Sarah's Ventures in Education Policy

In the field

2011-04-22T11:03:00.001-07:00

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

2010-03-09T17:50:00.000-08:00

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

2010-03-04T14:23:00.000-08:00

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

2010-01-27T11:48:00.000-08:00

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!

2009-12-02T11:25:00.000-08:00

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

2009-11-28T15:01:00.001-08:00

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

2009-11-16T22:04:00.000-08:00

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 ;)

Ticker

2009-10-23T21:29:00.000-07:00

I made a countdown ticker for my exam date. Being aware of the precious time remaining helps me prioritize what I need to do and want to do before the date, so I can show what I know. I am aware that I need to do some more reading, take some more notes, create brief summaries of pieces, practice talking about my areas with peers, meet with my professors again, and polish my paragraphs and prospectus! On top of all that, I will juggle other school, work, and life responsibilities :) I feel strongly that panicking will not help, and I think that having *some* fear is a good motivator. I also realize that I might need to ask for help and be a bit flexible---about school and home stuff. November might be a good month to eat pb& j sandwiches :P

Waking up

2009-10-20T21:29:00.000-07:00

For the past month or so, I've been waking up in the morning with relatively delicious thoughts about my areas of specialization. There's nothing like waking up to an idea about policy implementation or institutional theory ;)

I've been trying to think more about change because implementation is about changing, while institutional theory studies stability and change.

what changes and what doesn't? what conditions promoted or hindered that change?
why does change happen?
what are sources of change? People? Places?
where does change happen?
who causes/blocks change?

I'm noticing that implementation follows an organization's responses to a policy that asks it to change. Much of the implementation literature is trying to explain the variability in responses to policy. Why do organizations and actors respond differently when encountering and engaging with the same policy? In a way, the policy is a recipe, but different chefs concoct entirely different dishes.

I'm very interested in the ways that neo-institutionalism looks outward--to the environment--and also inward--to the cognitive mechanisms affecting actors to account for change. The environment is a source of logics, rules, beliefs, and resources, including professional associations. Yes, policy might originate in the environment, but neo-institutionalists ask us to consider the cognitive mechanisms shaping actors' interpretation of policy. If policy is interpret, it may be framed. Those frames are resources influencing organizational actions, including its implementation processes.

Bigger picture

2009-10-12T09:19:00.000-07:00

What accounts for variation in how policy penetrates schools and classrooms to change reading instruction and improve educational outcomes in underserved communities?

Why are schools resistant to change?
What accounts for the stability and change in schooling and instruction and educational outcomes for poor and minority children/youth? What's happening in urban schools, and why?
How are teachers affected by waves of instructional reform?
How are classrooms affected by policies governing the content and pedagogy of reading instruction?
How does reading research deal with policy and its implementation? How does reading research treat schools as organizations, teachers as workers, and the institutional elements of schooling?

Three areas, three themes

2009-10-08T21:18:00.000-07:00

I'd like to share some of the studying process on my blog, as well as vent about the anxiety that grad studentdom engenders :O

The big three are starting to feel a bit more real to me, and I have some confidence that, by the date of the exam, my areas of specialization will feel like a pair of broken-in shoes. But I worry that I won't get to say what I really, really want to say about my 3 areas. I'd like the exam to be a time that I present some of my understandings and findings about the states of these academic fields. Below, I take a stab at a few things I'd like to say about each area.

Policy implementation

1) There are many ways to study the path from policy to practice, and it is possible to treat this path as the translation of broad ideas into concrete, discrete organizational and individual practices and behaviors

2) There are many reasons why it is hard to improve schooling--structure of schools, nature of teachers' work, relationship between federal, state, district, and individual school, what school leaders and teachers know and are motivated to do, ambiguity within policies

3) Policies contain information and ideas about structuring schools, teachers' work, and students' learning. Schools, as organizations, and people must interact with, make sense of, experiment with, and learn from policies.

Neo-institutional theory

1) There are many ways to explain stability and change--at the field and organizational level

2) The coupling of the broader environment, including policy, to the technical, core features of schools has multiple consequences--for practice, policy, and research. The contrast between loose and tight coupling of organizational structures and activities is a false dichotomy. It is possible for organizations to be simultaneously loose and tight; the organization can be loose in one place and tight in another.

3) People can act as institutional entrepreneurs who shape the nature & characteristics of institutions. People can engage in framing to manipulate and present logics in particular ways to fellow members of an organization.

Reading Instruction

1) Core reading programs are nothing new--they go all the way back to the 1800s in one room schoolhouses

2) The reading achievement gap is a critical issue

3) Different elements of literacy instruction are treated differently by policy, research, and practice. Who pays attention to phonics versus writing or spelling vs. comprehension?

I have a date!

2009-10-04T10:52:00.001-07:00

My orals exam will be on December 1st! Yes, it took a little juggling, a lot of sweating, and enough emails to cause carpal tunnel syndrome, but I'm not complaining :) I know that the exam is a tremendous milestone, and right now I feel excited AND nervous. It seems that there are many uncertainties about the exam---who will ask what types of questions? how much will I be interrupted? how much will I talk about my own research agenda?

All I can say is that two years ago, I was just diving into stats and memoing about the studying the implementation of core reading programs. A year ago, I was collecting data on a coach's framing. A month ago, I was completing my conceptual position paper. So now is my time to read and study and think---all towards learning more and sharing what I know with my orals committee on December 1st!

The aqua notebook

2009-07-16T14:00:00.000-07:00

All giant steps begin with a notebook. Today I purchased a notebook to officially commence studying for orals. Though I realize that every day of grad school has helped form and prepare me for orals, I also think that this aqua-colored Cal notebook is going to be put to good use. I want to record my thoughts about my areas of specialization, as well as my plans for studying in this notebook (and, who knows, there could even be a need for a second studying notebook!).

Today I made a chart with each of my three areas, and I jotted notes about the intersections between those areas. This kind of studying can reveal the gaps, both in the literature/research out there and in my knowledge! I'll definitely keep the blog updated on my aqua notebook's rollercoaster ride of studying...

Listing, listing

2009-07-14T16:24:00.000-07:00

I dug into orals lists yesterday. It made me realize that I've read a lot of stuff about institutional theory! It also made me realize that I need to think more about what's absolutely core to my work, as well as what's seminal and what's just repetitive! Willow gave me a good tip--to start thinking about what arguments I want to be able to make in the orals discussions, so I can plan and study the citations that support those arguments. In other words, use core arguments to help prune the lists, which could help support my sanity :) I'm glad that I've been brainstorming core concepts and tensions for each area of specialization. A goal- to return to those lists tomorrow....

Milestones

2009-05-23T09:26:00.001-07:00

Milestones are special & important moments--first year orals, friends passing qualifying exams, and completing position papers. About two years after first year orals, I got my first pre-qualifying paper signed off! It felt good to complete the empirical paper on a coach's framing.

I know that means that now I can devote my full attention to the second paper, which is even more linked to my dissertation work. Woh!

Pruning

2009-05-13T14:31:00.000-07:00

A couple weeks ago, we noticed that our "lemon" tree had a lot of brown branches and yellowed leaves. It was close to death. For some odd reason, this very special lemon tree produces limes, which bring new meaning to the idiom- when life hands you limes, make limeade (or margaritas or gin and tonics!). So, with a pair of kitchen scissors, I did some major pruning of the tree. Today I noticed many small new green leaves and a few tiny purple buds; it's alive!

