207 The New Educator, 2:207–226, 2006 Copyright © Taylor & Francis Group, LLC ISSN: 1547-688X print/1549-9243 online DOI: 10.1080/15476880600820177 UTNE 1547-688X 1549-9243 The New Educator, Vol. 2, No. 3, June 2006: pp. 1–36 The New Educator Teacher Study Groups: In Search of Teaching Freedom Teacher Study Groups M. E. Torres-Guzmán et al. MARIA E. TORRES-GUZMÁN AND VICTORIA HUNT Teachers College, Columbia University, New York, New York, USA IVONNE M. TORRES, REBECA MADRIGAL, ISABEL FLECHA, STEPHANIE LUKAS, AND ALCIRA JAAR P.S. 165, New York City Department of Education, New York, New York, USA By looking at teacher collaborative structures in an urban public elementary school, this article demonstrates how, in the face of top-down school decisions under the pressures of high-stakes test- ing and assessment-driven curriculum, teachers can find the power and freedom for creative and effective pedagogy to flourish. We describe how teachers at PS165 created the spaces for working together and how these spaces brought new opportunities for (a) problematizing and prioritizing the issues they faced in class- rooms, (b) reinventing and expanding their sense of self as indi- viduals in the collaboration, (c) growing beyond their personal space and engaging intellectually in public forums, (d) shifting their ways of seeing teaching, and (e) ensuring sustainability of the ways of engaging in professional development through mentor- ing and taking ownership of the structures for collaboration. We include personal stories and/or reflections of six teachers and their experiences with study groups and theorize on the potential ele- ments of a professional development model for other schools to build on and for the teaching profession to reflect upon. No Child Left Behind (2002) and the National Standards Movement (Ravich, 1995) have created a climate of conformity, uniformity, and alignment, not just for students but for teachers as well. Within this more than often hierarchical Address correspondence to Maria E. Torres-Guzmán, Box 122, Teachers College, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027, USA. E-mail: met12@columbia.edu