The Dilemmas of Educational Reform

Abstract

The environment of U.S. schools has changed dramatically over a quarter century as standards tied to test-based accountability and market competition became commonplace. We examine the issues that school systems face in this changing environment, to identify considerations for researchers interested in reform as educational system building. We highlight a central dilemma: Systems manage environmental pressures to become more coherent enterprises that focus on tested outcomes while managing the inherited differentiated organizations and environmental pressures which support these enterprises. We identify four activity domains that are defined by these competing pressure: consensus on outcomes; infrastructure to connect outcomes with instruction; recruitment that is aligned with outcomes; and competing environmental pressures.

Learning From Standards Deviations: Three Dimensions for Building Education Policies That Last

“…In developing my theoretical framework, I draw upon prior policy implementation frameworks by Porter (1994; Porter, Floden, Freeman, Schmidt, & Schwille, 1988) and Cohen et al (2018). The policy attribute theory argues that the specificity, consistency, authority, power, and stability of a policy determine its effective implementation (Porter, 1994; Porter et al, 1988).…”

“…Stability is the extent to which policies change or remain constant over time. While Porter and colleagues’ (1988) policy attributes are meant to be applied broadly, Cohen et al (2018) focus more specifically on the competing pressures within standards-based reform. They identify four activity domains: (1) consensus on appropriate educational outcomes (or a lack thereof), (2) infrastructure to connect outcomes with instruction, (3) recruitment and preparation of teachers that are aligned with outcomes, and (4) competing environmental pressures.…”

“…Table 1 provides a crosswalk among the sins, domains, attributes, and dimensions. The majority of Moore’s criticisms center on the lack of consensus on outcomes, as well as conflicts with cultural values, including local historical context and basic skills, as well as the environmental pressures enacted by political elites (Cohen et al, 2018). To put Moore into conversation with Porter (1994), the implementation of the CCSS was sorely lacking in specificity, consistency, and authority.…”

“…States continue to drop out of CCSS-related organizations, such as the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers, which once boasted 24 member states but now has only 6 (Jochim & McGuinn, 2016; Sawchuk, 2018). The reasons for the declining support for national standards, from unaligned curricular resources to rushed implementation timelines, to the difficulty of new tests, are well established (Cohen, Spillane, & Peurach, 2018; Polikoff, 2017). In addition to implementation challenges, political conflict expanded in the midst of a coordinated social media campaign, and former Education Secretary Arne Duncan became a polarizing proponent of the CCSS.…”

The Process and Politics of Educational Governance Change in New Orleans, Los Angeles, and Denver

“…Extant research on PMMs focuses on some of the pressures contributing to change, as well as the various forms systems are taking (see review below), but does not look holistically over time and rarely draws on theories from other fields (McLendon & Cohen-Vogel, 2008). Relatedly, scholars have noted a lack of research on innovation at the system level, particularly, studies comparing school systems in the United States (Cohen et al, 2017). Our study addresses these gaps by asking: What factors and conditions shaped changing educational governance in three cities that have moved toward a PMM?…”