Journal of Educational Change最新文献

Despite interest in online learning for meeting student needs at scale, existing research finds relatively low levels of engagement in most forms of virtual learning, especially among economically disadvantaged students. This is concerning as the Covid-19 pandemic forced a dramatic increase in remote learning among students and educators who did not specifically opt into the model. We study an early innovative effort to virtually serve such K-12 students and teachers and to capitalize on the unique advantages of distance learning to promote educational equity amid the pandemic. This five-week, largely synchronous, summer program served nearly 12,000 rising 4th-9th graders, mostly low-income students of color. To expand access to excellent educators, "mentor teachers," selected based on merit, provided PD and videos of themselves teaching daily lessons to "partner teachers" across the country. We interviewed a representative sample of teachers and analyzed educator, parent, and student surveys. Our study adds to the existing online learning literature by illustrating that it is possible to virtually engage a more generalizable set of students and teachers than have previously been studied and to use technology to extend the reach of talented teachers. Strategies for online engagement that scholars have identified when studying more specialized groups pre-pandemic appear relevant with a more generalizable population, such as the inclusion of meaningful content and a synchronous delivery format. Consistent with prior research, teachers appreciate receiving adaptable curricular materials and differentiated PD. Findings have implications for future uses of online learning, during periods of disruption and more typical times.

This paper undertakes a critical analysis of a planned change, the Safe Learning Model (SLM), devised over time by Concern Worldwide, and implemented in 100 primary or elementary schools in a rural district of Sierra Leone. We situate the documentation pertaining to the SLM (micro) within its wider national (meso) and international (macro) context of influential policy texts. We undertake a mixed methods analysis of these macro, meso and micro documents, interrogated through the prism of various change paradigms (scientific management, progressivism, critical theory, teacher professionalism and social movement) and in doing establish where these various document clusters, their explicit and implicit influences, may be located along the arc of change paradigms, thus surfacing their ideological assumptions, intent and influences. The paper concludes that in seeking to improve the quality of teaching, learning, and living in this instance, scientific management casts long shadows. The power, perspectives and financial influence of international agencies dominate change discourses whereby 'learning crises' require urgent responses in the form of testing and measuring that prevail over more expansive pedagogical capacity building. Consequently, perpetuating a 'weighing the pig' mindset downplays or ignores the ecology of teaching and learning, particularly the centrality of teachers, as professionals and role models, more likely to be compliant than transformative.

Many of today's educational organizations around the world contend with complex challenges. Yet, longstanding practices and norms in educational systems can hamper educators' abilities to identify and address these challenges, such as only principals leading change efforts or the use of misaligned "quick fixes" for ill-defined challenges. A design-based approach to organizational change, on the other hand, holds promise to reframe change in local educational agencies like schools. Design thinking is one way to enact a design-based approach, but little research has investigated the process's use to help educators conceptualize and implement change. Drawing upon transformational learning theory, this United States-based mixed-methods study examined a year-long professional learning workshop sponsored by a state education agency that used design thinking to reframe how participants orchestrated change in their contexts. Results indicated that design thinking helped participants devise more nuanced understandings of themselves and the change process in their contexts, yet, most participants' actions continued to be influenced by longstanding practices and norms of the U.S. educational system. We close by discussing implications for practice and policy, particularly the need for professional learning experiences that prompt educators to critically reflect upon their mindsets and how their actions may differ from those mindsets. This greater understanding can better position educators to engage in change efforts that address increasingly complex challenges in education.

In turbulent environments, schools have to adapt to constantly changing conditions. According to ambidexterity theory, whether they are successful in this primarily depends on their leaders and how they manage the tension between the use of current knowledge (exploitation) and the search for new knowledge (exploration). Through unique top-down and bottom-up pathways, they thus influence the innovation outcome of a school. However, it is so far unclear whether these assumptions are correct. Using data from a panel of principals who are representative of Germany and were surveyed before and during the COVID-19 pandemic, we therefore investigate if and how school leaders adapted to the turbulent environment caused by the pandemic and evaluate the extent to which this had an impact on their schools' innovations in teaching and instruction. The results demonstrate that principals' exploration activities increased markedly during the pandemic, while their exploitation activities decreased noticeably. Further, a focus on the use and refinement of existing knowledge in comparatively predictable (pre-COVID-19) environments harmed principals' readiness to explore new knowledge in increasingly uncertain environments. Nevertheless, exploitation had positive consequences for the innovativeness of schools, and exploration goes along with more radical innovations in teaching and instruction. Our research suggests that schools that innovatively addressed the COVID-19 pandemic had school leaders who were able to quickly shift between the two modes of exploitation and exploration. A capacity to transition seamlessly between these modes of thinking and working thus appears to be vital for the longevity of schools.