I wonder if my empirical paper needs to be pruned and focused to enable and reveal its gems that may have faded into the background...I think part of the writing process involves expansion but there is a time and place for trimming.

Call it a coach

2009-05-01T16:49:00.001-07:00

Some food for thought and ideas to dive into!

Why the title, 'coach'
How is a coach persuasive versus empathetic or therapeutic
A coach is a new role, a new position with a new title
What about the authority issues of teachers, unions, districts, and coaches
How do coaches reinforce and/or violate the norms of teacher autonomy?
How similar/different are coach-related policies across the US?
When and how did the concept of a coach arise and then spread? who was influential in pushing a coaching model (NYC, San Diego, CA RF, etc)

Coaches have different types of knowledge- persuasive or motivational knowledge and content/pedagogical knowledge (Shulman).
What's the relationship between MK and CK and PCK and coach's work and teachers changing their classroom practices?

What I like about

2009-04-17T12:11:00.000-07:00

I've returned from AERA and have a few impressions to share....

Conferences really help you understand what you're interested in AND what you're not interested in!
My questions about presentations were very different than a year ago. Now I want to know more about methods and even coding schemes of fellow researchers...
I feel fortunate to be a graduate student because THIS is the time to wade through theory and hash out frameworks.
At times, I'm concerned that my research interests are too pure or basic, rather than applied to schools. I need to continue to consider the implications of my work- who will it help? how will it help policymakers, districts, schools, or teachers?

Pulling over

2009-03-15T17:35:00.001-07:00

Driving home from campus after a full day of writing, my mind was flooded with thoughts and key pieces of my argument. So I looked for a safe place to pull over, got out my little notebook and pen, and jotted down the ideas. Sheesh- the brain is working so hard and generating so much, and I hope my writing can keep up with it all!

Clearer

2009-03-08T18:43:00.000-07:00

My argument's getting clearer! A bonus is that I think it will let me discuss some really interesting things about coaching:

a coach needs to have a good 'fit' with the environment
a coach is continually evaluating the state of the environment, of teachers' practices and needs, etc
a coach needs to understand how to link different practices
a coach can be explicit about how an older practice can be the foundation for a new practice
a coach's theory of change matters
a coach's perception of his/her authority matters

When life hands you an extension

2009-03-01T17:14:00.001-08:00

For the past 10 days, a colleague and I have been scrounging together a proposal for the National Reading Conference. In truth, we've been in chickens-with-our-heads-cut-off-mode. And then, this afternoon, approximately 3 hours (!!) before we were going submit our work to the conference's website, my colleague got an email. Apparently, the website was going haywire, so they extended the deadline...until Wednesday afternoon. And, for my crazed little gradschool brain, 2 full extra days to look at a proposal seems like eons upon eons. I think we'll get a chance to more calmly review what we've written and clarify a few points, which is never a bad thing!

Logics or not

2009-02-25T19:39:00.000-08:00

The new Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, has suggested re-branding NCLB and supports giving the law a new name. I could go crazy with metaphors, such as giving it a new coat of paint, putting a fox in sheep's clothes, but I'm really bad with idiomatic expressions (could be due to my mom being French)!! I could also brainstorm potential names for a terribly famous umbrella policy for US schools--Every child will think AND learn or A test a day keeps inequity away or....But I'd rather just mention that Secretary Duncan is acting as a strategic framer because, by re-labeling NCLB, it will shift how people view the policy--even if the nature of the actual policy isn't changed. Woh. Secretary Duncan is manipulating the broader ideas, logics, by changing a title for a policy to push for the changes he's interested in (three cheers for institutional theory!).

End of Reading First

2009-02-25T19:33:00.000-08:00

Although the new federal budget includes a funding boost for the Education Department, Reading First will be ending. I guess I'll be able to carry my experiences and knowledge of RF into my future research, and I'll understand the RF policy era and can account for the sediment it leaves behind. Of course I wonder which structures and practices from RF will remain, and I'm curious how districts and states will choose what to do next. Will California give more choices to its districts? Will Open Court TEs gather dust in classrooms? Will teachers turn back to contextualized phonics instruction and lit circles? It seems like another policy window is opening!

How much

2009-02-17T16:44:00.000-08:00

I think I've completed the drafting of my empirical position paper. Well, except for the conclusions- I need a nice fresh morning to finish up that section :) Overall, I feel like I could spend one day, one week, or much, much more revising this draft. The tricky part is that it all depends on what my goals are who the audience will be. Sometimes it would be nice to have crisp page limits and deadlines and sets of expectations in the land 'o' academia....On the other hand, I know I have plenty of time remaining to tie my points together and lay out/write out my arguments. It's a sentence by sentence battle.

Valentine

2009-02-12T11:16:00.001-08:00

I've been thinking a bit more about structuration theory. And since there's nothing more romantic than the recursive relationship between action and structure, I bought myself an early Valentine's Day gift: Giddens!!

A wise coach

2009-02-07T20:44:00.001-08:00

My high school cross country coach was my #1 mentor. He gave incredibly motivating lectures on running and racing that translate oh so well to life. He begged us runners to not be nervous about upcoming races or afraid of racing because the whole point of our tough training was to go out and compete to do our best.

Now I resolve to apply this idea to grad school: yes, there's plenty to do, but there's nothing to fear.
Getting nervous about writing papers or being afraid of orals doesn't accomplish anything. I can leave the guilt and scaredycat stuff at the door. ALL of this work is training, and the ultimate goal is to get out there and talk with people, share ideas and writing. The finish line is all about making a difference!

25 things

2009-02-06T17:18:00.000-08:00

1) As an elementary school teacher, I was very strict about discipline issues and classroom management
2) I want to write/edit a book on instructional materials
3) I hate bringing my laptop anywhere on rainy days
4) Sometimes I do more skimming than reading of articles
5) I love 'discovering' references that other authors are citing in their work
6) Sometimes a glass of wine or a beer help me get back to work
7) While running, I imagine myself spouting brilliant arguments about education policy
8) I think I need a new suit
9) I wish that I'd taken the plunge and gotten an administrative credential before coming to grad school
10) I definitely say the phrase- "That could be a dissertation!!" far, far too often
11) I have this awful writing habit in which I write: "The teacher is trying ___" instead of "The teacher tries ___"
12) Sometimes I really, really hate my writing
13) This is cathartic :)
14) Part of me wishes I was doing quantitative research because it seems tidier and there's an 'answer' and a way to check your work
15) I think street level bureaucrats are rad--Yay for Michael Lipsky!
16) I still have a hard time defining policy
17) I'm obsessed with how teachers teach reading, but I taught myself how to read before starting school
18) I really wish I could sit in and observe classrooms from 50 years ago or 100 years ago
19) I think private schools are overrated
20) Teachers need to be paid higher salaries
21) I think sociology is sexy
22) I was so nervous before first year oral exams and walked out not so sure that I did all that well. But going to Dona Tomas and feasting on guacamole & margaritas that night helped ease the pain :P
23) If I had more hours in the day, I would be a volunteer running/track and field/cross country coach for kids in Oakland
24) I'd love to study the kitschy stuff that teachers use and display in their classrooms- like the sparkly butterflies, heart shaped cut outs, and posters with giant apples covered with proverbs
25) The best thing about grad school is that you get to discover stuff and teach yourself stuff that noone else has thought about. You have a great excuse for not doing chores. Plus you get to muck around; it's like a mud run.

