The Policy of Teacher Standards: A Systems Mapping Framework for the Implementation Process of Teacher Preparation

Abstract

Teacher preparation has the insurmountable task of preparing candidates for classrooms with constantly changing demographics and demands. Whether it is contemporary pedagogical practices or understanding the needs of a multilingual/multicultural student body, TESOL teacher preparation programs (TPP) are trusted by accrediting bodies to produce classroom‐ready teachers. In the United States, state departments of education produce teacher standards that are implemented in TPP curricula, which are then acknowledged through accreditation. This relationship marks these TESOL teacher standards as policy (Johnson, 2013), and this study serves as an exemplar for mapping the implementation process, starting with the language policy funnel (Johnson & Johnson, 2015) and then expanding it using Social Systems Theory (Luhmann, 2012). The new system model highlights two breakdown points in the implementation process, which question the teacher standards/curriculum alignment in a Midwestern TESOL TPP. The findings offer insight into the complexity of TESOL TPP, the disconnect between TPPs and real‐world classrooms, and policy implementation research in educational contexts.