Teacher Beliefs, Teacher Concerns, and School Leadership Support as Influences on the Implementation of School Reform

• In Event: 35.073 - Principal, Teacher, and Student Perspectives on School Turnaround Implementation

Abstract

In a mixed-methods study during the pilot phase of an i3 grant-funded scale-up, eight schools’ readiness for reform was explored. Classroom observations, teacher questionnaires; school evaluation forms; and interviews were used to describe school characteristics that affected variability in initial implementation of PowerTeaching (PT), a research-based, middle-school math reform. Teacher beliefs about team learning, teacher perceptions of school-leadership support, and teacher concerns about the intervention were included. A cluster analysis demonstrated the relative importance of multiple factors in defining clusters of schools with varying levels of implementation. Classroom observations of teachers’ instructional practices and classroom structure as well as teacher beliefs about team learning were found to be statistically significant.

Authors

• Elizabeth Hoag Carhart, National Defense University

• Linda Bol, Old Dominion University

• John A. Nunnery, Old Dominion University