Opportunities to learn

2009-01-27T10:11:00.001-08:00

An instructional coach provides many opportunities for teachers to learn. The coach's interactions with teachers permit teachers to share and reflect upon their practices. Coaches might present information about how to teach or why particular programs should be used, and teachers can ask questions.

At the same time, coaches are on a different hierarchical level than teachers. Coaches have access to different trainings and materials, as well as people- district administrators and principals. So coaches have a different bundle of social capital than teachers do. Coaches can use their position and social capital to persuade teachers to change their instructional practices.

Does a coach persuade teachers so teachers learn about policy and instruction? Or does a coach support teacher learning to catalyze the persuasion of teachers to shift their practices?If persuasion occurs, then it seems likely that learning is happening, too--but what kind of learning?

What does the coach need expertise on so they're effective at persuading and developing teachers? Can a coach serve as an outstanding teacher of teachers without being effective at persuading teachers to change? What about the reverse- how much teacher learning can occur if the coach is not persuasive?

Under pressure

2009-01-15T11:31:00.000-08:00

Um ba ba be
Um ba ba be
De day da
Ee day da - that's o.k.
It's the terror of knowing
What this world is about

I'm always writing and talking and thinking about how schools are under pressure. Our education system is pressured from multiple policy levels, many different groups and individuals, and even from within its own schools and classrooms and employees. There's pressure to thrive on a small and uncertain stream of funding. There's pressure to prepare young people to make the world a better place in 50 years. There's pressure from community groups and parents to meet very specific needs. There's pressure from teachers to make schools better workplaces. And, of course, there's pressure from the kiddos to extend recess or provide a cupcake a day :>

Sometimes pressure is a good thing- a kick in the tail, an imposed deadline, a reminder that good enough is not good enough. Other times, pressure is a bad thing- surfacing conflict, leading organizations to pursue conflicting agendas, spreading efforts too thin, scaring people away. Many pressures seem tied to money and resources but the effects are personal and emotional. People interact differently when they're under pressure.

Who knows

2009-01-06T20:26:00.000-08:00

I have some questions about teachers, teaching, and the burden of accountability. How personal is a teacher's practice? How individualized is instruction for each child? If the general public is supporting public schools, how can schools justify inconsistencies from lesson to lesson, classroom to classroom, and school to school? How much does the public know about what's happening in their schools?

I think coaches are an interesting link between public policy and the district and individual teachers and their teaching practices. Coaches can peer into multiple classrooms, determine what's going on, and maybe change things or encourage things, or bring back some information about implementation. Coaches deal with multiple pressures, from multiple sources, and juggle many teachers. Coaches may or many not reduce inconsistencies. What do coaches need to know- about instruction, about individual teachers, about the context of the school, about the nature of the policy- to fulfill their role? Do coaches have access to the information they need? Why or why not? Who could have the knowledge and capacity to change teachers' instructional practices?

Divine '09

2008-12-30T08:28:00.001-08:00

When I was a kid, I always wrote reflections on the year around this time of year. I still think it's important to record the ups and downs to understand what's happened and where life will go next. In terms of my progression as a graduate student, 2008 has flown by!!

In 2008, I completed the core POME courses, including statistics. I learned how to navigate Stata and how to efficiently search for literature. My confidence increased in sharing my works-in-progress with fellow students. I became more active in POME activities, including faculty searches and talking with prospective students.

I taught myself a great deal about organizational learning theory and put together my first solo AERA proposal. My adviser and I completed coding on a large pool of data. I also put together a pilot study and conducted my first interviews and observations. That means I transcribed interviews and wrote pages and pages of field notes. My writing improved.

Although 2008 was great, I know there is still much for me to do and to learn...Cheers to a brilliantly productive AND divine 2009!!

Dumping policy

2008-11-16T17:13:00.000-08:00

The idea that people adopt a pet, welcome it into their home, bond with the pet, and then, somehow, return the pet to the animal shelter to suffer god knows what fate...well, it's just not okay! Dumping Reading First by reducing this policy's funding to the level that schools cannot hire reading coaches is like returning a pet to the animal shelter.

Reading First has provided support to teachers for over six years. Yes, it has its positives and negatives. Yes, it enables instructional leaders to enter classrooms and evaluate teachers' classroom practices. Yes, it relies on instructional materials that constrain teachers' choices and development. But it also provides funding for frequent assessment of students and for coaches to design district and school-specific professional development. I guess I'm arguing that it's just not okay to pull the strings on a policy that schools and districts count on!

Things I've learned about qualitative research

2008-11-15T14:26:00.000-08:00

getting information about the context, the setting, and rich descriptions of the sights and sounds really does matter
the questions between questions and between interactions are fruitful
there's zero 'downtime'
digital voice recorders are awesome
transcribing takes a long time
writing field notes takes a long time
dragging data around takes a long time
Excel is your friend
qualitative analysis software IS helpful
drawing paper-and-pencil diagrams really helps me
no question or hunch is too small or silly :)
one step at a time

You know how some people say- Don't worry, be happy! Well, qualitative researchers say- Don't worry, be iterative!!

Designing interviews

2008-09-30T14:01:00.000-07:00

Just like most things in academia, writing interview questions is trickier than it might seem! As much as I'd love to channel my inner Larry King or Katie Couric or US Magazine journalist and sit down with a coach or teacher and just ask them a million questions---in the research world, it gets tricky. I want my questions to be open-ended, but I need some specific answers about certain issues. On the other hand, I don't want my questions to be judgmental or critical at all! I also want to leave time to ask about stuff I've observed, and I think those questions will be the most fruitful. Through it all, I'm attempting to stay organized by keeping a running list of all possible questions.

No circles

2008-09-18T18:53:00.000-07:00

How do you keep your work and the arguments within your work nice and tidy? I feel like a lot of my ideas are circular, and circular logic doesn't always work out so well.

I'd like my polisci paper to go somewhere....I know it should examine literature that plays a role in training teachers, principals, and/or superintendents and check how that literature is presenting the way that schools, as terrifically complex organizations, work- or don't work.

The point is not how these practitioners are trained. The point is not about teacher education (a whole other ball of wax). Hmm, it's actually helping me to write about what my paper will NOT be about!

The point IS to snoop around and figure out how this literature is using organization theory.

Does the literature think organizations are rational places?
Does it think people matter in organizations?
Does it think that the boss should make all decisions?

Write like the wind

2008-09-11T19:54:00.000-07:00

Just letting myself write a list of questions (in a zen way---without judgment) was a huge accomplishment and a great exercise for me! By permitting myself to type MY understandings of a few concepts without concern for exactly where it was all going, I made some new and somewhat promising connections. Interesting...I think I CAN use framing and coupling theory, and I think my research questions can stem from that---while decoding and comprehension are almost like cases.

Many worlds

2008-09-08T15:26:00.000-07:00

POME immersed me into the deep pool of sociology, and I quickly became attracted to organizational theory and its cousin--institutional theory. This semester I'm in a different world with different assumptions; I'm taking a political science course, and sometimes I even feel unfaithful ;)

In polisci, folks are comfortable with assuming that people, cities, our nation, and the world work, for the most part, in rational ways. They talk about bureaucrats administrations accomplishing big goals and don't always mention the gory details involved!

