The Policy Behind the Problem: How Education Reform Impacts the Teaching Environment Öffentlichkeit
Gordon, Kristin Joye (2010)
Published
Abstract
Public schools in the United States face numerous challenges.
One challenge
arises out of the emphasis on school and teacher accountability.
The current educational
policy orientation, with its use of sanctions in Needs Improvement
schools, is drastically
changing the nature of schools as workplaces. Given a persistent
problem with teacher
attrition, there is an urgent need to examine factors that affect
public school teachers'
work experiences and career plans. This research examines how No
Child Left Behind
(NCLB) accountability policies affect teachers' experience of their
work.
This study draws on empirical and theoretical work on the
organizational
structure and loose coupling of schools, workplace culture, and
teachers' meaning
making, to investigate how NCLB affects teachers' work experience.
Specifically, I
explore teachers' working conditions, career plans, and job
satisfaction, as well as the
strategies used by educators and schools to manage these intense
changes. To investigate
these processes, I use a mixed method research design. I analyze
the statistical
relationship between NCLB, measured by Adequate Yearly Progress and
Needs
Improvement status, and school working conditions using the Quality
Learning and
Teaching Environments survey from seven school districts throughout
Georgia. I
combine this analysis with data collected from thirty in-depth
teacher interviews.
Interviews were conducted with teachers in three schools at
different NCLB sanctioning
levels in a single Georgia school district. These data inform my
investigation of the
process and effects of policy implementation and the strategies
used to manage these
changes.
Results show that Needs Improvement status is intimately
connected with the
level at which policy is embedded in school operations and
teachers' work experiences.
As the intensity of school sanctions grow, teachers increasingly
construct work meaning
and strategies in relation to policy requirements. In the
sanctioned schools, this dynamic
process of implementation and response, called shifting, yields a
tighter coupling of
formal administrative structure and teachers' work. Conversely,
established work
practices and meanings in the unsanctioned school remain unhindered
by policy
requirements. These findings have important implications for
academics studying school
structure and processes as well as for policy makers seeking to
improve our approach to
public school accountability.
Table of Contents
Contents
List of Tables
Chapter 1: Introduction and Overview..... …………………………………………….1
Historical Background: A Nation at Risk to No Child Left Behind . 6
No Child Left Behind and the Teaching Environment 10
Dissertation Overview 20
Chapter 2: Theory………………………………………………………………… …...22
Structure of Schools . 24
Linking Structure, Workplace Culture, and Teachers . 31
The Workplace Culture and Meaning Making of Teachers . 33
Conclusions . 40
Chapter 3: Research Design and Methods …………………………………………... 42
Introduction . 42
Research Design . 43
Methodological Limitations . 64
Conclusions . 65
Chapter 4: A Glimpse Inside the Schools …………………………………………….66
School Introductions . 67
Conclusions . 79
Chapter 5: Working Conditions ……………………………………………………… 80
Overview of Five Working Conditions . 84
Quantitative Analysis . 91
Qualitative Analysis . 105
Summary and Conclusions . 150
Chapter 6: Job Satisfaction and Career Plans ……………………………………... 152
Job Satisfaction and Career Planning Across the Three Schools . 155
Conclusions . 170
Chapter 7: Conclusion ………………………………………………………………..174
Summary of Main Findings . 177
Contributions and Implications . 181
Limitations and Future Directions . 188
Appendix A: Quality Learning and Teaching Environment 208
Appendix B: IRB and Consent Documents . 223
Appendix C: Recruitment Communication . 229
Appendix D: Interview Materials . 232
References. 244
About this Dissertation
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