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Reforming instruction is challenging. In this comparative case study of 12 school districts, we investigated the dilemmas that emerged for system leaders as they engaged in system building for elementary science and the approaches leaders took in managing them. We found that system leaders' efforts to manage their environments contributed to the preferential treatment of literacy and mathematics relative to science. Leaders managed this dilemma using three strategies: (a) integration of science with other subjects, (b) specialization of teachers, and (c) adopting curriculum materials. This study contributes to literature on dilemma management by showing that dilemmas in education system building are school-subject sensitive, emerge in relation to system building for other subjects, and are embedded in school and education systems' structural/organizational arrangements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Academic departments have been highlighted as key targets to sustainably transform the learning environments of postsecondary science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) courses in the United States. Despite STEM department chairs playing a critical role in shaping their unit, few studies have characterized how chairs view the teaching culture within their department and how cultural features influence instructional change. This study addressed this gap by applying the four-frames model for organizational change to analyze interviews conducted with 14 STEM department chairs at one researchintensive institution in the United States. The department chairs identified several challenges to supporting and advancing teaching culture. These challenges were mostly related to the structures and symbols frames and included an institutional emphasis on research over teaching, inadequate methods to evaluate effective teaching, and weak teaching feedback mechanisms available to faculty. The chairs also described how they leverage their power to affect people and thereby influence the teaching culture. For example, they strategically position teaching as an important aspect of the departmental culture during hiring processes and elevate certain groups of faculty who have demonstrated interest and efficacy in teaching. This study contributes to the literature by providing a rich description of the teaching culture in STEM departments at a research-intensive institution from the perspective of department chairs. This unique focus on department chairs helps identify opportunities for instructional reforms that are grounded in the reality of the departmental environment and provides a framework for considering how change might occur in STEM departments at researchintensive institutions. The opportunities identified emphasize the importance for department chairs to consider and leverage all four frames to enact instructional change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development of reflective practitioners is one of four dominant change strategies in the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) higher education literature. However, little research concerns the characterization of faculty's reflections. Before professional development programs can effectively incorporate reflective writings as a tool for pedagogical improvement, it is necessary to first understand the current state of faculty's reflections. To accomplish this goal, 98 physics and astronomy instructors were recruited from a teaching-focused professional development workshop and were asked to write a reflection on a self-identified challenging teaching experience. A combination of a priori coding to analyze the content and depth of the reflections, as well as in vivo coding to better capture instructors' thinking were utilized. The majority of instructors wrote low-level reflections, wherein connections were not made between an instructors' actions and the observed outcomes or the described experience was not centered on students' outcomes or educational research literature. Approximately half of the instructors contemplated their own growth and the relationships with their students. However, only a small minority of instructors considered larger societal, cultural, or ethical factors. Plans created by instructors to address future, similar situations heavily relied on the instructors themselves, regardless of the depth of their reflections, and few planned to seek out knowledge from other resources such as peers or the education literature. This study indicates that instructors may not engage in the types of reflection that are considered to promote meaningful instructional change. Trends in the instructors' plans show that ongoing support is necessary for them to effectively reflect and grow as practitioners. Overall, this work provides valuable insight into the poorly understood nature of faculty's reflections and showcases the need for more research to fully characterize reflections across STEM disciplines and to better inform professional development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Academic departments have been highlighted as key targets to sustainably transform the learning environments of postsecondary science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) courses in the United States. Despite STEM department chairs playing a critical role in shaping their unit, few studies have characterized how chairs view the teaching culture within their department and how cultural features influence instructional change. This study addressed this gap by applying the four-frames model for organizational change to analyze interviews conducted with 14 STEM department chairs at one research-intensive institution in the United States. The department chairs identified several challenges to supporting and advancing teaching culture. These challenges were mostly related to the structures and symbols frames and included an institutional emphasis on research over teaching, inadequate methods to evaluate effective teaching, and weak teaching feedback mechanisms available to faculty. The chairs also described how they leverage their power to affect people and thereby influence the teaching culture. For example, they strategically position teaching as an important aspect of the departmental culture during hiring processes and elevate certain groups of faculty who have demonstrated interest and efficacy in teaching. This study contributes to the literature by providing a rich description of the teaching culture in STEM departments at a research-intensive institution from the perspective of department chairs. This unique focus on department chairs helps identify opportunities for instructional reforms that are grounded in the reality of the departmental environment and provides a framework for considering how change might occur in STEM departments at research-intensive institutions. The opportunities identified emphasize the importance for department chairs to consider and leverage all four frames to enact instructional change.

