"Is This What Teaching Looks Like in the Future?" Exploring Teachers' Work in Different School Systems

• In Event: 61.068 - MTCC Roundtable Session 23
  In Roundtable Session: 61.068-1 - Restructuring and Reforming Educational Organizations

Abstract

The work of school systems in the United States has become increasingly complex in the past few decades. New educational policies, particularly related to standards and accountability, compel school systems to steer historically disjointed and loosely coupled organizations toward instructional improvement (Cohen, Spillane, & Peurach, 2017), which influences the work of teachers in direct and indirect ways. This paper is a comparative case study of how four different school systems (Urban, Suburban, Catholic, and Charter) organize the work of teachers while managing pressures from their environments. Although school systems vary in the levels of autonomy and professional judgement afforded to teachers, all systems grapple with ensuring equitable outcomes for their increasingly diverse student populations.

Author

• Naomi Blaushild, Northwestern University School of Education and Social Policy Human Development and Social Policy