The Role of Faculty in K–12 Policy Implementation: The Case of Indiana's Teacher Evaluation Law

• In Event: Program Issues in Educational Leadership

Abstract

In 2011, Indiana lawmakers passed Public Law 90, which mandated a new framework for teacher evaluation. Recent research has examined how K-12 educators perceive the law’s requirements, but it has not explored how education leadership faculty perceive their roles in preparing leaders for implementation. Using a theoretical framework incorporating nonsystem actors and organizational fields, this qualitative study explores the role(s) that education leadership faculty play in policy interpretation and implementation and how they influence the policy process through their decisions about coursework for future administrators. Findings indicate that faculty believe that more rigor in teacher evaluation systems was needed, and they focus primarily on formative evaluation, not compliance with the law, in their courses.

Authors

• Molly Stewart, Indiana University - Bloomington

• Colleen E. Chesnut, Indiana University - Bloomington

• Anna Sera, Indiana University - Bloomington