JESSICA GOTTUNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS LOWELL

School Reform and the Age of Accountability

CHAPTERS 24 AND 25 IN HANDBOOK OF READING

RESEARCH VOL. IV

Why Reform?

Elements of Successful Schools – at the heart of all of the discussion about educational policy and reform is a desire to provide the best educational opportunities for all students. Researchers have looked at defining successful schools:

Strong leadership – administrative and instructional High expectations for teacher and student performance Teaching that emphasizes cognitive development and warmth toward

students Teacher choice in approaches that respond to individual students’

needs Reliance on teacher-developed tests and teacher judgments of student

achievement Students’ self-efficacy

(Taylor, Raphael, & Au, 2011, p. 595)Why Reform?

Who Decides?

Approaches

Teacher as Professional

Future Directions

Why Reform?

Standards

Federal legislation

Mandated curriculum

1998 Reading Excellence Act – legislation with intent of improving student reading skills and teachers instructional practice using scientifically based reading research

Reading First – competitive state grant program to assist low-income, low-performing schools by having teachers use scientifically-based curricular materials

• 1990’s evolving standards movement at same time as low reading scores on National Assessment of Educational Progress – Goals 2000 encourages states to develop standards in content areas – progresses to NCLB in 2001 – new policy layers on top of previous policy to extend it rather than replace it

Policy Teacher Practice

Student Achievemen

t

NCLB - $ tied to performance High Stakes Testing

Nati

on

al

Loca

l

Who Decides?

In Chapter 24, Coburn, Pearson, and Woulfin (2011) look at policy making studies – focus on the degree to which reading legislation is rooted in reading research

They find that most legislation overstates the strength of research findings.

Issue networks – group of people who come together to push through legislation (different configurations at different times)

Formal and informal relationships People inside (legislatures) and outside (Professional groups, unions) policy

system It is here that policies are debated, refined and negotiated. Those who were skilled at using research synthesis to promote their point

of view were seen as objective contributors.

Why Reform? Who Decides?

Approaches Teacher as Professional

Future Directions

Who Decides?

In Chapter 25 ,Taylor, Raphael, and Au (2011) write, “The process of school reform is a nested one. Just as teachers and students are nested within schools that influence what they can and cannot achieve, schools are nested within neighborhoods, communities, school districts, states and nations. And school reform will always be influenced – both positively and negatively – by factors beyond the school walls” (p. 595).

Why Reform?

Who Decides?

Approaches Teacher as Professional

Future Directions

School

Teacher

Student

Home

Who Decides?

Change happens in schools through the work of teachers, principals, parents and students as they are influenced by local, state and national standards and expectations. But sometimes the intention of the policy does not translate well once all of the other factors come into play.

Why Reform?

Who Decides?

Approaches Teacher as Professional

Future Directions

School

Teacher

Student

Home

Approach to Reform – Influential Factors

In Chapter 24, Coburn et al. cite Spillane’s (2002)work. He argues that there is an intersection of several factors influencing how teachers respond to policy – individual factors, social and organizational situation and policy signal: Individual factors -- Teachers:

Prior knowledge about reading instruction When the policy is more consistent with what already do, then

teacher is more likely to implement policy – a medium level of congruence is most effective. • {The policy is similar enough to what already know to make sense, but

novel enough to be an interesting change.} Identity as a teacher and as a learner

This effects what teacher is willing to take for professional development and what teacher is willing to change as a professional

Why Reform?

Who Decides?

Approaches Teacher as Professional

Future Directions

Approach to Reform

Spillane (2002) argues that there is an intersection of several factors influencing how teachers respond to policy – individual factors, social and organizational situation and policy signal: Situational factors:

Social interaction with colleagues – influences how/what teachers learn about policy and what attitude teachers develop

• Here is where it is possible to build a sense of collective efficacy School leadership – influence what aspects of the policy to

emphasize School district – the quality of professional development and

the district’s response to high stakes assessment impacts how teachers respond to policy

Why Reform?

Who Decides?

Approaches Teacher as Professional

Future Directions

Approach to Reform

Spillane (2002) argues that there is an intersection of several factors influencing how teachers respond to policy – individual factors, social and organizational situation and policy signal: Policy Signal: this is the message sent about the policy

Degree of ambiguity – when teachers do not have clear expectations, they struggle to implement policy – there is lots of variability

Degree of alignment – teachers rarely experience a single initiative at a time, so if the new policy aligns with the current initiatives it is more likely for teachers to apply the new policy

Capacity building elements – necessary to provide opportunities for teachers to learn new instructional strategies if they are going to apply policy

Degree of voluntariness – teachers seem to respond better to new policy if it is not mandatory and highly regulated

Why Reform?

Who Decides?

Approaches Teacher as Professional

Future Directions

Approach to Reform

Overall, the research presented in these chapters suggests that policy did not really change pedagogical approaches in many instances. Teachers only changed surface level features of their practice, like materials used or classroom organization.

This suggests to me that teachers are not introduced to new policy in effective ways, nor do they have the appropriate supports in place to make substantial changes.

Why Reform?

Who Decides?

Approaches Teacher as Professional

Future Directions

Approach to Reform – High Stakes Testing

Some researchers study the effects of high stakes assessment on teachers’ classroom behaviors Overall teachers have a negative attitude about high stakes

testing especially when it is used for accountability purposes.

Teachers question how accurately this standardized testing actually measures student learning.

