Doctoral Dissertation Research: Reform Meets Praxis: An Analysis of School Reform Programs

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SES-1003659Elisabeth ClemensKimberly AustinUniversity of ChicagoIn the large literature on school reform, researchers draw on institutional theories of change to examine the role of teacher attitudes and beliefs within the change process. Much of this literature claims teachers perceive reforms as ineffective, equivalent to existing practices or instructional fads and, therefore, not worthy of adoption. Teachers can easily resist or evade these reforms, because of the separation between structures and practices in education, commonly known as de-coupling. Even among recent studies that question the de-coupling thesis, research continues to focus on cognition and norms rather than the process of incorporating new practices with existing ones. This study incorporates these elements of work by asking: How do school reform efforts interact with teachers' existing work practices? To address this question, the study examines instructional content, classroom management and patterns of interaction between teachers and students in schools implementing recently adopted "character education" reforms. It also gathers evidence of cognition and norms by investigating teacher interests, attitudes, beliefs and resources. To do this, the research combines participant-observation in classrooms and other school spaces in two U.S. urban elementary schools (both public, one charter) with staff interviews.Broader Impact The study's findings have theoretical and practical implications. First, this research will contribute to social scientific understandings of the role of work in processes of intentional policy change. In doing so, the project also contributes to the literature in the sociology of education by articulating classroom structures and practices, which many studies describe as the ?black box? of classroom instruction. Lastly, this research encourages policy evaluators and school-based practitioners to adopt a wider lens when implementing and evaluating school reforms. For instance, research in educational psychology already suggests a link between instruction and classroom managemen. This study directs educational reformers to consider similar links between instruction, classroom management and patterns of interaction among organizational actors when designing and evaluating school improvement efforts.