In the field

I'm collecting dissertation data!! A couple years ago, I dreamed of having some data to analyze. Now I have files, piles, and boxes of data. This will be the summer 'o' analysis, and I shall attempt to revive this blog :)

A low

NCLB and California have identified the lowest of the low, so please check out this article. And I have many wonderings about these schools that have left behind students, teachers, and communities.

What counts as a failing school? Which students go to these failing schools? Which teachers work at these failing schools?

What should be done when a school's failing? Will money improve test scores in these schools? Will a new principal fix things? How does 'going charter' affect the school's culture, goals, and daily work?

Dancing with districts

Site recruitment and selection is tough stuff and involves an odd type of matchmaking process! Basically, when I thought studying theory was hard, I had no idea about the challenges of getting into the field and dealing with what's going on in the 'real world'. I've emailed and called and visited. I've left messages, asked questions, and gotten invited to meetings. Ooh-la la!

I just ordered my UC Berkeley business cards exclaiming my PhD candidate status :> Fancy town, if I do say so myself.

My heart sometimes skips a beat when I get an email or phone call from a potential district/site/coach. Tralala, it must be love OR it's the bizarro world of dissertation research ;)

Gears

I feel like I'm switching gears- from reading and reviewing the findings of other researchers to writing and collecting data and developing MY OWN findings. The switch is tricky and, quite frankly, scary.

How much do I listen to and copy what has been done? How much do I try to think outside of the existing literature? How can I trust myself when I've never embarked on such a research project before?

So, the training wheels are off, and I'm trying to push myself, maintain balance, and am hoping to gain a bit of momentum. A little downhill would help a lot :) Till then, I'll keep pedaling---around and around---and pray I'm not cruising around in circles.

Passed!

Yesterday, I passed the oral qualifying exam...It was a challenging, interesting, and fun 3 hours with 4 professors who I totally respect and admire. WOW. I gained SO much from studying, reading, talking with colleagues, meeting with professors, and devoting myself to my 3 areas.

Now I'm in relaxation mode--but will report back soon with some dissertation proposal writing ideas :)

Guacamole

This post actually has *nothing* to do with guacamole....except to say that, holy guacamole!, my orals exam is in less than three days. Three. Interesting. Hmm.

Not sure what else to say--other than I'm reviewing what I've reviewed. Am hearing my voice in my head, talking through this and that about implementation and institutional theory and reading instruction galore!! I've created summaries, matrices, diagrams, and timelines. And on top of it all, I've reflected on how and why I ended up in grad school and where could I end up in the future. Believe it or not, I'm still breathing & finding time to run and cook & crack up about ridiculous topics with J. Aww.

Bring it on!!!

A couple things

First, I wanted to announce the mini-milestone of completing my mock orals in research group. It was an adventure, for sure! At moments, I impressed myself, and, other moments were downright rocky.

Second, I've moved along to my *second* notebook. This one has an array of multicolored squares on the cover. I'm finding the tan, green, and pink squares quite inspiring :)

Third, this afternoon--after reviewing a heap of implementation readings--I realized that I really, really want to think and talk about the relationship between implementation and coupling theory. I feel that could strengthen my points about implementation. And I feel relatively confident when I talk about coupling. So, a few things to think about....Implementation always involves coordinating two elements (district policy and instruction or teacher certification and student achievement) but those two elements maintain their identity, so they are loosely coupled.

In a sense, the implementation chain that Mazmanian & Sabatier refer to are a series of couplings. And the SLB framework discusses how Street-level bureaucrats, such as teachers or police officers, are wedged between a rock (official policy) and a hard place (dealing with clients). They're coupling policy to practice left-and-right. Finally, the cognitive approach is concerned with the processes by which actors come to understand policy, so the coupling of a policy's embedded ideas with an actor. The coupling of RF policy to a principal or to a 3rd teacher might be different than the coupling of RF policy to a 1st grade teacher.

Oops! I guess that was more than just a couple things ;)