California and the nation are at the crossroads of a major shift in school accountability policy.... more California and the nation are at the crossroads of a major shift in school accountability policy. At the state level, California’s Local Control and Accountability Plan (LCAP) encourages the use of multiple measures of school performance used locally to support continuous improvement and strategic resource allocation. Similarly, the federal Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) reinforces this local control, requiring more comprehensive assessment of school performance and a less prescriptive, local approach to school support. These changes represent a major cultural shift for California schools and districts. Ahead of the curve, six California districts, known as the CORE waiver districts, have implemented an innovative measurement system and supports for school and district improvement under an NCLB waiver, and thus provide a unique opportunity to examine and learn from the enactment of a system supported by accountability policy in this new era. This report examines the early impleme...
Teachers College Record: The Voice of Scholarship in Education, 2020
Background/Context School leaders are central to state and district human-capital reforms (HCRs),... more Background/Context School leaders are central to state and district human-capital reforms (HCRs), yet they are rarely equipped with the skills to implement new evaluation, professional development, and personnel data systems. Although districts increasingly offer principals coaching and training, there has been limited empirical work on how these supports influence principals’ HCR-related practices. Purpose Drawing on a two-year, mixed-methods study in the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD), this article examines the role of principal supervisors in HCRs. We ask: What role did principal supervisors (Instructional Directors [IDs]) play in the implementation of human-capital reforms? What did high-quality coaching on the part of IDs look like in this context? Research Design Our two-part analysis draws upon survey and interview data. First, we conducted descriptive analyses and significance testing using principal and ID survey data to examine the correlations among principal...
Teachers College Record: The Voice of Scholarship in Education, 2015
BackgroundDespite increased access to student learning data, scholars have demonstrated that teac... more BackgroundDespite increased access to student learning data, scholars have demonstrated that teachers do not always know how to use these data in ways that lead to deep changes in instruction and often lack skills and knowledge to interpret results and develop solutions. In response, administrators have invested in instructional coaches, data coaches, and professional learning communities (PLCs) to support teachers in this process. Despite their popularity, there is limited research on the ways in which coaches and PLCs mediate teachers’ use of data and the various types of expertise brought to bear on this process.PurposeThis exploratory study examined how working with a coach or PLC shaped teachers’ responses to data in six middle schools and the factors that influenced the activities and effects of coaches and PLCs. Our intent was to deeply examine processes and identify key constructs and relationships to guide future research and practice.Research DesignOur research involved a ...
Teachers College Record: The Voice of Scholarship in Education, 2016
Background Scholars widely acknowledge that politics help explain why policies are adopted and ho... more Background Scholars widely acknowledge that politics help explain why policies are adopted and how they play out in states, districts, and schools. To date, political analyses of education reform tend to isolate a particular policy and examine the politics of its adoption or implementation, but pay less attention to the effects of the politics of surrounding reforms and broader issues. Purpose In this article, I use the instrumental case of the Los Angeles Public School Choice Initiative (PSCI) to demonstrate the ways in which the political dynamics of other policy issues in the same local environment greatly affect the form and fate of a reform. The article examines what led to the adoption of PSCI and what explains its implementation and adaptation over time. Research Design The study employed an embedded case study design and gathered 3 years of data from leader interviews, observations, interviews, and focus groups in nine case study schools, media articles, and documents. I dre...
Although multiple-measure teacher evaluation systems have gained popularity in the United States,... more Although multiple-measure teacher evaluation systems have gained popularity in the United States, few studies have examined their implementation or how they are shaped by organizational context. New Orleans provides a strategic case to examine the enactment of a state teacher evaluation policy in a highly decentralized setting with variation in organizational context. Utilizing a multiple case study approach, we analyzed documents and interviews in eight case study schools. We found that schools varied in their responses to teacher evaluation—in ways that were reflective, compliant, and/or distortive—and that the type of response was not associated with governance model, school authorizer, or level of autonomy. Instead, shared instructional leadership and structures for frequent collaboration appeared to facilitate more reflective responses.
School reconstitution, a turnaround strategy that prescribes massive staffing turnover, is expect... more School reconstitution, a turnaround strategy that prescribes massive staffing turnover, is expected to result in more committed and capable school staff and innovative practices. However, little evidence supports this assumption. We use quasi-experimental designs to assess the impact of reconstitution on student achievement and teacher mobility, finding that reconstitution affected teacher mobility and improved student achievement in the first year of the reform, with continued but smaller impacts in the out years. We draw on mutual learning theory to conduct an exploratory analysis of reform implementation. We find that initial re-staffing and strategic planning may have promoted balance between exploring new and exploiting existing knowledge. Over time, however, balanced, mutual learning was not sustained.
Coaching has become a central strategy in district and school efforts to build teacher capacity t... more Coaching has become a central strategy in district and school efforts to build teacher capacity to interpret and respond to student learning data. Despite their popularity, there is limited research on the implementation of these initiatives. This article begins to addresses this gap by examining the elements of a coach’s practice that appear to build teachers’ skills and knowledge to use data to guide instructional decisions. Drawing on sociocultural learning theory and interview and survey data collected in four middle schools—two with “strong” coaches and two with “developing” coaches—we find that coaching to build data-use capacity appears to rely less on the official title or model (i.e., data coach vs. instructional coach) and more on the diversity of coach practices as well as content area and interpersonal expertise. Further, administrators play an important role in shaping the work of a coach through their mediation of political dynamics in a school. The article concludes w...