Despite the negative attitude: Teachers will change their practice in response to testing to

include test preparation activities Teachers narrow their curriculum to prepare for tests Focus more on those students on the fringe of proficiency

rather than high or low achieving students Why Reform?

Who Decides?

Approaches Teacher as Professional

Future Directions

Approach to Reform – Mandated Curriculum

In Chapter 24, Coburn et al., explores research that shows, when teachers are faced with mandated curriculum: Some teachers continue to do their own thing once

the door is closed Some teachers create their own hybrid type

approaches combining their own instructional practices with the new curriculum

Some teachers replace their previous practices with new practices, but this does not last for long

New teachers are more likely to follow the mandated curriculum with a high degree of fidelity

Why Reform?

Who Decides?

Approaches Teacher as Professional

Future Directions

Approach to Reform – Balance

In her review of curriculum based reform efforts in Chapter 25, Taylor et al. make the point that there needs to be balance between the policy and the players

Policy needs to be specific enough to provide some parameters for standards and student goals, but leave enough room for school and teacher autonomy in meeting students’ needs.

Teachers need to feel that their input matters and that they are part of a team that helps craft the vision for policy implementation/reform. This creates feelings of ownership and investment.

A sense of collective efficacy is developed – teachers have a sense of agency developed through their active participation in the reform process.

Why Reform?

Who Decides?

Approaches Teacher as Professional

Future Directions

Teacher as Professional

A key factor in both chapters was the individual teacher’s role in the success of the policy implementation and reform.

In Chapter 25, Taylor et al. emphasize how important it is that teachers have time to learn and time to change in order for reform to be successful.

The kind of time matters – teachers do not need to participate in meetings or lectures, but rather really effective PLC’s that help teachers to understand the reform, deepen their content knowledge and learn new teaching strategies.

Teachers need to be “active participants with choices and responsibilities related to their learning; they [should not be] primarily attendees at traditional top-down, one-size fits all professional development sessions” (Taylor et al., 2011, p. 615).

When professional development opportunities are seen as helpful to teachers, they are more willing to apply what they learned during the PD to their classroom practice.

Why Reform?

Who Decides?

Approaches Teacher as Professional

Future Directions

Teacher as Professional

Teachers really need strong support from leadership in order to be successful in implementing reform

Outside facilitators can be very helpful in guiding staff

Leadership team – enthusiastic master teachers willing to take risks first – these teachers also need continued professional development in leadership

One challenge for teachers is the lack of stability in leadership. Change in leadership can mean change in vision.

Why Reform?

Who Decides?

Approaches Teacher as Professional

Future Directions

Limitations/Future Directions

One of the biggest limitations I see in these chapters is little review about student involvement in policy-making/reform. Taylor et al. in Chapter 25 mentions: Students should learn to be strategic learners, should have a balance of

teacher-centered vs. student-centered experiences, should engage in both passive and active learner activities.

Researchers need to really explore how policy affects student learning and the student’s role in the process.

Researchers need to explore the ways that learning is changing as a result of our more technologically advanced, global culture and how policy should reflect these changes. Learning is not time-bound or environment-bound as it was in the past.

How will schools look in the future? What different skills and knowledge will students need for reading in

the future?Why Reform?

Who Decides?

Approaches Teacher as Professional

Future Directions

References

Coburn, C.E., Pearson P.D., & Woulfin, S. (2011). “Reading Policy in the Era of Accountability”. Handbook of Reading Research. Vol IV. New York. Routledge Publishing Company.Taylor, B.M., Raphael, T.E., & Au, K.H. (2011).

“Reading and School Reform”. Handbook of Reading Research. Vol IV. New York. Routledge Publishing Company.

Discussion Questions

Near the conclusion of chapter 25, Taylor et. al. discusses how the industrialized model of the educational system may have worked in the past, but our world has changed dramatically, and so too must our educational system. In the conclusion of the chapter, Taylor et. al. states, “More and better of the same content and organization is not likely to be the answer for preparing all students to live, work, and enjoy richly fulfilling lives in today’s rapidly changing globalized society. We must, as educational researchers and practitioners, re-imagine the very nature of school reform and look at reform efforts as leading the way to 21st-century education” (p. 624). What do “reform efforts leading the way to the 21st century education” look like? Knowing where

education started, and where we are now, what reading reforms do you anticipate for the future?

  We live in a society that wants a quick fix for problems – a pill to fix an ailment, a 24

hour help line to fix a computer – to what extent does this quick fix approach fit the way policy makers have approached reading reform?

In what ways are we, teachers and students, better off in the age of accountability in education as compared to the educational system pre-1990’s?

What questions arise for you while reading these chapters?

Class Activity

In your pair, create a visual model synthesizing the material presented in chapters 24 and 25 about reading education policy and reform. Be sure to identify the key components of the issue of educational policy-making/reform.

You could make a diagram or a chart identifying:Who are the key players? Who holds the most power? What are the key actions/steps in the process? What is the desired outcome(s)? Are we meeting this(these) goals?

Create your model clearly, so it can easily be presented to your classmates on the document camera. Be ready to explain your work.

Debrief: After we see all of the models we are going to identify: Where this policy-making/reform process helps and fails us as teaching professionals where this policy-making/reform process helps us in our classrooms where it fails us in our classrooms what needs to be explored further / what are the most important actions to be taken

in the future?