Educator adoption of improved teaching and learning practices: Viewed through the lens of Rochester School District\u27s 2007 Strategic Framework

This dissertation study was an outgrowth of the Rochester City School District\u27s Board-approved Strategic Framework, which combined the district\u27s Theory of Change and Theory of Action. To assist the district with implementing its reforms, coordinating and monitoring the change process, as well as attending to the individual and organizational learning necessitated by the theories of change and action, this dissertation study was in response to poor high school achievement and graduation rates; and the lack of a common vision, consistent approaches, or like frameworks for improving teaching practices, and student learning and achievement. The theoretical framework relied on qualitative approaches with some elements of descriptive statistics. The study depended on practitioner-based action research and a constructivist approach. Consulted were theoretical literatures on action, program, change, organizational management, organizational learning, and complexity, as well as descriptive and empirical sources contemplating whole school, high school, school-level, and district reform. The study was intended to derive a sense of educator understandings, experiences, perspectives, and preferences. It provided a working framework to immediately inform practice in Rochester and future studies. It defined theory of action and change, and included a series of deep insights into the complex tapestry of educational reform—from conceptualization, planning, implementation, monitoring, evaluation, and replication to building a system of schools and personnel focused on continuous learning and the adoption of effective high school reform practices. The analysis highlighted Rochester educators\u27 perspectives and experiences regarding education reform. The study\u27s recommendations included the importance of involving and tapping into the knowledge of critical implementers as they interpret, and link their current practice to, an espoused reform agenda. Strategies isolated the need for leaders to adequately and deliberately support and develop educators\u27 understanding, adoption, practice, and demonstration of desired classroom-, school-, and district-level changes. Additional recommendations focused on clarifying and communicating the strategic direction and annual priorities in a systematic and continuous fashion, and establishing leading and lagging measures of progress for the overall change process and implementation of specific reforms. There was also a need for establishing and monitoring responsibility, authority, and accountability for each step in reform implementation