But there's one framework from Kaufman that I like, and it could be useful for education and policy implementation. He mentions three approaches to bureaucracy:

Representativeness- We want to vote and have local control for everyone doing anything related to running/administering our government. I feel like some charter school supporters are in this camp.
Neutral competence- It would be a good idea to have people who have the appropriate skills and knowledge to work in government administrations and implement policy; don't even worry about their political stance. School reformers who want to train teachers till the cows come home ascribe to this.
Executive leadership-Should have someone controlling all the administrative units that are floating about. When we talk about the role of districts and particularly effective superintendents, I think we're commending them for coordinating and integrating efforts to improve schools.

Finding meaning

2008-08-31T12:29:00.000-07:00

My ideas about reading instruction often hone in on the great divide between decoding and comprehension. Decoding instruction involves teaching phonemic awareness to young students in pre-K through first grade, teaching letters and sounds to kindergarteners and more involved phonetic skills to first-third graders, as well as reading fluency. Comprehension instruction involves teaching concepts about print and facilitating discussions about books to pre-K through third graders.

For many reasons, decoding instruction seems to be more technical than comprehension instruction. Instructional materials tend to be more explicit about decoding instruction than comprehension instruction. At the same time, comprehension instruction requires teachers to have a lot of pedagogical tools and skills up their sleeves, including the ability to connect reading materials to students' background and interests, as well as continually assess students.

When dealing with the band of reading callled decoding, some teachers instruct not-so-inspired recitation lessons on phonics skills or lead choral reading of decontextualized words and sentences. And, unfortunately, a lot of comprehension instruction for munchkins turns into story time and coloring, rather than rigorous instruction tackling standards and important objectives that ALL students need to succeed across subject areas and throughout grade levels.

I'm passionate about understanding the implementation of policies related to decoding and comprehension so schools, teachers, and all students can find meaning. Yes, rhyming and the alphabet are the first steps, but there's a burning need for ambitious teaching of comprehension strategies and skills so children can read for meaning in school, at home, and in life.

Family tree

2008-08-30T11:32:00.000-07:00

I taught. When I was in elementary school, I set up a one student schoolhouse to teach Memu (my fabulous grandmother) English. And, yes, I gave her spelling tests and recorded her grades. I enjoyed teaching backpacking skills to fellow college students. I chose to move to the Bay Area to teach marginalized students in an underserved school because I wanted to make a difference.

Both of my parents taught chemistry at the University-level. My dad set up countless tutorial sessions for me to practice my math skills on a white-board easel. My mom wrote a computer-game (for our Apple II GS), so I'd practice converting fractions to decimals. I think both of them have a passion for designing curricula.

My mom's mother and father were teachers. Memu was a high school teacher (history, I think) in Avignon and was very well respected by fellow teachers. My grandfather taught physics and inspired my mom to delve into the hard sciences (which seems extraordinary for a woman in 1960).

Today, there are more teachers in my family and in my circle of friends. I'd love to know more about teachers and the activities of teaching. I try to understand how schools work and what teachers do so we can help kids and adults.

Change, change, and more change

2008-08-25T09:28:00.000-07:00

During policy implementation, organizations change. If you're changing, then you're learning. Sometimes when you change, it's in the right way and--other times--it's in the wrong direction.

If you're learning, then you might not be changing. You might make the decision to remain stable. How is learning related to sensemaking? Does individual learning always involve sensemaking?

An individual can learn or an organization can learn.

Learning ranges from doing to innovating.

Regardless of the type of learning, these theories assume that actors have agency and can shake things up in their field. So it seems that framing would be relevant, too.

Two courses, two papers, one goal

2008-08-18T16:40:00.001-07:00

I will be taking two meaty courses during the fall semester- Public Organization Theory and Qualitative Methods. The organization theory course is in the Political Science department at Berkeley and will let me go deeper into theories related to organizational change and policy implementation. The methods course will teach me how to design a rigorous research project, including choosing sites and informants, writing interview questions, and coding data.

It seems possible for the poli sci course paper to be a draft of a literature review on organizational change. I could use organization theory to analyze literature, but I need to think more about WHAT literature ;) Hmm.

I hope to write a paper for the methods course that includes some preliminary findings about catalytic strength. But I do not think my school sites will be Reading First schools, so I need to think more about the specific policies being implemented by school level actors. Hmm, again :)

Yes, there's much to think about, but it sustains me to draw connections between my course work and my numero-uno goal of making significant progress this school year!

Back to catalysts

2008-08-11T11:51:00.000-07:00

If I'm going to obtain data about school leaders who are attempting to change teachers' approaches to reading instruction, then I need to revisit my Catalytic Strength paper that used Fligstein's concept of social skill...

To do:

re-read MY paper
re-read FLIGSTEIN paper on social skill
make a list of other references that I should check out
determine how I can "see" social skill in schools (especially during the coaching cycle and in interactions between coach, principal, and teacher)
figure out what background information I need about the school, its actors, etc [the context part of the paper]

There's something about August

2008-08-06T12:44:00.000-07:00

I feel like I'm in limbo during this month. I've got one foot in relaxing vacation land and another foot is plunging across into my third (!!!) year of grad school. I deserve a break, and I know I need to take care of life and academia stuff before classes start. Once again, it will be important to find balance over the next few weeks. My hope is that I can take this month, as well as this semester, step by step.

What should Obama be reading about education?

2008-07-31T10:13:00.000-07:00

I noticed this question on the Education Policy Blog (http://educationpolicyblog.blogspot.com/), and I'd like to respond here.

Some ideas:
Cuban's Reforming Again and Again
The Black-White Test Score Gap
Nation at Risk--read critically
Would be helpful to carefully read quantitative reports on who's graduating from high schools, what states are improving achievement on state tests versus NAEP

The blog also asked who Obama should choose as Secretary of Education. I'm not going to name names, but I wonder if he could choose a researcher with a balanced approach to education who could embrace nuance in policy issues :)

Go

2008-07-29T14:47:00.000-07:00

Apparently, I was ready. After a bout of procrastination and doubt that any of my ideas made any sense, I sat down and realized I was set to go.

I started by writing narratives for a couple diagrams related to the organizational consequences of instructional materials (an offshoot of the educative curriculum work). The warm-up turned into some good thinking about how to use a couple theories to describe the effects of reading curricula for teachers and schools. Starting the new strand of this project was the hardest part, and it genuinely feels good to have the show on the road!

Mental note

2008-07-25T17:30:00.001-07:00

Still need to check-out the Gouldner book, and, of course, read IT :) Sooo, what else is summer for??

5th time's a charm

2008-07-25T17:26:00.000-07:00

I think I've written FIVE titles for my Inspection paper!!!!!

Now I'm starting to understand what my main point is, and here's the title: Prying open the black box: Reading First, instructional monitoring, and organizational learning theory.

Eegad- if only I could re-write the proposal and the paper (well- I guess I coulddddddd)...

Redoing

2008-07-24T12:26:00.000-07:00

Academia involves re-doing and re-visiting a lot of work. Sometimes re-doing work involves some heartache or some swallowing of your pride or even bribing yourself with treats. I need to keep reminding myself that research is a recursive process with many ebbs and flows.

As long as I keep thinking, reading, writing, and coding (the glories of coding deserve its own post), progress will happen in some direction at some point.

