Exploring Coherence as an Organizational Resource for Carrying Out Reform Initiatives

Autor/inn/en	Madda, Christina L.; Halverson, Richard R.; Gomez, Louis M.
Titel	Exploring Coherence as an Organizational Resource for Carrying Out Reform Initiatives
Quelle	In: Teachers College Record, 109 (2007) 8, S.1957-1979 (23 Seiten)Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	1467-9620
Schlagwörter	Urban Schools; School Restructuring; Educational Change; Alignment (Education); School Districts; Program Development; Program Implementation; Change Strategies; Organizational Change; Instructional Development; Case Studies; Academic Achievement; Academic Records; Knowledge Management + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Urban area; Urban areas; School; Schools; Stadtregion; Stadt; Schule; Schulreformplan; Schulumwandlung; Bildungsreform; School district; Schulbezirk; Programmplanung; Lösungsstrategie; Organisationswandel; Teaching improvement; Unterrichtsentwicklung; Case study; Fallstudie; Case Study; Schulleistung; College; Colleges; University; Universities; Publication; Hochschule; Fachhochschule; Universität; Akademieschrift; Publikation; Wissensmanagement
Abstract	Background/Context: School districts are responsible for helping schools improve learning for students. However, many district initiatives conflict with each other or with existing instructional practices in schools. Recent research on urban school reform points to the value of program coherence in sustaining school change. Our paper addresses an urban district's efforts to design for instructional program coherence in its schools. Purpose: This study explores the design process of how one urban school district developed and deployed a series of reports designed to communicate the results of student achievement testing across the district. The focus of this research is to understand the district's efforts to design new programs that would fit coherently into existing initiative in local schools. We attempt to measure and characterize coherence within the district design team as a means to discern how district leaders can assist local actors in implementation of reform initiatives and foster local program coherence within schools. Research Design: This paper presents a qualitative case study of how a district-level nine-member design team built and implemented a reform program to make student performance data reports accessible throughout their district. We used a policy-artifact-based perspective as our methodological framework to access the "program theories" in use by the designers in making the artifact. Our methods allowed us to contrast the differences in the designers' perspectives on the fit between the designed artifacts and the local school environments. Conclusions: The findings from this study revealed how designers developed a stakeholder-based process that helped them come to an agreement on common goals for the design. Their perceptions of the goals, actions, and resources that would drive these initiatives appeared to be aligned, but the actions suggested for local school leaders and teachers varied among designers. This incoherence at the level of design details and artifact implementation would come to threaten the successful implementation of the reform effort at a local level. The results of this work suggest that attention towards coherence throughout the design process can aid district leaders in facilitating instructional program coherence in schools. (As Provided).
Anmerkungen	Teachers College, Columbia University. P.O. Box 103, 525 West 120th Street, New York, NY 10027. Tel: 212-678-3774; Fax: 212-678-6619; e-mail: tcr@tc.edu; Web site: http://www.tcrecord.org
Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2017/4/10