California and the nation are at the crossroads of a major shift in school accountability policy.... more California and the nation are at the crossroads of a major shift in school accountability policy. At the state level, California’s Local Control and Accountability Plan (LCAP) encourages the use of multiple measures of school performance used locally to support continuous improvement and strategic resource allocation. Similarly, the federal Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) reinforces this local control, requiring more comprehensive assessment of school performance and a less prescriptive, local approach to school support. These changes represent a major cultural shift for California schools and districts. Ahead of the curve, six California districts, known as the CORE waiver districts, have implemented an innovative measurement system and supports for school and district improvement under an NCLB waiver, and thus provide a unique opportunity to examine and learn from the enactment of a system supported by accountability policy in this new era. This report examines the early impleme...
Teachers College Record: The Voice of Scholarship in Education, 2020
Background/Context School leaders are central to state and district human-capital reforms (HCRs),... more Background/Context School leaders are central to state and district human-capital reforms (HCRs), yet they are rarely equipped with the skills to implement new evaluation, professional development, and personnel data systems. Although districts increasingly offer principals coaching and training, there has been limited empirical work on how these supports influence principals’ HCR-related practices. Purpose Drawing on a two-year, mixed-methods study in the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD), this article examines the role of principal supervisors in HCRs. We ask: What role did principal supervisors (Instructional Directors [IDs]) play in the implementation of human-capital reforms? What did high-quality coaching on the part of IDs look like in this context? Research Design Our two-part analysis draws upon survey and interview data. First, we conducted descriptive analyses and significance testing using principal and ID survey data to examine the correlations among principal...
Teachers College Record: The Voice of Scholarship in Education, 2015
BackgroundDespite increased access to student learning data, scholars have demonstrated that teac... more BackgroundDespite increased access to student learning data, scholars have demonstrated that teachers do not always know how to use these data in ways that lead to deep changes in instruction and often lack skills and knowledge to interpret results and develop solutions. In response, administrators have invested in instructional coaches, data coaches, and professional learning communities (PLCs) to support teachers in this process. Despite their popularity, there is limited research on the ways in which coaches and PLCs mediate teachers’ use of data and the various types of expertise brought to bear on this process.PurposeThis exploratory study examined how working with a coach or PLC shaped teachers’ responses to data in six middle schools and the factors that influenced the activities and effects of coaches and PLCs. Our intent was to deeply examine processes and identify key constructs and relationships to guide future research and practice.Research DesignOur research involved a ...
Teachers College Record: The Voice of Scholarship in Education, 2016
Background Scholars widely acknowledge that politics help explain why policies are adopted and ho... more Background Scholars widely acknowledge that politics help explain why policies are adopted and how they play out in states, districts, and schools. To date, political analyses of education reform tend to isolate a particular policy and examine the politics of its adoption or implementation, but pay less attention to the effects of the politics of surrounding reforms and broader issues. Purpose In this article, I use the instrumental case of the Los Angeles Public School Choice Initiative (PSCI) to demonstrate the ways in which the political dynamics of other policy issues in the same local environment greatly affect the form and fate of a reform. The article examines what led to the adoption of PSCI and what explains its implementation and adaptation over time. Research Design The study employed an embedded case study design and gathered 3 years of data from leader interviews, observations, interviews, and focus groups in nine case study schools, media articles, and documents. I dre...
Although multiple-measure teacher evaluation systems have gained popularity in the United States,... more Although multiple-measure teacher evaluation systems have gained popularity in the United States, few studies have examined their implementation or how they are shaped by organizational context. New Orleans provides a strategic case to examine the enactment of a state teacher evaluation policy in a highly decentralized setting with variation in organizational context. Utilizing a multiple case study approach, we analyzed documents and interviews in eight case study schools. We found that schools varied in their responses to teacher evaluation—in ways that were reflective, compliant, and/or distortive—and that the type of response was not associated with governance model, school authorizer, or level of autonomy. Instead, shared instructional leadership and structures for frequent collaboration appeared to facilitate more reflective responses.
School reconstitution, a turnaround strategy that prescribes massive staffing turnover, is expect... more School reconstitution, a turnaround strategy that prescribes massive staffing turnover, is expected to result in more committed and capable school staff and innovative practices. However, little evidence supports this assumption. We use quasi-experimental designs to assess the impact of reconstitution on student achievement and teacher mobility, finding that reconstitution affected teacher mobility and improved student achievement in the first year of the reform, with continued but smaller impacts in the out years. We draw on mutual learning theory to conduct an exploratory analysis of reform implementation. We find that initial re-staffing and strategic planning may have promoted balance between exploring new and exploiting existing knowledge. Over time, however, balanced, mutual learning was not sustained.
Coaching has become a central strategy in district and school efforts to build teacher capacity t... more Coaching has become a central strategy in district and school efforts to build teacher capacity to interpret and respond to student learning data. Despite their popularity, there is limited research on the implementation of these initiatives. This article begins to addresses this gap by examining the elements of a coach’s practice that appear to build teachers’ skills and knowledge to use data to guide instructional decisions. Drawing on sociocultural learning theory and interview and survey data collected in four middle schools—two with “strong” coaches and two with “developing” coaches—we find that coaching to build data-use capacity appears to rely less on the official title or model (i.e., data coach vs. instructional coach) and more on the diversity of coach practices as well as content area and interpersonal expertise. Further, administrators play an important role in shaping the work of a coach through their mediation of political dynamics in a school. The article concludes w...
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