Reviewing in circles

2008-07-19T09:39:00.000-07:00

I know that preparing for orals is a very big deal, and I've heard that writing a literature review can be an effective way to study your areas of specialization. On the one hand, if I reviewed literature on early reading instruction then it would be helpful because I have only taken one course on reading. On the other hand, I think it would be interesting to use different theories to analyze an issue--and I could investigate the push and pull between teacher resistance and teacher learning. Then again, I'm always thinking about coupling theory and am interested in the many ways that different researchers draw on Meyer & Rowan's decoupling premise.

So, three ideas about literature reviews- the reading one would have a more basic/boring argument and structure, while the resistance/learning one could propose directions for future research. The theoretical review would be challenging and a way to add my voice to the conversation about decoupling, neoinstitutionalism, and schools (quite a mouthful!).

It seems I need to know more about what my dissertation will be about to select a fruitful topic for the lit review. Sometimes grad school feels like a big, recursive circle: Can't do the dissertation till you do the lit review AND can't do the lit review until you know about the dissertation!!

What to do with NCLB

2008-07-16T09:35:00.000-07:00

It is quite likely that NCLB will be modified in the next couple of years. I probably should have a massive, well-developed plan for the future direction of No Child Left Behind, but I don't.

As a practitioner, NCLB changed a lot of aspects about our small charter school---from how and who we hired teachers to what textbooks we used to when we scheduled spring break to maximize teaching time before testing. I feel that a lot of pressure came from the state of California, but I've also heard that the states of New Jersey, Tennessee, Texas, and New York placed firm pressure on schools to raise achievement, too.

As a researcher, it's still impossible to quantify the effects of NCLB. Has it raised student achievement or just inflated test scores? Has it boosted equity and drawn attention to the inequitable nature of US schools or reduced the quality of instruction and teacher-student relationships? There seem to be lots of unanswered questions about this monumental policy. However, if NCLB changes, then us researchers are studying a moving target---kinda tricky for us grad students ;)

I respect the desire of educators and politicians to amend NCLB. I understand that many practitioners feel stifled by the numerous mandates of NCLB. At the same time, I hypothesize that NCLB will have long-lasting effects on schools. I wonder how long the gaming-effects of NCLB will last and how states and districts will continue to use data and monitoring to change schools.

Instead of

2008-07-11T13:02:00.000-07:00

I'm cranking out the necessary changes to draft an AERA paper proposal. It required a somewhat painful realization that some big things had to change. Instead of asking an empirical question, I had to assert what I was doing conceptually. Instead of debating the pros and cons of multiple theories, I need to argue the benefits and hindrances of organizational learning theory. Instead of writing about the holes in potential findings, I will describe the relevance of potential findings. The best news- I have a new title, Prying Open the Black Box. Second best news- I'm noticing some strengths in this paper and am generating some new ideas, oddly related to the cat in the box and quantum mechanics!

Reading list

2008-07-08T18:57:00.000-07:00

Here are some self-assigned readings for me to tackle (please excuse the lack of APA formatting):

Bendor (2001) Recycling the garbage can
Davies (1999) From moral duty to cultural rights
Granovetter (1985) Economic action and social structure

Reagans (2003) Network structure and knowledge transfer
Gouldner (1954) Patterns of industrial bureaucracy

Growing legs

2008-07-02T20:24:00.000-07:00

In the fall, I will be taking a qualitative methods course, and I would like to tackle a project that will have legs, rather than do another course paper. Since the bulk of the course will deal with data collection, it will provide an opportunity for me to collect my own data.

What data to collect? I could observe classrooms and staff meetings, interview teachers and administrators, survey teachers and administrators, and collect student work. I'd like to collect data about the ways teachers learn about/from policy related to reading instruction. I'd also like to collect data on teachers' relationships as they gain information about reading policies, which could be emanating from the school, district, or state level.

When and Where to collect data? It will be critical to choose a site early on and set up appropriate time to gather data at the school. Although I am connected to some charter schools, I am interested in gathering data from traditional public schools, in order to learn more about our local public school system.

Why? My brain's already spinning with what theory to use to guide data collection and its subsequent analysis. I have a theoretical framework that's quite deep that deals with different actors having different capabilities as framers. It would require observing and interviewing a principal, instructional coach, and teachers. I would judge and compare how different actors are strategic to promote organizational change. I've also been thinking a lot about organizational learning and teacher monitoring. That project would require observing schools and interviewing actors to understand how they collect and use information about classroom practice. Are principals actively using information gathered via classroom observations to make deep, schoolwide changes? Part of me is MORE interested in the organizational learning and, somehow, it feels more doable....but I should take some more time to think it through.

Slicing data

2008-06-30T17:01:00.000-07:00

I'm noticing that there are always multiple ways to slice the same set of data. It seems that there are many layers of data--- from the broad policy and its roots and shoots, to the various aspects of schools and instruction, and the individual actors at different times and places.

I've been slicing some data for the past few weeks (special thanks to Excel pivot table and charts) and could literally analyze the data in 100s of interesting ways. How to decide how to analyze your data? How much of the data analysis should be planned before collecting the data (for future reference)? How do you stop the data analysis and feel confident that you've figured the situation out? What if you slice the data one way and fail to discover a fascinating story hidden under other layers of data?

For another project, we're layering some interesting theory and could add our data (that would be the frosting on the paper), or we could craft a purer and deeper conceptual paper. Most papers have their intricate layers, and it's tricky to figure out which layers are of interest and work best with the theory, the methods, etc.

So many delicious options!

Hungry for feedback

2008-06-23T17:12:00.000-07:00

I miss research group! I miss bouncing ideas off folks in the hallways, at Yali's, and even on BART.

Currently, I'm in the middle of three projects. I'm getting solid feedback from my advisor on one project. The second project is collaborative, so there's been time to spit out and hash out ideas. The third project is the one I'm the most invested in, and, yet, it's the one that I've received very little feedback on. When I work on it, I try to imagine what the fantastic folks from PIRG would say, but, clearly, it's not the same... I think it might be time to ask a few people to read a few sections to give me some concrete advice and direction, so I can efficiently improve my paper on organizational learning theory.

Notes on notes

2008-06-11T18:21:00.001-07:00

To keep the piles and piles and files and files of readings about education policy, reading instruction, and sociological theories at least moderately fresh in my mind requires some gymnastics. I've attempted several different styles of note taking and think it's important to figure out the pros and cons of each them....

Back when I was a fresh and green grad student, I wrote outlines. The headings and numbered points in bullet-format required me to review all sections of readings. This format worked well for historical pieces but not as well for empirical pieces. It lacked adequate space for my own interpretation.

Next, I used the POME orals study group worksheet. The worksheet included space for a brief summary, as well as how the reading linked to other pieces- which is great for compare/contrast exercise!

I've also had cycles of writing memos about particular readings. These memos are a combination of quotes from the reading plus my interpretation/analysis/reaction. A plus of the memo is that I can copy and paste sections of the memos into my own writing work. The con is that it's hard to muster the energy to write a memo about a reading that I may never write about/need.

I guess this leads me to my final point...What type of reading notes will put me in the best position to complete pre-qualifying papers (I like to call them PQs) and survive orals. I'm tempted to create a worksheet based on my probable areas of specialization, and this would encourage me to link readings to my areas and writing as well as begin to make connections between pieces and see the holes in the field. It could also help to develop a spreadsheet with names of articles and their relation to my areas. Finally, it's all gotta go in Endnote (my dear, dear friend).

