Matching Items (7)
Description
This study is a narrative inquiry into teachers' and instructional coaches' experiences of new curriculum policy implementation at the classroom and district levels. This study took place during the initial year of implementation of the third grade Common Core State Standards in Mathematics (CCSSM). Interviews were conducted with individuals directly involved in policy implementation at the classroom level, including several teachers and the school's instructional coach. Observations of the teachers' instruction and professional practice were also conducted. As an embedded researcher, I used this data to create a series of fictionalized narratives of the initial policy implementation experience. My analysis of the narratives suggests that accountability structures shaped individual's sense-making of the original policy. This sense-making process consequently influenced individuals' actions during implementation by directing them towards certain policy actions and ultimately altered how the policy unfolded in this school and district. In particular, accountability structures directed participants' attention to the technical instructional `forms' of the reform, such as the presence of written responses on assessments and how standards were distributed between grade levels, rather than the overall principled shifts in practice intended by the policy's creators.
ContributorsFrankiewicz, Megan Marie (Author) / Powers, Jeanne (Thesis advisor) / Fischman, Gustavo (Committee member) / Berliner, David (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2015
Description
This study examined the enactment of a high school district's college-going mission. Treating mission enactment as a case of policy implementation, this study used the lens of complexity theory to understand how system actors and contexts influenced variation and adaptation. Data collection methods included observations, interviews, focus groups, and surveys of various system actors including district staff, principals, counselors, teachers, and students. This study used a mixed methods analytic inductive technique and Social Network Analysis to describe the mission's implementation. Findings reflect that the mission was a vaguely defined value statement; school staff reacted to the mission with limited buy-in and confusion about what it really meant in practice. The mission lacked clear boundaries of what constituted related programs or policies. Consequently, in this site-based district, schools unevenly implemented related programs and policies. School staff wanted more guidance from district staff and clear expectations for mission-related actions. To help meet this need, the district was moving to a more centralized, hierarchical approach. Though they were providing information about the mission, district staff were not providing specific, responsive support to organize school staff's efforts around implementation. District staff were trying to find an approach that both supported schools towards a common vision and provided flexibility for school-level adaptations. Yet, the district had not yet fully formed its position as a facilitator of implementation. Further, as the district lacked a cohesive measurement system, the effectiveness of this initiative was unknown. This study sought to present policy implementation as varied phenomenon, influenced by system actors and conditions. Findings suggest that while policy cannot determine actions, district staff could help create conditions that would support implementation.
ContributorsDunn, Lenay Danielle (Author) / Berliner, David (Thesis advisor) / Danzig, Arnold (Committee member) / Smith, Mary Lee (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2011
Description
The purpose of this study was to understand what promotes or hinders the implementation of a high school education reform policy in Arizona schools from the perspective of a nonprofit organization that served an active and intentional role as an intermediary organization working directly with schools and policymakers. The study was intended to facilitate implementation of the education reform policy in the school sites, to gain knowledge that will be used to inform future cycles of planning and implementation, and to influence state policy. This study was an explanatory nonexperimental multiple case study involving five high schools across Arizona. The study focused on the early phase of implementation of the education reform policy. A mixed methods case study design grounded in the tradition of participatory action research was employed. Data were collected through surveys, interviews, observations, focus groups, and a document review. The results suggest that the education reform policy was implementable in diverse schools across the state. However, how the education reform policy was implemented in each school site appeared to vary. A number of factors seemed to influence the actual implementation process including the design and understanding of the reform, selection process, district context and school characteristics, and school capacity to undertake the reform. The findings suggest that the nonprofit organization that served as an intermediary organization within the study influenced the implementation process. It appears that this primarily took place by providing direct assistance to the schools, creating opportunities for collaboration and communication across the multiple school sites implementing the same education reform policy, and serving as a connector to other organizations, policymakers, and the larger public. The study resulted in the nonprofit organization's deeper understanding of the complexity of implementing the education reform policy, the challenges schools face in implementing the reform, and the factors that appear to promote or impede the implementation process.
ContributorsBurke, Amanda (Amanda Marie) (Author) / Jimenez-Castellanos, Oscar (Thesis advisor) / Gonzalez, Gustavo S (Committee member) / Duvall, Debra (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2012
Description
This qualitative study explores the literacy development of adolescent ELLs in three middle school, Structured English Immersion (SEI) classrooms that implemented the four-hour, English Language Development (ELD), curriculum mandated by Arizona. The context of the study is set in two elementary school districts. Participants, three middle school teachers, were observed during four hours of ELD instruction within their English-only classrooms to examine literacy practices. Data were recorded using field note observations, semi-structured interviews, and artifact collection. During the year-long study, three main questions guided the design and implementation of the study: a) what kinds of literacy practices can be documented in Arizona SEI classrooms and what do they look like; b) how do junior high teachers implement mandated language policies; and c)what perceptions do junior high teachers have toward the mandated SEI, four-hour block? A descriptive qualitative approach informed data collection and analysis; data were collected during 76 hours of observed instruction in the classroom, in-depth interviews, and collection of classroom artifacts to document the preparation provided by Arizona Department of Education (ADE) for ELD instruction. A framework of Erickson's (1986) analytic induction and content analysis served as an analytical tool to observe literacy practices and events in the classroom. Observations of instruction within the four-hour language models in the classroom offer unique insight to the literacy development of adolescent ELLs. Findings show how State language policy mandates and teachers' policy implementation have impacted learning experiences and language development of adolescent ELLs. Findings are discussed through narrative-based vignettes, which illustrate the experiences occurring within middle school classrooms with students learning English. Data reveal skill-based approaches to the literacy development of adolescent ELLs and a lack of student-centered learning in the classroom. Teachers supported ELLs with prescriptive lessons that focused on decontextualized vocabulary development. Language policy in practice reveals a detrimental experience to second language acquisition (SLA) for adolescent ELLs in the four-hour language block.
