Making Sense of the Common Core: The Role of School Capacity

• In Event: School Improvement, Achievement, and Equity

Abstract

Research on past standards reform suggests that the degree to which teachers implement reform-practices depends on the extent to which they have opportunities for learning about reform and its implications for classroom practice (Cohen & Hill, 2001; Spillane, 2004). Schools play an important role in shaping these learning opportunities. Teachers in schools with higher levels of internal coherence (IC) (Elmore, 2004; Elmore & Forman, 2011), those with principals who encourage learning and ongoing teacher collaboration connected to clear improvement goals, may be more likely to implement CCSS-aligned practices. I conducted a multiple site case study in three elementary schools to learn how teachers come to understand and enact the CCSS and how school IC relates to this process.

Author

• Elizabeth Leisy Stosich, Stanford Center for Opportunity Policy in Education