Improving Instructional Quality With or Without Policy: A District-Level Analysis

• In Event: 61.031 - How Political, Social, and Institutional Contexts Matter for Teacher Learning

Abstract

Education policies often have been guided by the premise that raising standards will automatically result in changes in practice. Such an assumption has shown its limitations. Policy has not been an effective lever for influencing professional practice tied to more ambitious student outcomes. It has been more of a distraction for educators – restricting their ability to spread expertise within and among schools. Drawing an analysis in a mid-sized urban California district, we explore how policy affects instructional improvement, and in doing so, help teachers deliberately spread their expertise in close alignment to state and district goals. Our methods include the use of practitioner storytelling in order to democratize evidence and more effectively leverage education research in a post-truth era.

Authors

• Barnett Berry, University of South Carolina

• Joseph Peter Bishop, University of California - Los Angeles