District agency in implementing instructional reform: A comparative case study of global education

As instructional reforms are shifting focus from reading and math achievement towards social–emotional learning and challenging coursework that prepares students for college, careers, and citizenship, this study addresses how leaders in two school districts actively served as mid-level implementers of global education, an instructional reform that extends teaching and learning beyond traditionally tested subject areas. This qualitative comparative case study of global education implementation in two school districts found that leaders in both districts strategically supported global education implementation by generating will, building capacity, and re-orienting the organization, but differed in specific strategies they deployed based upon preferences for top-down or top-and-bottom approaches to systems change. Common strategies found in both cases point to specific ways that district leaders can exert agency in supporting teaching and learning that prepares students with the twenty-first century skills needed to thrive in a pluralistic, interconnected world, and raises new questions about which district-level implementation approaches are most effective in enacting change in schools and classrooms.