Code-Switching in Decision-Making and Problem-Solving Processes: Educational Leaders as Intermediaries of Research and Practice

• In Event: Moscone Center North Roundtable Session 6
  In Roundtable Session: Research to Practice: An Evidence Perspective

Abstract

This comparative case study accounts for the ways that four EdD programs prepare their students to use research evidence (URE) in their contexts. Data consisted of semi-structured interviews with 27 students, 35 faculty, 27 alumni; observations of nine classes; as well as various artifacts collected during site visits to all four institutions (handbooks, syllabi, etc.). Utilizing code-switching as a theoretical framework, findings from this study indicate that alums served in intermediary roles when discussing both research and practice with school personnel, families, and other stakeholders. Rather than imposing solutions, the leaders in this study offered spaces for collaborative and collective understandings of contexts through research-based lenses.

Authors

• Andrew Leland, Southern Illinois University - Edwardsville

• William A. Firestone, Self-employed

• Jill Alexa Perry, University of Pittsburgh

• Robin McKeon, Rutgers University