How Do States Implement College and Career Readiness Standards? A Distributed Leadership Analysis of Standards-Based Reform

• In Event: 69.014 - Leadership Focused on Students' Academic and Affective Needs

Abstract

This mixed methods study draws on survey and interview data to explore how state agencies employ shared or distributed leadership practices to facilitate the implementation of college- and career- ready (CCR) standards. Our approach integrates leadership theories with policy attribute theory, which offers a mechanism for how or why the implementation of a policy may reach its intended effect. Findings suggest that state perceptions of their own shared or distributed leadership practices are not well-aligned with the perceptions of their district employees. Understanding how state and district leaders may or may not collaborate on the implementation of standards-based reform is particularly crucial now with the advent of the Every Student Succeeds Act.

Authors

• Katie Pak, University of Pennsylvania

• Laura M. Desimone, University of Pennsylvania