Copyright of Education Policy Analysis Archives / Archivos Analíticos de Políticas Educativas / Arquivos Analíticos de Políticas Educativas is the property of Educational Policy Analysis Archives & Education Review and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This comparative case study explores how 18 state education agencies (SEAs) support school districts in advancing standards-based elementary science reform. We identify how SEAs understand their work in advancing elementary science reform and describe how SEAs sought to engage districts in bridging from standards to classroom practice. Based on our analysis, we argue that the school subject is a critical explanatory variable in understanding SEA efforts to support standards implementation and SEAs lean on a resource-based approach for instructional policy implementation. This study contributes to the growing research base on the role of state policy in supporting standards implementation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: In Spring 2020 when COVID-19 hit, community colleges moved almost all classes online. This disruption impacts recent math reforms, including contextualization, raising concerns about sustained faculty and institutional leadership commitment. This study investigated how community college faculty teaching contextualized math courses adapted their instruction in response to COVID-19-related disruptions and how community college and instructional leadership addressed math contextualization efforts in response to COVID-19. Methods: Using multiple case studies, we conducted interviews with faculty and institutional leaders from two large community colleges in a Midwestern state. We also integrated field notes, observations, lesson plans, project documentation, and other contextual information as complementary data. Results: Three themes revealed how faculty and institutional leaders navigated the process of adapting contextualization efforts throughout the pandemic: reaching out to create community remotely, reimagining contextualization or pushing the pause button, and skilling up to persist through and toward change. Contribution: This study provides insight into the unique challenges and innovations due to sudden yet enduring disruptions that impact instruction, faculty development, and institutional support around instructional reform in the community college. This research informs faculty and institutional leaders navigating sustained efforts around math reform to identify actions to help institutions and their faculty continue advancing high-impact approaches and initiatives to math instruction in any environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Educational leadership is essential to implement information and communications technologies in schools but the leadership practice of information and communications technologies coordinators, a position role that supports teachers to implement information and communications technologies, appears limited. The present study applies a distributed perspective to leadership and investigates aspects of information and communications technologies coordinator context that would facilitate leadership. Twenty-seven information and communications technologies coordinators were surveyed on their schools' structures and mechanisms that mediate their leadership practice. Descriptive statistics show that a wide range of structures and mechanisms in different quantities and with different qualities can be available to coordinators. The majority of coordinators have neither additional position roles nor a teaching load, but the coordinators have organizational unit assignments and attend daily, routine interactions. A case study illustrates how specific structures and mechanisms would facilitate leadership for information and communications technologies implementation. It is recommended to design an information and communications technologies coordinator role as a formal position role, for a school to employ more than one information and communications technologies coordinator, and to develop an information and communications technologies coordinator's teaching load, organizational unit assignments and routine interactions according to school needs. Several possible populations of information and communications technologies coordinators are identified for further research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The systemic changes in the education policy landscape in England under the academies reform movement have nurtured a growing prevalence of educational organisations such as Multi-Academy Trusts (MATs) operating as meso-level institutional actors that shape the implementation of policies and mediate between social structures and individual contexts and environments. This paper presents findings from an analysis of instructional improvement efforts in two MATs drawing on data from interviews with 13 executives and school leaders. Insights from neo-institutional theory provide an important lens for examining the ways in which logics of state, market and community influence executive leaders' decisions and practices towards system-wide instructional reform. Findings demonstrate the different ways in which executive leaders perceived these logics influencing their actions and how school leaders experienced the expectations from the executive leaders in the wake of multiple accountability demands. The contextual analysis of institutional logics provides new knowledge on the perceived impact of the macro level policy development and implementation at the meso- and micro-level structures, beliefs and practices revealing the complexity of instructional reform. