CTP STUDY DESCRIPTION

District Investment in Teaching Improvement: A Comparative Survey

Principal Investigator:

Michael Knapp, University of Washington
Joan Talbert, Stanford University

Overview:

Building on qualitative, longitudinal case studies in CTP's "Core Study", this survey investigation quantitatively analyzed district efforts to enact coherent strategies for improving teaching and engendering strong learning communities. The study surveyed teachers and administrators within the Core Study districts and a comparison district in three of the four states engaged in proactive attempts to improve the quality of teaching (New York, North Carolina, California, and Washington). In these settings the surveys captured how district (and state) teaching policies were perceived, received, and implemented by school administrators and teachers. Survey analysis assessed equity and coherence within the district policy system, as well as overall differences among districts in response to policy strategies and effects on teaching quality. Survey instruments included items used in state and national surveys so that district cases could be located in relation to population norms. This research was sponsored by a grant from the Spencer Foundation.

Main Research Questions:

1. To what extent do district strategies for improving the quality of teaching create and protect a system-wide environment that teachers view as supportive of their work and careers?
2. How do teachers and school leaders construe and respond to district policy strategies in settings that approach the improvement of teaching differently? What are the system-wide effects on teachers' classroom practice, professional commitment, ability to collaborate with one another, and formation of school-level learning communities?
3. To what extent do district policy strategies address the high variability among schools and neighborhoods that is inevitable in large school systems?

Method:

Survey of teachers and school administrators

Status:

Research Completed

Publications:

None to date.