Implementation in an Era of Reform: Investigating the Voluntary Implementation of a Supplemental Reading Program in a Supportive Context

• In Event: Roundtable Session 17
  In Roundtable Session: Considering Teachers’ Perspectives on Reform

Abstract

Any new program implementation represents a change to which teachers must adapt. Yet, extant research provides limited insight into what those change processes actually look like when the structure and culture of the organization is supportive and teachers voluntarily implement the new curriculum. By studying teachers’ level of implementation and their sense-making, we can begin to understand how each of these facets of school context can impact these programs’ success and ultimately, instructional change.

This paper describes a study examining how prekindergarten and kindergarten teachers conceptualize their implementation of a voluntary, supplemental, technology-based reading program. It provides an understanding of teachers’ level of implementation in addition to structural and cultural factors that impacted implementation.

Author

• Marcia Russell, Harvard University