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Teacher ideologies and fostering academic excellence in urban schools

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Teacher ideologies and fostering academic excellence in urban schools

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Content Running Head: TEACHER IDEOLOGIES 1 TEACHER IDEOLOGIES AND FOSTERING ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE IN URBAN SCHOOLS by Linda Cohen Moakes A Dissertation Presented to the   FACULTY OF THE USC ROSSIER SCHOOL OF EDUCATION UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA In Partial Fulfillment of the   Requirements for the Degree DOCTOR OF EDUCATION May 2015 Copyright 2015 Linda Cohen Moakes TEACHER IDEOLOGIES 2 Dedication To my beloved Helen Jo Cohen, the greatest joy and treasure in my one precious life; who still laughs at my jokes but more importantly, laughs loudest at her own. TEACHER IDEOLOGIES 3 Acknowledgements The Doctoral Dissertation Center (DSC) and Rossier School of Education at the University of Southern California (USC) sustained this research. With continuity of theoretical perspective and consistency of purpose, DSC writing advisor, Dr. Linda Fischer taught me to “write on!” Dr. Fischer articulated protocols, simplified chapters in the dissertation process, and when I did not understand, repeated the information in short declarative sentences and illustrations. When needed, Dr. Fischer would point to her diagram and remind me, “Put that over here. The questions go there. Your findings are in chapter four. See what I’m saying?” My mistakes are not Dr. Fischer’s fault. Dr. Ilda Jiménez y West, director of the DSC, convened writing retreats; one each semester, so graduate students could focus on writing. It was invaluable. Dr. Sandra Ochoa Rivera and Dr. Guadalupe Garcia Montaño, encouraged me to persist as we met each weekend to write at Viento y Agua in Long Beach. This study reflects their friendship, vision of a sustained writing community, writing as practice, and the importance of great coffee. Dr. Herminia Meñez Coben, author and folklorist, emphasized the social centrality of education and weekly breakfast meetings. Dr. Antoinette S. Linton, Assistant Professor at California State University Fullerton, articulated theoretical perspectives, nurtured my scholarship, and recommended weekly dinners. Both of these friends proved that cuisine and academic conversations are critical for scholarship. Dr. Reynaldo Baca, Co-Director of the Center for Multilingual, Multicultural Research, and Dr. Lawrence O. Picus, Vice Dean for Faculty Affairs, and Professor of Education served as USC dissertation committee members. Their invaluable guidance TEACHER IDEOLOGIES 4 and deep theoretical knowledge of education and teacher education as well as their critiques helped fulfill this dream. Dr. Etta R. Hollins, formerly at USC, now the Kauffman Endowed Chair at University of Missouri Kansas City, Missouri, radiated hope and joy in education every time we talked. She encouraged “thinking deeply” even when I forgot how spell. Dr. Hollins showed me how to learn and what it means to teach. TEACHER IDEOLOGIES 5 Preface During the current dissertation defense, Dr. Lawrence O. Picus highlighted Polikoff and Porter’s (December, 2014) analysis of instructional alignment and teacher quality: “There are very weak associations of content alignment with student achievement gains and no associations with the composite measure of effective teaching” (p. 414). Polikoff and Porter (2014) took on some of their own widely cited research on value-added assessments of teachers and argued for educational researchers to pause and develop a deeper understanding of how teachers’ epistemic practices lead to uniformly high student learning outcomes. Dr. Reynaldo Baca, dissertation chair, affirmed that there are teachers who allow students to explore their “funds of knowledge” (Baca, 2006; Moll, Amanti, Neff, & Gonzales, 1992) and find ways to allow a “third space” (Bhabha, 2004; Lee, 2010) where pre-service teachers might begin to understand the complexity surrounding teaching and learning. The central analysis of this dissertation revealed urban secondary teachers with diverse linguistic, ethnic, and cultural backgrounds, and who participated in mandated meetings and trainings shared social discourse related to ideological positions related to pedagogy. The teachers revealed their relationship with teaching and learning. Some held a narrow view of pedagogy as teaching (Loughran, 2006. 2013). Others problematized that simplistic notion and willingly developed their knowledge and practice of pedagogy to purposefully influence the academic excellence of students. Both Dr. Picus and Dr. Baca contributed to applications of the current research. TEACHER IDEOLOGIES 6 Table of Contents Dedication 2 Acknowledgements 3 Preface 5 List of Tables 8 List of Figures 9 Abstract 10 Chapter One: Overview of theStudy 11 Background of the Problem and Theoretical Framework 11 Statement of the Problem 18 Purpose of the Study 18 Importance of the Study 19 Theoretical Frameworks 21 Chapter Two: Review of the Literature 25 Teacher Ideologies and Academic Excellence 25 Summary of Literature on Teacher Ideology and Academic Excellence 37 Teacher Ideology and Contradictory Imperatives 38 Summary of Literature on Conflicting Imperatives 45 Teacher Ideology and Theories of Practice 46 Summary of Literature on the Epistemology of Practice 51 Chapter Three: Research Methodology 53 Study Design 53 Sample and Population 54 Participants 59 Instrumentation 60 Data Collection 62 Data Analysis 63 Chapter Four: Findings 66 Participants 66 Biology Teachers (9) 67 Chemistry Teachers (6) 71 Physics Teachers (2) 73 Core Connections 74 Findings 74 Oppositional Ideology 74 Transitional Ideology 80 Transformational Ideology 86 Non-linearity 92 Emergent Responsibility 95 Summary of Research Questions: Themes and Findings 98 Chapter Five: Discussion 101 Discussion of Findings 102 Shared Theoretical Framework Essential 102 TEACHER IDEOLOGIES 7 Ideological Analyses Deserve Attention 104 Structured Dialogue as a Cultural Tool 105 Complexity Research and Thinking 106 Inherent Complexity of Fostering Academic Excellence 108 Implications for Practice 109 Recommendations for Research 111 Conclusion 112 References 114 Appendix A: Letter of Consent 135 Appendix B: Letter of Agreement 136 Appendix C: Accreditation History of Pseudonym High School 138 Appendix D: Debriefing Charts 141 Appendix E: Methodology 142 Appendix F: School Improvement Grant 144 Appendix G: Predator/ Prey Data Collection Sheet and Answers 147 TEACHER IDEOLOGIES 8 List of Tables Table 1: Ideological Structures and Strategies of Discourse (van Dijk, 2006) 26 Table 2: Sample of Coding Ideologies. From Data Analysis to Emergent Themes 64 Table 3: Sample of Continuation from Emergent Themes to Teacher Ideologies 65 Table 4: Oppositional Group and Core Characteristics 79 Table 5: Transitional Ideology and Core Characteristics 86 Table 6: Transformational Ideology and Core Connections 88 TEACHER IDEOLOGIES 9 List of Figures Figure 1: Teacher Professional Development Cycle (adapted from LAUSD, 2003) 57 Figure 2: Debrief Charts (© Moakes digital photographs, 2013) 82 TEACHER IDEOLOGIES 10 Abstract This qualitative case study applied constructivist theoretical perspectives to multidisciplinary literature and analyzed teachers’ social discourse as it revealed individuals’ commitment to fostering students’ academic excellence. The purpose was to determine the relationship between teachers’ organized belief systems and student learning in the context of an urban secondary school and specifically, its science department. The observations, data, and literature intersected at three teacher ideologies: Oppositional, Transitional, and Transformational. Each ideology was nurtured by six core connections that described characteristics of each ideological group. In answer to each research question, teacher ideologies and patterns of students’ academic excellence varied directly with: 1) teachers’ ideologic commitment to academic excellence; 2) ideological responses to conflicting imperatives; and 3) teachers’ epistemic practice. Implications for research and practice suggested 1) ideologies inform all levels of education; and 2) all individuals in a school community maintain ideologies that effect teaching and learning; and 3) neither teacher diversity nor compliance with policy sufficiently determined student’ academic excellence. Teacher ideologies influence student learning therefore more attention must focus on content of instruction and the quality of delivery within the purpose of urban secondary schools. Keywords: constructivism; critical discourse studies; critical race theory; ideology; knowledge; learning; social discourse; structured dialogue. TEACHER IDEOLOGIES 11 CHAPTER ONE: OVERVIEW OF THE STUDY The centrality of public education and the central role of its teachers in the development of social life in the United States formed the “thematic threads that [bound] the chapters” of this research (Meñez Coben, 2009, p. 1). However, educational reform and policy in the United States’ has attempted to recast that center as peripheral and in that marginalization, reforms have not yet achieved their vision of academic excellence. This case study of a secondary science department in a large urban school relied on a constructivist theoretical perspective with which to explore the literature on teachers engaged in fostering academic excellence (Hollins, 2012). As these teachers’ social discourse, activities, planning, and analyses spun around their unique orbit, the teachers’ social discourse revealed insights about ideological, social and political forces (van Dijk, 2009; Reisigl & Wodak, 2001/2009) at odds with and in support of teachers’ engagement in fostering academic excellence. Background of the Problem and Theoretical Framework The social and political forces influencing public education have deep historical and philosophical dimensions that extend beyond the scope of this study. However, two presidential commissions convened in 1983 focused on deregulating and managing capital and market forces that redirected the trajectory of public education and misunderstood larger socio-historic structures in which this study took place. First, the National Commission on Excellence in Education (NCEE) and second, the Presidential Commission on Industrial Competitiveness were examined. The NCEE and its landmark report, A Nation at Risk: The Imperative for Educational Reform (1983), declared the extent of the risk posed by current U.S. public TEACHER IDEOLOGIES 12 education. It claimed schools were failing, mediocre, threatening “our Nation”; comparable to an act of war. That rhetoric of imminent danger and national and international security risks suggested that economic inequality; underachievement, poor teaching, low test scores, as well as insufficient governmental oversight converged to create an imperative to reform education. Within a year the Carl D. Perkins Vocational Education Act [Perkins Act] (1984) redefined what ought to be the purpose of vocational education: …to strengthen and expand the economic base of the Nation, develop human resources, reduce structural unemployment, increase productivity, and strengthen the Nation's defense capabilities by assisting the States to