Case Studies of Teachers’ Perceptions and Their Enactment Processes When Implementing Multiple Reforms in Urban High School Mathematics

• In Event: Deepening Our Understanding of the Contexts of Teaching

Abstract

Efforts to improve student performance on high-stakes assessments in mathematics place teachers in the epicenter of multiple reform expectations. While studies have documented how teachers implement single reforms, very little is known about teachers’ implementation processes or perceptions when multiple expectations are imposed. Focusing on how elements in the setting affect teachers’ decision-making regarding their implementation of instructional initiatives, this study describes how five teachers from one urban high school mathematics department enacted multiple reforms. Using multi-case study methodology, teachers’ implementation processes revealed that multiple initiatives did not result in integrated reforms. Nor did mandates themselves guarantee the adoption of reforms; rather, organization for enactment occurred when teachers perceived the context of each mandate aligned to their beliefs about teaching.

Author

• Kimberly Anne OBrien Samaniego, Lincoln High School