Reacknowledging Incoherence and Reclaiming Complexity: Future Directions in Education Policy Research

• In Event: 46.086 - Roundtable Session 16
  In Roundtable Session: 46.086-25 - Theorizing in and About Educational Organizations

Abstract

Education policy scholars have argued for policy coherence. Still, after decades of systemic reform, educators are subject to multiple, often conflicting pressures. We call for scholars to re-acknowledge and reclaim policy complexity and leverage lenses that can help schools manage incoherence. We argue that “ambidexterity” – the ability to simultaneously exploit existing capacities and pursue innovative organizational structures and ideas – is one such lens. In recent work in organizational studies, an organization’s internal community has been discussed as key to that organization’s ability to be ambidextrous. In this paper, we posit that a productive direction of education policy research is to refocus on professional community in schools and explore various types of collaboration as leverage points for managing policy complexity.

Authors

• Andrea J. Bingham, University of Colorado - Colorado Springs

• Patricia Burch, University of Southern California