The Interpretation and Implementation of Common Planning Time: How Teachers Make Sense of a Top-Down Mandate

• In Event: Roundtable Session 22
  In Roundtable Session: How Teachers Teach in Response to Top-Down Mandates and Policies in Education

Abstract

Teachers’ responses to educational reforms rely largely on their level of buy-in and involvement in the changes. When teachers have policies mandated in a top-down fashion, they often “reject the change and carry on as before”; in this way, the policy’s message can impact the level of implementation. Imposed reforms may also create a culture of compliance; when teachers are faced with a new reform, they seek the least painful way to implement it. My paper focuses on the implementation of common planning, a newly-created mandate at Evergreen Elementary, a rural school in year four of school improvement. I discuss how administrators informed teachers of the new policy, their responses to it, and the policy’s eventual implementation.

Author

• Amy Orange, University of Houston - Clear Lake