describe how CFGs operate, including descrip-tions of protocols and norms. Their work is a valuable resource for teachers who want to form and strengthen their research team. —Ben Mardell Shannon Johanson, MEd, is an infant teacher at the Child Study and Development Center at the University of New Hampshire. She conducts teacher research, most recently exploring the adoption of Critical Friends Groups, a professional development initiative in her school