Is Sustainability of Educational Reform an Article of Faith, or Can It Be Deliberately Crafted?

• In Event: Bolstering Educational Quality: The District’s Role in School Reform

Abstract

A plethora of school-based conditions to support sustainability of professional learning has been reported but few studies connect conditions to ongoing improvement of student outcomes. This research reframes sustainability as two interdependent continua, namely, coherence of effective instructional practices and self-regulated inquiry. The study investigated the significance of these dimensions using a mixed methods case study approach in a purposive sample of schools in the years following a national literacy project in New Zealand. Ten of thirteen schools maintained or improved their gains in student achievement. Participants’ perspectives of sustainability were limited to a maintenance paradigm. However, engaging with persistent underachievement and establishing coherence were more strongly evidenced in those schools that improved on their achievement gains over time.

Author

• Pamela O Connell, Cognition Education