Messages in bottles

2008-06-02T21:14:00.000-07:00

Waves of reform carry many messages delivered in bottles that land on the shores of schools...I'm becoming more interested in the ways policy messages matter.

Yes, the content of the policy matters. Some policies carry messages with more weight arguing for more change. But I'm guessing that who delivers the policy message in what way affects what schools and teachers do with the message.

I think it's really interesting the ways policy documents provide information about teaching and learning---sometimes explicitly and other times between the lines. And this information can teach teachers or can incite teachers to resist, which is really just a non-conforming response to that particular message.

There are so many variables to study--compare 2 policies and how they hit a school; compare the same policy hitting 2 different schools; compare the same policy landing on 2 different districts. I'm intrigued by the idea of comparing 2 policies because it would allow me to compare how RF hit schools and teachers versus other policies. This seems productive because it could shed light on more productive ways of designing and launching policies to promote and sustain instructional improvement.

May in review

2008-05-24T12:12:00.000-07:00

It seems appropriate to review how 'finals' went for my 4th semester.

The beginning of May included a lot of careful prioritizing: skipping class to work on my Stats final project and skimming articles to write the Inspection paper. It also included some incredible feedback from a research group, which, once again, told me that I'd folded 4 papers into 1. Oops.

I completed the Stats project, and, after a few dumbledoo errors-- including inadvertently switching the groups/coded values for ELLs and non-ELLs--I realized I actually had a decent handle on the wide world of linear and logistic regression. I have a particular affinity for confidence intervals :)

Next on tap was the inspection project, and I dedicated myself to using some policy documents from California Reading First. I enjoyed writing the paper and really wanted to write and do more with the ideas and the content. So, three cheers for using organizational learning theory to understand reading policy and teachers' work.

On May 14th, I was oh so fortunate to meet my healthy and adorable newborn nephew. It was neat to be so close to family during this milestone. I've already volunteered to help develop his phonemic awareness and penmanship skills, though I will probably be on diaper-duty first!!

Finally, I revised the social skill paper. It made me realize that I still have much, much more to learn about institutional theory. It also reminded me that the MOST important part of research in the social sciences is exploring a fascinating phenomenon. It reminded me to think more about what is SO important and interesting about reading instruction. Perhaps I'll post on that next....

I know summer will have its fair share of celebrations and will fly by, but I am trying to set concrete goals for myself and set myself up for a productive autumn-semester.

Hit it

2008-05-07T20:43:00.000-07:00

Elwood: It's 106 miles to Chicago, we got a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, it's dark, and we're wearing sunglasses.
Jake: Hit it. --Blues Brothers

Well, in my case, it's 9 days till summer break, we got a laptop, coffee and coke zero, it's dark, and I'm ready to write.

Obviously, it's time to draft away and edit away---right now!

Where's the there

2008-05-04T14:23:00.001-07:00

The end of the spring semester is so, so close. I can smell it!

It's easy to think about how much more I can read and write and learn over the summer. It's also easy to daydream about the glories of free time to clean, cook, and catch up with friends. I'm also tempted to think about other big life events that are coming up. And, finally, I frequently find myself thinking about milestones that are coming up soon--but not that soon. Ah, the gratifications of graduate school: pre-qualifying papers. They're not so instant!

The bottom line is that the finish line for this semester will not be as explicitly rewarding as last spring (first year orals), but I need to keep my own goals and mile posts in mind. Till then--should focus on coding, reading, and writing.

Breadth and Depth

2008-04-28T17:28:00.000-07:00

Some classes go broader while others go deeper. Sometimes the breadth includes a lot of critiquing of what's not as useful or contemporary. It continues to be my job to do the leg work to go deeper. It's a lot of digging and requires time, energy, focus, some organizational skills [need to keep working on those], and a bit of confidence thrown in for good measure. I feel like some pieces are melding together, and I hope to do some more digging and thinking and writing this summer!!

Generating

2008-04-23T10:06:00.000-07:00

I've reached a point where I need to write to link my areas of interest, content knowledge about Reading First, and theoretical frames that I've explored.

Some ideas--which I should return to:

Ways of Seeing Reading First
Relating framing theory and coupling theory
Role of RF reading coach- what are their roles and responsibilities and how do they fit into the organizational hierarchy; what power and expertise do they have
Organizational Learning- teachers are actors who act as agents and can promote org learning
Organizational routines and policy implementation
Symbolic interactionism (need to read about this first, and then figure out how it adds to other ideas/help in my analyses)

Paper 1 and Paper 2

2008-04-19T09:42:00.000-07:00

Research Group was thought provoking and supportive yesterday, and the group encouraged me to tackle one paper at a time. I feel like I'm separating conjoined twins:

Paper 1
How to measure social skill?
What is the quality/nature of framing by school-level actors?
Who's a good framer and why- social skill gets at this, but my study will show HOW to measure these things in schools, as an institutional field.
How are principals, reading coaches, and teachers framing issues about reading instruction during implementation of RF?

Paper 2
What are the consequences of framing?
How does framing affect coupling processes in schools?
How are teacher responses to messages, which have been framed about reading instruction, indicators of coupling?

Routines

2008-04-16T18:23:00.000-07:00

After reading about routines as enabling and structuring school reform efforts, I thought a lot about routines as one type of institution. It seems like routines- ranging from how to talk about student work to how to use standardized test data to make decisions- require institutionalization efforts by actors. Schools are complicated organizations with many ideas, actors, and power structures hovering and competing for time and energy. Are new routines simplifying and streamlining or do they complicate by virtue of adding another layer?

Issues for research group

2008-04-12T12:52:00.000-07:00

I'm presenting my research design paper on institutional change on Friday. Here are some issues that I'd like Implementation Research Group to help me through:

Is there enough Sociology in this design paper? Do I need to include additional sociological theories to adequately position my topic and use of theory?
How/where should I draw out the big idea/gist of this research project? I feel like the forest is currently lost, and I guess I need help popping it up!
Should I include hypotheses? What would my hypotheses for this paper be?
My data collection no longer includes classroom observations and that sorta makes me sad, but the instructional component might just be a different project/different slice of the pie

A review is a story

2008-04-09T21:08:00.000-07:00

Today a colleague helped me over a big hurdle: the literature review. My mental block about how to review important literature has bugged me for the past 5+ months--jeepers! But, so clearly, she explained how the literature review section of a paper could tell a story about important work and findings, as well as those all-too-obvious holes in the literature....Sometimes classes are a good thing and time to talk out writing issues is a great thing!!

Springing

2008-04-08T09:41:00.001-07:00

April is an interesting month in grad school. Classes have ramped up, yet there's time to make progress on projects and work before the crunch of May. Plus, the Bay Area weather is fantastic.

Although my focus in on constantly improving as a writer and on being patient while researching and coding, I am also reflecting. Last year, my cohort was studying for first year orals. What a collaborative endeavor! How cool to share knowledge and challenge each other to read more, think more, and express our ideas clearly and with pizazz. This semester will not end with a milestone and there's a bit less collaboration. Now I'm challenging myself to keep thinking and keep trying to clearly articulate my ideas about implementation, institutional change, and teachers' work.

