29.049 - Reforming Teacher Reform

Session Type: Symposium

Abstract

It is commonly argued that teachers do not implement innovative proposals because they lack the knowledge, skills and beliefs to do so.
Teachers, in contrast, often argue that change proposals are not practical. In this session we present a groundbreaking framework—teaching
practice as bounded rational design--and an effective methodology for changing teaching practice. The session contains three papers. The first explicates the foundations of the approach. The second explains how teachers’ goal systems can be elicited. The third presents a bridging
methodology for helping teachers analyze their existing practice in light of an innovation’s demands and move systematically toward change. Three distinguished teacher reform researchers will critique this new framework and relate it to current thinking in teacher reform.

Sub Unit

• Division K - Teaching and Teacher Education / Division K - Section 8: Teacher Professional Development: Impact on Teacher Practices and Student Learning

Chair

• Renee T. Clift, The University of Arizona

Papers

• Teaching as Bounded Rational Design: Ecology, Practicality, and Rationality - Walter Doyle, The University of Arizona

• Understanding Teachers' Practice: A Goal-Systems Approach - Fred Janssen, Leiden University

• Actually Changing Teachers' Practices: A Bridging Methodology - Hanna Barbara Westbroek, VU University Amsterdam

Discussants

• Hilda Borko, Stanford University

• Pamela L. Grossman, University of Pennsylvania

• Judith Warren Little, University of California - Berkeley