Technical Ceremonies: Rationalization, Opacity, and the Restructuring of Educational Organizations

2020 ◽  
Vol 90 (3) ◽  
pp. 446-473
Author(s):  
MAXWELL M. YURKOFSKY
Keyword(s):  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
School Level ◽  
School Systems ◽  
Educational Organizations ◽  
Surface Level ◽  
External Stakeholders ◽  
Education School ◽  
School Organizations ◽  
Improving Teaching And Learning ◽  
Emerging Pattern

After decades of accountability and market-based reforms in education, school systems are now organizing more around improving teaching and learning. Yet these efforts frequently yield unintended, superficial, or even counterproductive changes at the school level. In this article, Maxwell Yurkofsky develops the concept of technical ceremonies as a way of theorizing this emerging pattern of school organizations. Technical ceremonies involve educators changing their practice to align with new reforms in a way that privileges what is visible and measurable as a way of appeasing external stakeholders over more substantive improvements to practice. He argues that technical ceremonies arise as principals navigate a multitude of surface-level demands from the environment and the uncertainties that pervade efforts to transform teaching and learning.

A Collaborative Effort: Peer Review and the History of Teacher Evaluations in Montgomery County, Maryland

2012 ◽  
Vol 82 (1) ◽  
pp. 142-152 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeremy Sullivan
Keyword(s):  
Public Schools ◽  
School System ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Teacher Evaluations ◽  
Montgomery County ◽  
Collaborative Approach ◽  
Educational Organizations ◽  
Education Association ◽  
History Of ◽  
Improving Teaching And Learning

In this article, Jeremy Sullivan explores the history of teacher evaluations in Montgomery County, Maryland. He describes how, over the course of three decades, the Montgomery County Education Association (MCEA) established itself as a strong and powerful professional association and leveraged its power to institutionalize a more collaborative approach to teacher evaluations in the county. Drawing largely on archival data from educational organizations in Montgomery County, Sullivan shows how the MCEA and its member teachers objected to evaluation mechanisms they considered unfair and ineffective. He then outlines the process through which the MCEA worked together with administrators to develop the Peer Assisted Review program. Today this program, jointly run by MCEA and the school system, enjoys widespread support in the county and serves as an example of how teachers and their unions can partner with administrators to work together toward the goal of improving teaching and learning in public schools.

Administrasi Kurikulum

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qatrin Nada Sanya Rossevin
Keyword(s):  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
School Level ◽  
Educational Institutions ◽  
Educational Goals ◽  
Good Teaching ◽  
Learning Situation ◽  
Whole Process ◽  
Learning Practices ◽  
Teaching Programs ◽  
Principal Task

Curriculum administration is the whole process of planned and intentional and deliberate activities as well as ongoing guidance to the teaching and learning situation in order to help the achievement of educational goals effectively and efficiently.In this connection, at any school level the principal task of the school is to ensure that there are good teaching programs for students. Because basically the management or management of education focuses on all its efforts on teaching and learning practices (PBM). This seems clear that in essence all efforts and activities carried out in schools or educational institutions are always directed at the success of PBM.

Turning Standardized Test Scores into a Tool for Improving Teaching and Learning

2000 ◽  
Vol 35 (3) ◽  
pp. 356-384 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jie-Qi Chen ◽  
Renee Salahuddin ◽  
Patricia Horsch ◽  
Suzanne L. Wagner
Keyword(s):  
Test Scores ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Standardized Test ◽  
Standardized Test Scores ◽  
Improving Teaching And Learning

scholarly journals Un-rational behaviour? What causes discrepancies between teachers’ attitudes towards evidence use and actual instances of evidence use in schools?

2016 ◽  
Vol 54 (4) ◽  
pp. 469-491 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chris Brown ◽  
Dell Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
School Leaders ◽  
School Systems ◽  
Evidence Use ◽  
High Stakes ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Analyse Data ◽  
Learning Conversations ◽  
Teachers Attitudes ◽  
Rational Behaviour

