A Case Study of Teacher Preparation at High Tech High Graduate School of Education

• In Event: Teacher Preparation at New Graduate Schools of Education: Studying a Controversial Innovation

Abstract

Data Sources/Analysis
This paper investigates teacher preparation at High Tech High (HTH), a charter network that has developed a teacher credentialing program and graduate level program. I draw from institutional theory (DiMaggio & Powell, 1991) to focus on connections between this teacher education program and its institutional environment, as well as the logics that mediate its beliefs and behavior. This case study used qualitative methods including interviews, field observations, and analysis of artifacts including evaluations, syllabi, and assessments.

Findings/Interpretations
School leaders draw knowledge from a theory-practice model (Rosenstock, 2016), in which theory, such as scholarly articles, immediately informs the practice of teacher educators and novice teachers. Alongside this model, HTHGSE also draws from improvement science (HTHGSE n.d.), through which staff members develop and refine their practices. Regarding graduate level and K-12 teaching practice, most interviewees pointed to HTH’s design principles. Educators are positioned as curriculum and instruction designers; they have considerable agency that extends to all organizational actors, including pupils. Within the theory-practice model, this means teacher educators draw from theory to inform practice, along with the networked learning and iterative design of improvement science to develop a knowledge-of-practice (Cochran-Smith & Lytle, 1999). Finally, HTH has a progressive, project-based pedagogy that informs and parallels a practice-based pedagogy within the teacher education program. Along these lines, teacher education classes are interactive, mirroring the teaching within K-12 classrooms, and academic knowledge is considered in terms of its immediate, practical use.

Significance
HTH’s progressive model was developed within the context of a neoliberal paradigm that brings test-based accountability and market-oriented reforms to education (Mehta, 2013). In fact, HTH teacher educators describe the school as innovative and disruptive (Griswold & Riordan, 2016), terms that come from business research traditions that align with the market orientation of neoliberalism. Yet HTHGSE rejects key aspects of this paradigm, such as testing and standards, suggesting a possible rift between the school’s language and its practices. Moreover, this rift exposes a misalignment between two aspects of neoliberalism: market reform and accountability. Markets encourage organizations to evolve for the sake of growing their market share, not necessarily to improve pupil outcomes, which is the aim of accountability. In providing a progressive pedagogy while using the language of business, HTHGSE has successfully navigated the neoliberal policy context while eschewing many of the specific practices that come along with it.

Author

• Juan Gabriel Sanchez, Boston College