RESEARCH ARTICLE Self-study of a Professional Organization in Pursuit of a Shared Enterprise Anastasia P. Samaras a *, Hafdı ´s Guðjo ´nsdo ´ttir b , Jennifer R. McMurrer a and Mary C. Dalmau c a George Mason University, USA; b University of Iceland, Iceland; c Victoria University, Australia (Received 28 February 2012; final version received 30 July 2012) This study examines the work of the Self-Study of Teacher Education Practices special interest group of the American Educational Research Association from the perspectives of its members with a focus on its development, scholarship, mentorship, practice, and community, and with the major goal of informing its future work. The nested multi- layered research design, framed in sociocultural theory, was enacted in collaboration with an internationally and multidisciplinary diverse group of members over a two-year period. A five-phase research process entailed use of multiple data sources and methods, and researchers with multiple levels of analysis and interpretation. Findings indicate that a sense of community, a nexus of personal and professional development, and collective shaping and engagement are important components for growth despite challenges encountered. The study may be useful to other professional organizations interested in self-review and the sustainability of their organization. Keywords: professional development; self-study methodology; teacher educators; sociocultural theory; professional organization review We find ourselves now in a time where we believe there is a need to track and mark our work as a Self-Study School and to contemplate our future as a school of thought and action composed of self-study teacher educators. This statement was an invitation to teacher educators to engage in a self-study of their professional organization: the Self-Study of Teacher Education Practices (S-STEP) special interest group (SIG) of the American Educational Research Association (AERA). S-STEP is a forum for educators who seek to make contributions related to theory and practice of teacher education, self-study research design/practice, and the professional development of teacher educators (http://sstep.blogs.uoit.ca/). In self-study research, teacher educators systematically and critically examine their beliefs and actions with colleagues to improve their teaching and professional practice (Louie, Drevdahl, Purdy, & Stachman, 2003). Since its inception in 1993, S-STEP has sponsored AERA conference sessions and organized nine international bi-annual conferences. In addition, self-study researchers have disseminated their work in a two-volume International Handbook of Self-Study of Teaching and Teacher Education Practices (Loughran, Hamilton, LaBoskey, & Russell, 2004), along with a large ISSN 1742-5964 print/ISSN 1742-5972 online q 2012 Taylor & Francis http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17425964.2012.719127 http://www.tandfonline.com *Corresponding author. Email: asamaras@gmu.edu Studying Teacher Education Vol. 8, No. 3, November 2012, 303–320