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract In transforming undergraduate STEM education, it is important to understand the personal and contextual factors that impact instructors’ reform efforts. In this study we explored an instructor’s drivers and motivators for change in perspectives and practice, with an emphasis on the impact of an internal community (her ‘instructional team’) comprised of a co-instructor, graduate teaching assistants, and several undergraduate learning assistants (LAs). Data were collected over two semesters through classroom observations, interviews, faculty learning community discussion recordings, and team email communications. We identified pedagogical discontentment as a primary initial trigger for the instructor’s engagement in instructional reform, guided by personal values and beliefs about student learning and the nature of her discipline. The instructional-team community, which was established during a period of instructional distress, provided 1) consistent support in instructional planning, implementation, assessment, and reflection processes, 2) unique access to different perspectives on the nuances of the teaching environment and student challenges, 3) increased space, time, and motivation for the instructor to more critically reflect on her teaching and engage in creative instructional design. This case illustrates the potential effects of instructional team-based communities on instructors as they work to improve their practice and reform their courses.

Foundation and Application of Microcontroller (FAoM), a theoretically and practically important specialized course for automation majors, is interdisciplinary and has a wide range of instructional content. Conventional teaching methods center on the needs of teachers but do not prioritize fostering practical skills and innovation capacity. This split focus tends to neglect the achievement of learning outcomes and causes deficiency in practice ability. Therefore, instructional reform oriented toward outcome-based education (OBE) was proposed in this study to promote endogenous motivation to learn and enhance effectiveness and flexibility in practical teaching by subdividing instructional objectives, rearranging instructional contents, conducting modularized teaching, and formulating typical tasks. To evaluate the performance of the instructional reform based on OBE, students were engaged to develop a temperature measurement system with knowledge they learned by using software Keil, Proteus, and Altium. Statistics show that the proposed methodology exceeds the traditional method of teaching in all six evaluation indexes, achieving the student- centered curriculum objective. The implementation of the reform on FAoM is of considerable importance for students. They benefit from immersive teaching, broadening their minds and cultivating their capacity to address practical engineering problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This qualitative case study examined the distribution of leadership and the implementation of an instructional reform in a low-performing urban middle school. Leadership for the instructional reform was widely distributed and stretched across formal and informal teacher leaders. School personnel were highly invested in the instructional model and implementation was high. The broad distribution of leadership across formal and informal leaders contributed to the school beginning to turnaround from lackluster academic performance and mediocre instruction to a culture where implementation of the instructional reform was expected, and where teacher collaboration and accountability were becoming the norm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Cultural Studies of Science Education is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper explores the roles of information and communication technology (ICT) coordinators, using architectures for learning as the theoretical framework to identify (a) the structures and mechanisms utilized to decide the role of a coordinator and (b) those organized for the coordinator to realize a role within a school context of ICT‐enabled, instructional reform. Data on ICT coordinator roles were collected from semi‐structured interviews with ICT coordinators and colleagues, and from school documents. The data were analysed and coded according to the elements of architectures for learning and shown to influence instructional reform. The paper presents four cases of ICT coordinators with roles intended to provide instructional support, technical support, both instructional and technical support, and neither instructional nor technical support. By comparing architectures for learning associated with different intended roles, we find that different conceptualizations of the ICT coordinator are connected to particular decision‐making mechanisms and organizational units found in a school. We also uncover differences in architectures for learning organized for ICT coordinators that are intended to provide instructional support compared with those intended to provide technical support. Using an architectures for learning framework in the design of an ICT coordinator role can be foundational to the successful participation of the role in the instructional reform. