Curriculum Enactment as a Case of Adaptive Integration: Implementing Statway at Scale

• In Event: Improving "Go to Scale" Efforts Through Adaptive Integration: Lessons From Carnegie's Networked Improvement Communities

Abstract

Curriculum enactment—how teachers interpret and implement curriculum in their instruction—is a frequent challenge in educational reform efforts. Failures of curriculum interventions at scale are often seen as rooted in teacher knowledge, expertise, autonomy and resistance or cast as problems of curricular design (Doyle & Rosemartin, 2012; Remillard & Heck, 2014). These perspectives frame the central issue as one of fidelity -- whether and to what extent teachers can and do implement the curriculum as intended by its designers and to what extent the curricular materials enable compliance. However, the principles of improvement science suggest that for achieving efficacy reliably at scale it may be more appropriate to view curriculum enactment as a problem of adaptive integration (Bryk et al, 2015). The core issue is not whether a curricular intervention does or does not work or how well teachers adhere to curriculum, but rather to learn what works, for whom, and under what conditions.

This paper examines how faculty instructors in the Community College Pathways network adaptively integrate the Statway curriculum (Statway is one of two Pathways courses). The Pathways is a nationwide effort to dramatically improve the mathematics outcomes of community college students. Eighty percent of students who place into developmental mathematics do not successfully complete college-level mathematics courses within three years (Bailey, Jeong, and Cho, 2010), resulting in millions who are unable to progress toward their life and career goals. Statway integrates developmental mathematics and college-level statistics in a yearlong course, thereby accelerating students’ mathematics trajectory to and through college-credit bearing mathematics. More than a structural change, Statway is a dramatic shift from traditional mathematics curriculum and instruction, involving student-centered, collaborative instruction using challenging tasks grounded in authentic contexts and employing real world data.

The analysis in this paper approaches Statway curriculum enactment as a problem of adaptive integration at scale, specifically looking at the social and technical processes that instructors navigate in their efforts to enact the curriculum with integrity to the curricular design as well as to the specificities of their local contexts. The curricular materials include: in-class lessons; instructor notes that provide detailed instructional suggestions for each lesson; an online platform with readings, out-of-class activities and formative assessments; and common summative assessments. These materials are designed in accordance with instructional design principles derived from research in mathematics education, psychology, and the learning sciences. Drawing upon interviews, surveys, observations, and focus groups, as well as student outcome data, this case analysis highlights the processes through which Statway instructors: 1) understand and interpret the intended curriculum (Remillard, 2005); 2) adapt and modify lesson materials; 3) implement those changes in their instruction; 4) assess the efficacy of those changes; and 5) reflect upon whether and how the changes supported their goals and the intended goals for the lesson. The paper also addresses how instructors managed tensions that arose, particularly around faculty autonomy and expertise, as well as how the network provides a social mechanism for identifying and elevating improvements that emerge from instructors’ adaptive integration.

Author

• Ann R. Edwards, Carnegie Foundation