District Policy Implementation: How Enactment Transforms Plans for Teacher Collaborative Time

• In Event: Educators on the Front Lines: Complex Conceptualizations of Teacher Quality

Abstract

This work is set at the end of a five year project that followed four large, urban US school districts committed to instructional improvement aligned with standards-based reform in mathematics (NCTM, 2000). In spite of an atypically high commitment to supporting teachers through extensive professional development and collaborative time, none of the four districts showed significant growth in instructional quality over the course of the project. This study examines the ways in which districts’ plans for supporting instructional improvement were transformed in implementation in ways that are unlikely to result in significant improvements in instruction.

Authors

• Christine Joy Larson, Vanderbilt University

• Jonee Wilson, Vanderbilt University

• Adrian Mohamed Larbi-Cherif, Vanderbilt University

• Ilana S. Horn, Vanderbilt University