Teaching

2007-11-12T17:13:00.000-08:00

I had an aha moment this weekend that this semester was involving me teaching myself a lot of new concepts and procedures. From teaching myself what the results of my Levene's test meant to complete my Stats lab to reading a little extra about institutional theory for an essay, I'm teaching myself about some big dealios. Sometimes it's hard and definitely hard to be confident in your interpretations- I'm still not 100% sure if there's a difference between Institutional theory and neoinstitutionalism (wow, that's a long word), but I'll ask someone and move on. Onwards!!!

Some questions about different places

2007-11-09T17:20:00.000-08:00

How do staff members in the state department of education (Sacramento) make and implement policy, as well as undergo organizational learning?

How do researchers gain access to district and state officials?

One year

2007-11-03T17:37:00.000-07:00

I admit it--working on my POME annual review on a gorgeous Saturday afternoon isn't ideal, but....it made me appreciate all that I've learned in the past year. And, maybe even more importantly, it got me fired up for where I want to be in another year. I think if I subdivide the mountain of grad school into year-long chunks, then I can take it in a bit easier.

So, a year ago- I was taking 1st year courses, with few options, and I was getting my feet wet in policy research by reviewing Reading First policy documents. I was beginning to get comfortable with NUDIST.

In a year, my goal is to complete a pre-qualifying paper and refine my areas of specialization, as well as begin to develop an oral reading list. I feel that additional advice, from my advisors, peers, and research group, about planning and writing a pre-qualifying will help me reach my goals. I'm certain that I'll have time in January and over the summer to grapple with pre-qualifying paper topics and mapping out my areas of specialization.

Flipping, settling, and flying

2007-10-28T16:53:00.001-07:00

After flip-flopping between projects and getting a bit confused, I think I hashed out a plan for the Org Theory paper- hooray! Of course, now that I'm returning to my notes on the comparative essay, it makes me realize that my thinking has progressed a bit, and that's definitely a good thing. Every once in awhile, a phrase or sentence flies out that makes a lot of sense + might even say something of import; good stuff, good stuff. Overall, I have to remind myself to take one idea at a time and slow down to remind myself what questions I'm trying to answer in what context with what evidence.

Re-Finding

2007-10-27T10:04:00.000-07:00

I'm grappling with the role of social skill at the field level, but I think I actually worked it out last week. But this morning has been about re-discovering and re-tracing my thoughts. It's getting clearer, but I need to do a better job of capturing my ideas so I don't lose them, then find them, then re-lose them, then re-discover them!!! Perhaps REFINING some of these frameworks will help me.

Piggybacking

2007-10-25T21:51:00.000-07:00

I read. I write. I think and try to talk over ideas with others. Then I read a lot more and attempt to write.

This semester, I'm really working on putting words down that link all the stuff I've been reading, by folks ranging from Spillane and Meyer& Rowan to Weber and Kingdon, to my own ideas. I think it's important to read others' work, but I don't want my writing and work to just be repeating others' ideas or an endless series of quotes. At the same time, my own ideas---when thrown on paper/on screen/out loud in discussion---aren't so stable and just don't have a lot of weight unless they're piggybacked onto big frameworks.

Brain squeeze

2007-10-24T20:56:00.000-07:00

This weekend I did some thinking and writing, and, in the process, I forced myself to make some tough choices about my interests. For awhile, I've been on the instructional materials pony---that is, I've been putting a lot of blame/emphasis/power on the role of reading instructional materials (okay, yeah, I'm talking about Open Court here!). I still think instructional materials are important, but I don't want to be studying OCR till I turn blue because I think there are more interesting/important/bizarre aspects to teachers' practice.

Now I'm trying to view instructional materials as one tool that teachers use and one factor that contributes to reading policies being interpreted and enacted in certain ways in classrooms. Whew! I almost feel that by dropping my OCR obsession (slight exaggeration, but...), I'm taking a step back into the larger, more nebulous environment where policy and schools and instructional materials play. So, I probably need to do some more reading, writing, and struggling to refine some research questions......

Sharp pencils

2007-09-02T15:07:00.000-07:00

My pencils were sharpened for the first week of classes. Although it's only the beginning of my second year at Berkeley, I can tell that this third semester of courses will contribute extensively and deeply to my transformation into a scholar and researcher! Stats will give me tools to sharply analyze and critique other research, while being mindful of whether my findings are grounded, precise, and accurate. Org theory will introduce me to lenses that I will probably use in my dissertation. More ambitiously, I hope the course's final project can blossom into a qualifying paper! The implementation research group will push me to collaborate to refine my interests, writing, and musings :)

I'm trying to stay conscious of how much I can successfully bite off and chew. There's a time and a place for heroics. And also a time and place for learning more about what you need to learn more about. I need to think more about what place I'm in. From there, I must make sure that my efforts are concentrated to help me....maybe more on this later ;)

Something new

2007-08-12T12:51:00.000-07:00

Lunch with Willow reminded me of the importance of acknowledging and probing the unexpected within research data, as well as the deliciousness of fried food. Okay, back to serious grad school stuff...

So, there's a recurring theme in the data (which I didn't collect) that I'm currently reviewing/analyzing. Many teachers are saying that the district/school's core reading program is too hard for their students.

Now I'm questioning what reading programs, such as OCR, teach instructors about students' abilities and about differentiation? How does OCR impact differentiation? What’s going on at the intersection of teacher knowledge about THEIR students and standards/IM/OCR. It seems that teachers are grappling with how to best serve their students' needs through targeted/leveled instruction while managing implementation of a one-size-fits-all reading program, which doesn't leave teachers with a lot of time or energy to differentiate.

On top of all that---is OCR too hard or too easy? Many teachers/researchers/pundits moan that OCR focuses on basic skills, implying it's too EASY. Yet, this data (and I've heard from other teachers at a range of Bay Area schools) are pretty convinced that the program is too HARD. It seems like teachers are stuck between a rock and a hard place. I'd like to better understand that place!!

August and Flying

2007-08-09T18:38:00.001-07:00

Well, the summer has flown by! After getting married, flying to Greece to lounge like a professional, and swinging back to California, it was time to dive into a research project on reading instruction in Massachusetts. The project really matches my interests--teachers' work, what influences teachers' thinking about their students and subject matter, and instructional policy. Some days I come home feeling victorious because I've learned something new about NDIST, but there are other days when my eyes are just really, really tired. Now it's August, and the Bay Area fog is back and there's no stopping the clock....classes are just around the corner! I want to think carefully before committing to classes and research groups, as well as other projects ;) I hope to keep my focus, throughout my coursework this semester, on my interests. Yeh, it sounds self-centered, but I'm pretty sure it's an important part of grad school :)

Summer list

2007-06-04T12:04:00.000-07:00

I feel like the summer is a great time to organize the piles of grad school stuff- rich course notes, diverse articles, and papers. I'm working through creating my own bibliograph/library of reading policy articles. In addition, I think I need to do find another class to take in the fall :>

Politics

2007-05-05T15:26:00.000-07:00

If I'm studying Ed Policy, then I need to remember the politics involved. So, my orals response should address politics: power, laws, the courts, regulations, organization, beliefs/ideologies, values/morals, and money. What else is political? Ok, well, I guess everything is political, but I can't humanly remember to talk about everything ;)

I'm going to study/review:

The role of the Judiciary branch
School finance
What conflict theorists think about the power structure (Marx, anyone?!)