ContributorsSilva, Alexandria (Author) / Arias, Beatriz M (Thesis advisor) / Faltis, Christian (Committee member) / Gutierrez, Kris (Committee member) / Jimenez Silva, Margarita (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2012
Description
As of late, many universities and colleges have been attempting to change their policies that surround campus sexual assault in order to maintain their compliance as an educational institution by the Department of Education Title IX, Clery Act, the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) and locally, by the Arizona Board of Regents (ABOR). Currently, statistics show that 1 in 5 women will be sexually assaulted during her college career. Educational institutions are becoming overwhelmed by law suits and other remedies in order to satisfy complaints of campus sexual assault. To understand the current mood of students at Arizona State University (ASU) on the topic of campus sexual assault, the present study examined the current knowledge of students regarding resources at ASU, as well as their potential commitment to participate in new policies at ASU. The sample (N=238) consisted of 20.2% male and 79.8% female of varying years of study from undergraduate to masters who overwhelming agreed that they would adhere to the three (3) recommendations of policy change at ASU in order to educate students on the dangers of campus sexual assault. Survey evaluations are discussed to show support for the recommended policies. Keywords: campus sexual assault, rape myth acceptance, policy implementation, recommendations
ContributorsCervantes, Felix Del Campo (Author) / Desouza, Kevin (Thesis director) / Roe-Sepowitz, Dominique (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Public Affairs (Contributor)
Created2015-05
Description
The purpose of this study was to explore features of Supplemental Educational Services (SES) implementation at the district level. In the study beliefs, goals, and actions of district office administrators were analyzed against the backdrop of changing federal guidelines and challenges faced by SES implementers across Arizona. The case study focuses on implementation in the 2007-2008, 2008-2009, and 2009-2010 school years. The study uses the 2005 and 2009 Department of Education guidelines, survey responses from Arizona district and school implementers, as well as documents and interviews from an urban Arizona case district. The study separates the implementation activities into task areas, which are analyzed separately. Using a loose coupling perspective, the separate task areas are furthered used as coupling domains and represented in social network graphs. Results show that the case district personnel were highly focused on their primary role, maintaining district compliance with federal guidelines. The district personnel employed several changes over the case study period to centralize their control of SES operations within district. The employment and training of site level coordinators was the most impactful of the strategies. As boundary spanners, the coordinators allowed greater access to information, oversight, and influence at the site level. Despite the growing capacity and earnest efforts of the district personnel, the case district was still very far from being able to measure or assess the impact of SES on student achievement. Centralization in the scholastic task areas was relatively low, and had marginal changes over the case study period. Years into the program, there was still no avenue to accurately gauge the effectiveness. As the district personnel were chiefly concerned with compliance, they had suspended judgment on the program and focused primarily on improving their processes.
ContributorsBlankson, Gerald Kotey (Author) / Danzig, Arnold (Thesis advisor) / Glass, Gene (Committee member) / Powers, Jeanne (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2011
Description
This three-essay dissertation examines how local governments manage sustainability policies/practices and how these actions are shaped by their organizational, social, and institutional environment. The first essay uses a 2015 Local Government Sustainability Practices Survey to investigate how social media shapes government sustainability plan and how its impact differs from other participatory mechanisms such as public hearings and advisory committees. Drawing from a theoretical framework of individualism-collectivism, the second essay uses data on local governments in the U.S. and Japan to conduct a cross-national comparative analysis. The study finds that governments embedded in a more individualism-oriented culture are more likely to adopt environmental management practices when facing growing external pressures. The final essay uses contingency theory to provide a dynamic view of how sustainability policies might be effectively integrated into the government’s working routines. It finds that the ways through which responsibility delegation affects policy implementation are contingent upon the government’s structural and cultural arrangement. Taken together, the dissertation coincides with the growing interest among public managers and researchers in enhancing government sustainability performance and outcomes. It provides an integrated and comprehensive investigation of the organizational, social, and institutional factors that shape the development and execution of sustainability policies and practices.
ContributorsChen, Yifan (Author) / Bretschneider, Stuart (Thesis advisor) / Darnall, Nicole (Committee member) / Mossberger, Karen (Committee member) / Stritch, Justin (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2022