The Relationship between Components of Effective Organizations and Teachers\u27 Instructional Practice

This purpose of this study is to determine whether the components of effective organizations are significantly related to teachers’ instructional practice as perceived by the teacher using data from the Program Capacity Survey (PCS) gathered during Year Two and Three of the STEM Career Awareness Program reform initiative. The PCS utilized Leithwood, Aitken and Jantzi’s (2001) monitoring tool and is based upon both Organizational Learning Theory and the Theory of Sustainability (Coburn, 2003). This study utilized selected questions from the PCS which were categorized into components of effective organizations. A factor analysis was used to establish the validity of the categorization. Using an ordinal logistic regression, data was analyzed to determine whether the components of effective organizations are significantly related to teachers’ instructional practice. In addition, the relationship and strength of association between the level of involvement in the decision making process and teachers’ perception of their instructional practice was analyzed. While the results of the ordinal regression were statistically nonsignificant, there was a statistically significant relationship based upon Cramer’s V for all five of the components of effective organizations at various collection periods throughout the reform implementation. There also was a statistically significant association between the level of involvement in the decision making process to adopt a new reform initiative and teachers’ instructional practice as perceived by the teacher. The findings support attending to and addressing components of effective organizations to create the conditions necessary to ensure a more successful reform implementation and increase the likelihood of sustainability