Purpose – Whilst beneficial, the use of evidence to improve teaching and learning in schools is proving difficult to achieve in practice. The purpose of this paper is to shed new light on this issue by examining the applicability of a model of rational behaviour as relates to the notion of evidence-informed practice (EIP). Specifically, exploring the question: “if EIP is rational behavior, why are not all teachers engaged in it?”, the authors examine whether the beliefs and perspectives of teachers in relation to EIP, align with their evidence-use behaviours. The authors then assess what factors prevent teachers/schools from engaging in EIP. Design/methodology/approach – To examine beliefs, instances of, and barriers to evidence use, the authors employ a Gradient Boosted Tree predictive model to analyse data from a survey of 696 practitioners in 79 schools. Findings – The findings suggest that, should they wish to increase EIP within their schools, school leaders need to: first, promote the vision for evidence-use (i.e. actively encourage its use); second, illustrate how research and evidence can be effectively employed to enhance aspects of teaching and learning; and third, establish effective learning environments, in which learning conversations around the use of evidence, can flourish. Originality/value – Using a new, innovative model of rationality, the authors conclude that despite the focus on EIP in many school systems world-wide, evidence use will never be meaningfully realized unless school leaders prioritize EIP as a school commitment. Simultaneously, given the high-stakes accountability environments facing many school systems it is unlikely that prioritization of EIP will occur until EIP forms part of any education system’s accountability regime.

scholarly journals Using Student-Centered Projects To Teach Mathematics Content Standards

2006 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Carryn Bellomo
Keyword(s):  
Middle School ◽  
School District ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Academic Community ◽  
School Level ◽  
Content Standards ◽  
College Level ◽  
Mathematical Content ◽  
Clark County ◽  
Clark County School District

Teaching and learning standards across the country are becoming more content driven, especially in mathematics.  As such, it is essential to develop substantive college level math courses for pre-service and in-service teachers.  These courses should deliver mathematical content in a relevant way.  Teachers must not only be proficient in their subject, but also recognize how to apply content meaningfully to student’s lives.  As part of a grant funded through the Department of Education in coordination with the Clark County School District, I have designed two college level courses that will deliver mathematical content standards to middle school teachers.  These courses will help prepare teachers at the middle school level by focusing on mathematical content, making connections within the curriculum, using technology, and enhancing the role of mathematics in everyday life and problem solving. The primary purpose of this paper is to share with the academic community the projects used to develop content understanding in mathematics topics such as:  mathematical notation, proportion, computation, estimation, linear regression, reflections, translations, finding relationships, and analyzing data.  This paper will present these projects, and tie them to mathematics standards outlined in the Clark County School District (and Nevada State) Standards.

scholarly journals Usaha Guru dan Karyawan untuk mengefektifkan proses belajar mengajar dalam pembelajaran Administrasi.

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Khairunnisa ◽  
Tia Ayu Ningrum
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Training ◽  
Human Resources ◽  
Learning Process ◽  
Educational Administration ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Education Administration ◽  
Educational Goals ◽  
Educational Organizations

Administration is an effort to create cooperation between teachers and employees to streamline the teaching and learning process. The purpose of this article is to provide knowledge about educational administration in the field of teacher training. Educational administration is also all the techniques and procedures used in implementing educational relations in accordance with established policies in order to achieve educational goals. In order to operationalize the concept of education administration. Schools as educational organizations must manage three things, namely material, human resources, and curriculum.

scholarly journals Hastening slowly: insights about teacher development from an evaluation of courses at the WCED’s Cape Teaching and Leadership Institute

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan Meyer ◽  
Lydia Abel
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Teacher Development ◽  
Professional Learning ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
School Level ◽  
Western Cape ◽  
Leadership Institute ◽  
Service Training ◽  
Education Administrators ◽  
The Impact

In the area of teacher professional development, South African education administrators face the challenge of reconciling two imperatives that have entirely different implications for programme time frames and budgets. On the one hand, there is an urgent need to improve the pedagogic content knowledge of many teachers to improve the overall standard of teaching and learning in the public school system. Considering the scale and urgency of the matter, centralised course-based in-service training seems to be the only affordable alternative. On the other hand, researchers have long warned that once-off course-based training on its own has limited impact on teachers’ practice, and has to be accompanied by further professional support in the school and classroom, or be abandoned in favour of more enduring professional learning communities. The Western Cape Education Department (WCED) has grappled with this dilemma in the Department’s various professional development initiatives for teachers, a mainstay of which is the training offered by the Cape Teaching and Leadership Institute (CTLI). This paper presents some of the data and findings from an external evaluation that ORT SA CAPE conducted in 2011–2012 of courses offered by the WCED at the CTLI. The hierarchy of INSET outcomes proposed by Harland and Kinder (1997) was applied to record changes in the practice of 18 teachers at eight schools. The progress of five of the teachers is discussed to illustrate the interplay between school-level factors and the experiences of individual teachers which influenced the impact of CTLI training on their teaching.

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