The implementation of California\u27s Senate Bill 1969: A case study of one school district\u27s approach to the staff development and alternative certification

This study examined the process for implementation of the SB 1969 Staff Development in Sacramento City Unified School District. This case study focused on the implementation process from its inception in 1995 to the full implementation of training K–12 teachers during the 1997–98 school year. The data revealed that the policy implementation process occurred in three stages: (1) the planning phase, (2) the K–8 implementation phase, (3) the full K–12 implementation phase with modifications to the K–8 training component. The analysis revealed that local choices about how to proceed from policy to practice have had more significance for policy implementation than did policy features such as program design, funding levels, or governance requirements. The recommendations in this study are based on the research, findings, and conclusions. They include: (1) districts need to plan for policy implementation as a gradual process, (2) districts need to understand that successful implementation can only be achieved through a developmental process that consists of frequent reviews and modifications, (3) there must be an effective and committed group of people in the district guiding the implementation process, (4) districts must anticipate resistance to change by dealing with it accordingly, with flexibility built into the process, (5) the State must continue to provide an alternative means of credentialing teachers, who work with Limited English Proficient students in California. The recommendations for policy makers include: (1) policy makers should obtain information about policies directly from educators at the beginning of the policy development process; (2) policy makers should create liaisons with organized groups that represent the educational community in order to obtain feedback about policies affecting education; (3) policy makers need to ensure that they are obtaining information from the key stakeholders that will be affected by the educational policy, or gather information from other education-related organizations; (4) policy makers should utilize the internet, and other forms of communication to disseminate educational policy information