Open AccessSupporting Community-Oriented Educational Change
Author(s) -
Linda Mabry,
Laura Ettinger
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
education policy analysis archives
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.727
H-Index - 46
ISSN - 1068-2341
DOI - 10.14507/epaa.v7n14.1999
Subject(s) - curriculum , workload , politics , professional development , organizational change , social change , curriculum development , identification (biology) , sociology , medical education , pedagogy , public relations , psychology , political science , medicine , management , botany , law , economics , biology
A study of a federally funded program to develop and implement community-oriented social studies curricula and curriculum-based assessments grounds cautions for educational change initiatives. In this case, despite the project director's stated intent to support teachers' desire for instruction regarding local culture and history, top-down support for classroom-level change evidenced insensitivity. Production and implementation of the planned curricula and assessments was obstructed by teacher's lack of cultural identification with the targeted community groups, workload, competing instructional priorities, inadequate communication, and organizational politics. Professional development was sometimes beneficial but more often ineffective—either perfunctory, unnecessary, or disregarded. The findings offer insight regarding educational change and a systemic analysis.