Oh, yeah, and in a couple months, I get to go here:

Twenty eight minutes

2007-04-22T18:46:00.000-07:00

Today's orals practice taught me that time flies when you're talking about accountability ;) I made an effort to commit to a theoretical frame (thank goodness for Larry Cuban) and let myself talk-and-talk-and-talk. Seriously, reviewing notes and our peer-collated summaries and memos have helped solidify two semester's worth of history, theories, and research. Things to do: learn a few dates; force yourself to answer the question to stay on topic; distinguish between incremental and fundamental reform.

I know the next few weeks will be challenging, but it's likely that I'll learn a lot in the process....and then it's summer!!

Principals and principles

2007-04-18T00:10:00.000-07:00

I am very interested in school leadership. I feel that coaches and principals set the tone at school sites; their principles matter. Although PLI is a part of GSE, I fail to remember it.

I would like to use PLI as a resource: how are principals taught to coach/monitor/evaluate teachers' reading instruction? what do principals know about reading instruction? what do principals know about reading policies- including options for instructional materials, assessments, etc?

The even bigger picture

2007-04-12T08:39:00.000-07:00

This year at Berkeley has taught me a great deal about the history of the US ed system and the nature of institutions. While studying for 1st year orals, I realized that I need to acknowledge the larger umbrella of enduring educational issues. I hope to add to this list as I continue studying for orals.

Here are some ideas:

role of schools in society
role of schools in promoting democratic values
schools as equalizer- since the Common School movement
Ed Gospel: schools reformed to reduce people's anxiety instead of other aspects of social welfare
extent of schooling- children go for 12+ years, for 180 days per year- lots of time!
what it means to be institutionalized- with routines, common norms, traditions (Grammar of Schooling and sounds a bit like Durkheim...)
the difference between education and schooling
the nature of teaching & learning--who's teaching & how; who's learning & how
the nature of curriculum & instruction--what's being taught & why & how; impact of values/purposes of education on curriculum
nature of literacy- historically for religious purposes, then political/civic purposes (Common Schools & Progressives), now economic purposes (Nation at Risk)

On y Va

2007-04-05T07:12:00.000-07:00

I find myself juggling between projects---from analyzing Open Court, to outlining the accountability movement in California, to reading about ministers' role in the Progressive movement and comparing and contrasting how school leaders and teachers understand RF as a reform. I'm learning that each question hatches open another 5 questions, and all those questions need theories and data and analysis to back them up or figure them out. It definitely involves juggling and, at times, seems scattered with a capital S. But it's going, and going, and going!

Back to the races

2007-04-02T07:17:00.000-07:00

Spring break is officially over, so I will go to classes today. My mind feels more relaxed and ready for the challenges this month has in store for me! I know that I need to budget my time wisely over the next few weeks, and I must prioritize. Most of all, my goal is to integrate my learning and think macro as much as possible---that should help with orals.

Different pieces of the pie

2007-03-27T09:56:00.000-07:00

It's not strawberry rhubard pie, but it might be a dissertation ;) It helps me to break the monster up into manageable chunks, with separate questions and data. Right now, I have a decent handle on the qualitative stuff, and the other stuff could be out in left field. We'll see...

Qualitative: What have instructional policies done to reading instruction and teachers' role in schools; How have teachers learned about reading policies and modulated these reform efforts

Quantitative: NAEP reading scores- what have accountability & instructional policies done to the achievement gap (perhaps across different states)

Historical/Sociological/Theoretical perspective: History of teachers as change-agents; how teachers are controlled/exert control in schools; how the organization of schools leads to teachers altering policies (Do we have evidence of this from different time periods??)

Projects

2007-03-23T09:36:00.000-07:00

Organizational Theory

How an organization/school network makes decisions about curriculum and instruction
How an organization uses principals and teacher-leaders to inform other teachers about curricular changes [role of leadership and hierarchy]
How teachers on the ground respond to directives/mandates AND new materials/resources

Goals

2007-03-23T09:31:00.000-07:00

AERA

poster presentation/roundtable/symposium
a chance to meet the folks behind some outstanding research/papers (Miskel, Knapp, Ingersoll, Wright....)

More methods!

2007-03-21T19:13:00.000-07:00

To do: learn a lot more about HLM

Also, review research on attributing the achievement gap to a 'summer-effect'

Productivity

2007-03-20T16:44:00.000-07:00

Today I worked from home and was very productive.

I hammered out a powerpoint presentation on Balanced Reading instruction and thought through some key points and tough questions. I did some reading on preschool education and the transition to school-- it made me think more about WHO teaches, especially in the early elementary grades. Now I'm reading about California's policies regarding CELDT and ELLs. I was surprised to learn that the ELL testing program was initiated in 1999- which seems so recent and explains the dearth of research on this very important topic! I know I should review and practice my presentation, but I also want to squeeze in some rest and relaxation tonight.

The best

2007-03-19T17:22:00.000-07:00

"What the best and wisest parent wants for his own child, that must the community want for all of its children.
Any other ideal for our schools is narrow and unlovely; acted upon, it destroys our democracy...
Only by being true to the full growth of all the individuals who make it up, can a society by any chance be true to itself." --Dewey, The School and Society

What do the best parents want for their children?
What do different communities want for their children?

Incentive chart

2007-03-19T17:11:00.000-07:00

I actually felt mildly comfortable while presenting today on a Wiley & Wright article. I think I deserve a sticker for not sweating to death or hyperventilating while doing an oral presentation. It felt good :)

Gotta have trust

2007-03-19T17:09:00.000-07:00

· Some argue that state policy interferes with social capital in communities (Coleman, Putnam, Lowry) by disrupting local connections, trust, etc (Bryk, Fukyama...I think he's a crazy postmodernist).

What if reading policies are interfering with social capital at school sites?

· Define modes of policy interference and measure how Reading First changes social capital at a school

· Use OCR as proxy for RF as a disruptive policy

· Hypotheses: reading policies reduce trust; alter communication patterns; change collaboration patterns (from teacher-teacher to coach-teacher) [hmmm….that’s a big topic in and of itself];

Big Three

2007-03-19T17:05:00.000-07:00

Here are my areas of specialization.....

1) Reading instructional policy

Allington, R. (2001). Does Reading Policymaking Matter? In T. Loveless (Ed.), The Great Curriculum Debate (pp.268-298). Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press.

Coburn, C.E. (2001). Outside-In. Logics of Reading in the Environment. Chapter from dissertation.

Coburn, C.E.

Shaping Teacher Sensemaking: School Leaders and the Enactment of Reading Policy

Shannon, P. (1983). The Use of Commercial Reading Materials in American Elementary Schools. Reading Research Quarterly, 19 (1), 68-85.

Song, Miskel

Who Are the Influentials? A Cross-State Social Network Analysis of the Reading Policy Domain

Whitty, G. (1985). Sociology and School Knowledge. London: Methuen & Co.

2) The relationship between policy and teachers’ work

Michael Knapp

The School and District Environment for Meaning-Oriented Instruction.

Maggie Lampert	Teaching Problems and the Problems of Teaching
Susannah Loeb	Public Policy and Teacher Labor Markets

MacGillivray, L., et al. (2004). Colonized Teachers: Examining the implementation of a scripted reading program. Teaching Education. Vol. 15, No. 2.

3) Equitable practices of curriculum and instruction

Cummins, J. (2001). Empowering Minority Students: A Framework for Introduction. Harvard Educational Review.

Norton Grubb

The Education Gospel