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Stakeholders are increasingly calling for improving instruction in STEM by building environments that enable faculty to sustainably change their teaching practices. This study reports one institutional change effort that effectively facilitated faculty's adoption of evidence-based instructional practices (EBIP), which is to organize faculty into teaching-focused communities of practice (CoPs). We examined the social interactions of faculty within CoPs and investigated whether faculty in CoPs that were actively adopting EBIP (adopting CoPs) had more frequent conversations and collaborations around teaching with their colleagues than faculty in CoPs that did not adopt EBIP (non-adopting CoPs). A sociometric survey was administered to document 89 faculty members' social interactions within 22 CoPs. The social networks of the CoPs were compared using the social network measures of density, connectedness, centrality, breadth, and reciprocity. We found that adopting CoPs had higher density and connectedness than non-adopting CoPs while being less centralized. This result suggests that adopting CoPs used distributed leadership and included all members in communications regarding teaching, while non-adopting CoPs heavily relied on a lone hero to implement change, frequently excluding other members. These findings suggest that organizing faculty into CoPs that support regular interaction on teaching-related activities may be an effective strategy for improving STEM instruction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this case study, learn how creation and use of modules, mastery-based grading, immediate feedback and consistent data use, and the reimagining of the school schedule allowed teachers to engage in personalization of the curriculum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper I argue that one problem we face in understanding relations between school leadership and student learning is that core constructs in our work are often variably and weakly defined. Loose constructs pose problems because they contribute to fuzzy research, especially if constructs such as school leadership, management, or even instruction are weakly (or never explicitly) defined and operationalized. Fuzzy conceptualization makes comparing across studies, essential to the development of a robust empirical knowledge base, difficult if not impossible. Arguing that a critical but often overlooked challenge in studying relations between school administration and student learning is conceptual in nature, I begin by conceptualizing school administration and instruction from what I refer to as a distributed perspective, using theoretical work in distributed and situated cognition, activity theory, and micro sociology. I show how conceptualizing phenomena under study in particular ways shapes how we might frame and hypothesize relations among these phenomena. I contrast a distributed conceptualization with more conventional, individually focused conceptualizations of both phenomena. I then consider the entailments of my conceptualization of the two core phenomena for framing relations between them.

Copyright of Revista Colombiana de Educación is the property of Universidad Pedaggica Nacional and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Instructional coaching has emerged as a prevalent and much-lauded instrument for capacity building. This essay argues that coaching can be aligned with teacher evaluation systems to work toward the effective implementation of instructional reforms, including Common Core State Standards and Next Generation Science Standards. Within the current policy context, coaching can support reform by (a) developing shared understandings, (b) modeling practices, and (c) brokering ideas. We discuss examples of coaches' leadership actions related to the evaluation process, thus illustrating the potential for coaching to promote coherence in instructional improvement. We conclude by discussing barriers to the enactment of reform-aligned coaching as well as implications for leaders positioned at multiple levels of the education system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One critical factor in policy implementation is how teachers interpret policy. Previous research largely overlooks how the broader culture shapes teachers’ interpretations. In the current research, we explore how teachers’ interpretations of instructional reforms are associated with the logics of broad societal institutions. Our longitudinal mixed-methods study of 117 teachers at three urban public schools demonstrates that teachers’ interpretations are rooted in market accountability logics, professional bureaucracy logics, and communal sentiment logics. Teachers’ logics partially depend on their school and community contexts. The most substantive differences in teachers’ logics result from individual attributes, namely, race/ethnicity. One implication is that effective policy implementation depends on formulation and framing that address the multiple and potentially competing logics that motivate teachers’ responses to reform. