Institutional Tensions Surfaced by Pedagogical Reform: Next Generation Science Standards Implementation in a "No-Excuses" Context

• In Event: 81.032 - MTCC Roundtable Session 37
  In Roundtable Session: 81.032-13 - Improving Science Pedagogical Approaches

Abstract

An increasing number of historically marginalized students attend “no-excuses” charter networks that employ instructional strategies fundamentally misaligned with the 3-dimensional learning outcomes articulated in the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). Our ethnographic case-study explores this dilemma by reporting on findings from a Research Practice Partnership designed to help physics teachers situated within a “no-excuses” charter network implement NGSS-aligned instructional reforms. Specifically, we use institutional theory as an analytical framework to describe regulative, normative, and cultural-cognitive pillars of “no-excuses” charter networks misaligned with reform interventions. We then describe how tensions stemming from this misalignment were experienced and ameliorated by two teachers. Our findings underscore the importance of institutional elements for educational improvement efforts.
Topic Descriptors: Science Education, Organization Theory/Change, Charter School

Authors

• William Edward Lindsay, University of Colorado - Boulder

• Valerie K. Otero, University of Colorado - Boulder