Educational Policy and Practice From the Perspective of Institutional Theory: Crafting a Wider Lens By Patricia Burch

1. Educational Policy and Practice From the Perspective of Institutional Theory: Crafting a Wider LensBy Patricia Burch CSUSB EADM 730 Politics, Legislative Action and Educational Change Dr. Deborah Stine Jennifer Lucht and Cynthia Spence

2. Research Question Why is it that organizations located in diverse settings that have little interaction nevertheless adopt policies and practices that are similar” (p. 85)?

3. Case Study – Glendale School District • Approximately 100, 000 students enrolled in 2002, across 202 schools • Uses outside vendors for both instructional and noninstructional services • Perfect Storm – less money/more mandates

4. Glendale’s Reform Objective • The district outlined an overarching theory of action to guide instructional improvements in both reading and mathematics. The district emphasized common reform principles to be applied across subject areas with key references to: • Standards-based instruction • Leadership building • Learning community • Teacher professional development

5. Burch’s Hypothesis The variation in subject matter in district professional development practices and other reform activities reflect field dynamics as much as the district's formal policy design (p. 88).

6. Reading – Organizational Field • Wide range of district office staff members representing different departments were involved • Other actors: professional development organizations, test publishers, and foundations – minimal role • Focused on helping teachers deliver instruction

7. Math – Organizational Field • Fewer District office staff members identified with the district’s work in mathematics (p. 88). • Other actors: professional development organizations, test publishers, and foundations – strong role • “they act as carriers of broader cultural norms that frequently reinforce the very practices that reform designs aim to change” (p. 87). • Focused on teacher receiving content knowledge

8. Call to Action – Bottom up • Resist • Reinterpret • And/or ignore these pressures (p. 91). Through interactions, individuals and organizations can transform the meaning of policy and create new tools and frames for addressing social problems, frames that then are incorporated into new policies and the institutions created to support them (p. 85).

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10. Burch’s Research Summary • Explored an approach to understanding patterns of implementation through the lens of organizational field dynamics. • Identified conditions that contribute to bottom-up changes in established policy and practice. • Suggested how field measures can help capture effects that might otherwise be ignored in the face of early implementation failures.

11. Future Research • Burch will use statistical analysis to explore variation across mathematics and literacy fields over time and will examine the relationship between the size and composition of these fields and shifts in the resources available to teachers within the local environment (p. 93).

12. Cohort Feedback “… the same concepts could be applied to other kinds of contemporary instructional reforms, such as class size reduction , bilingual education, and remedial instruction” (p. 92). Speak with a partner and share one area of reform, from your position in education, that falls under Burch’s institutional theory.