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cambodia and her international development partners have been promoting child-centered pedagogy for almost two decades. However, classroom instruction remains predominantly front-oriented and textbook-based. Drawing on questionnaire and interview surveys with primary school teachers in two districts of Cambodia, this study analyzes teachers' beliefs in and classroom implementation of child-centered pedagogy. It has found that teachers fail to adopt this new pedagogy in their classrooms despite their overwhelming support for it. Teachers' failure to act on their beliefs stems from two major reasons: constraining classroom realities and their superficial understanding of the principles underlying child-centered pedagogy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper I argue that one problem we face in understanding relations between school leadership and student learning is that core constructs in our work are often variably and weakly defined. Loose constructs pose problems because they contribute to fuzzy research, especially if constructs such as school leadership, management, or even instruction are weakly (or never explicitly) defined and operationalized. Fuzzy conceptualization makes comparing across studies, essential to the development of a robust empirical knowledge base, difficult if not impossible. Arguing that a critical but often overlooked challenge in studying relations between school administration and student learning is conceptual in nature, I begin by conceptualizing school administration and instruction from what I refer to as a distributed perspective, using theoretical work in distributed and situated cognition, activity theory, and micro sociology. I show how conceptualizing phenomena under study in particular ways shapes how we might frame and hypothesize relations among these phenomena. I contrast a distributed conceptualization with more conventional, individually focused conceptualizations of both phenomena. I then consider the entailments of my conceptualization of the two core phenomena for framing relations between them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines a multi-pronged intervention of teacher support and pressure designed to promote new teacher practices and better learner results in Gauteng's poorly performing primary schools. It develops a conceptual framework to analyse the Gauteng Primary Language and Mathematics Strategy's (GPLMS) conceptualisation of teacher learning and change and how various stakeholders perceive the GPLMS support and accountability components. The research reveals that, with its mutually aligned quality supportive learning material, its lesson plans and coaching, the GPLMS appears to be a well-conceived and well-calibrated intervention for improving learners' results through a successful fusion of teacher support and pressure. While some teachers are expected to react positively to the GPLMS, others are likely to reject it for several reasons, such as the way it was introduced, its standardised lesson plan approach, the fast-paced Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS)-aligned lesson plans and the inevitable uneven quality of coaches. The challenge for the GPLMS leadership is to go beyond a ‘one size fits all’ approach and address the problematic conceptual issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This case set in Jacksonville, Florida, covers the years 1998 to 2001. A new nontraditional superintendent, Major General John C. Fryer, focuses on student achievement, but financial needs and Florida law require him to bid contracts for student transportation, upsetting a 50-year pattern of contracting without competitive bidding with more than 100 local contractors, many of whom have only one bus! Though Fryer moves cautiously and slowly, the local bus contractors strongly object. The board, after much delay, is at last forced to make a decision and approves a small number of contracts that include national transportation firms. But then, within just a few days, it rescinds its decision and cancels the contracts. Board President Susan Wilkinson is forced to decide whether to abide by the board’s vote to rescind or follow the direction of legal counsel and sign the contracts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This case covers the period 1993 to 2003. It tells the story of the challenges the Fort Worth Independent School District board faced when the state accountability system revealed extremely poor student achievement and a stark achievement gap. To address the problem, the board hired a dynamic superintendent, Dr. Tom Tocco, who initiated aggressive instructional changes, particularly around reading instruction. Throughout this time, Tocco worked closely with Gary Manny, longtime president of the school board, to maintain district and community support. Manny’s death in March 2002 led to internal board turmoil and questions about the role of the board president and how board leadership should be selected. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines patterns of literacy instruction in schools adopting three of America's most widely disseminated comprehensive school reform (CSR) programs (the Accelerated Schools Project, America's Choice, and Success for All). Contrary to the view that educational innovations seldom affect teaching practices, the study found large differences in literacy instruction between teachers in America's Choice schools and comparison schools and between teachers in Success for All schools and comparison schools. In contrast, no differences in literacy teaching practices were found between teachers in Accelerated Schools Project schools and comparison schools. On the basis of these findings and our knowledge of the implementation support strategies pursued by the CSR programs understudy, we conclude that well-defined and well-specified instructional improvement programs that are strongly supported by on-site facilitators and local leaders who demand fidelity to program designs can produce large changes in teachers' instructional practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]