expand, improve, and update high- quality programs of vocational-technical education, and for other purposes. (p. 1) In 2006, the wording of the Perkins Act redefined vocational-technical education to mean “career and technical education” and funded adult education. Currently, the U.S. Office of Career, Technical, and Adult Education [OCTAE] has a mission “to promote student achievement and preparation for global competitiveness by fostering educational excellence and ensuring equal access” (OCTAE, 2013). Both these examples applied the terminology of the two 1983 commissions represent the coordinated effort to “align’ what must be learned and maintain the purposes developed at the time. The NCEE developed social and historical arguments for student and adult education into national curricular standards (California Department of Education, 1997, 2006; Common Core, 2010), high stakes testing of students, and teacher assessments of quality based on student test outcomes. The mandated content and standards were further TEACHER IDEOLOGIES 13 institutionalized in the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (2001) and the 2008 “Race to the Top” for high performing schools (United States Department of Education, 2009). The second commission convened in 1983 was the Council on Industrial Competitiveness (CoIC). It reframed the purpose of education along socioeconomic policies and foreshadowed acceptance of learning and teaching within concepts like “information transfer” or “knowledge-based” indicators of economic growth (Council on Competitiveness, 2014). Since being renamed the Council on Competitiveness (CoC) in 1986, the CoC has organized “top private and public sector leaders to address America’s long term competitive challenges” and according to its current website, has maintained an alliance of “CEOs, university presidents, and labor leaders working to ensure U.S. prosperity” (Council on Competitiveness, 2014, p. 1). The CoC focused on “how the changing global economy presents new challenges for the future” (Council on Competitiveness, 2013). These policies have continued to support research to A Nation at Risk (1983) and NCLB (2001), succeeded in equating national economic growth with reformed public education, an alignment of standards, content, and instruction. As of 2013, these policy decisions continued to directly affect science teacher educators at the local site of the current case study. Both 1983 presidential commissions fused the future prosperity and security of “our Nation” with education reform. Both commissions foreshadowed decades of reform of “what teachers should know and do” (Darling-Hammond, 2005) with teacher quality and alignment of “what teaches mediocrity and failure of U.S. education and the quality of teachers. From there, literature in multiple disciplines took on aspects of education TEACHER IDEOLOGIES 14 reform and advanced capitalism (Belfrage, 2012; Di Muzio, 2010; Piketty, 2014). Belfrage (2012) popularized the “legitimacy of particular capitalist norms and practices, and thus enhance[ed] the position of the logic of the market in the production of knowledge” (p. 169). These political and disciplinary interconnections, research, and policy developments related to teaching and learning have complicated and oversimplified what it means to teach. In 2015, the American Educational Research Association (AERA) will celebrate its 100th anniversary yet there is little agreement on what competent teaching is (Hollins, 2012, 2013) and, as Loughran (2013) argued, an oversimplified understanding of the complexity of teaching does little to advance the research and practice. Many factors have suborned the social centrality of education and teacher education. The fusion of university, corporate, and government relationships (Etzkowitz & Leydesdorff, 2000; Leydesdorff, 2012), a language of global economic development (Schugurensky, 2013; Spivak, 2012), and imaginaries like knowledge-based education (Fairclough, 2013; Jessop, 2008; Wodak, 2012) have decentralized teacher education at the expense of fostering academic excellence in U.S. education (Hollins, 2008, 2012). I am indebted to my USC committee members: The federal imperative to reclaim U.S. educational “dominance in the world” (A Nation at Risk, 1983), normalized as “commonsense” (Kumashiro, 2004), has not resulted in widespread academic excellence (Polikoff & Porter, 2014). Instead, long- standing academic debates over theory and practice (Lanier & Little, 1984) have continued (Forzani, 2011; Mehta. 2013) at the expense of generations of learners and teachers. TEACHER IDEOLOGIES 15 The viability of applying philosophical and social science literature in education as an example of intersection of ideological forces and the impact teaching on learning. To that end, this qualitative case study focused on teachers’ social discourse and wondered what it might reveal about the practice of teaching in an urban secondary school’s science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) department. The site of the study was a large secondary school in a major southern California city known as Pseudonym. Pseudonym High School (PHS) and its Unified School District (PUSD), the teachers names have been changed for individuals’ security and in keeping with dissertation requirements. Since 2008, PHS improved in many areas but struggled with minimal student improvement on tests. Given the low and flat school test scores, the science department was required to improve outcomes by improving teachers’ practice; an exemplar of “a well-educated and technically-trained work-force … essential to a nation’s competitiveness” (Commission on Competitiveness, 2001, p. 50). This case study epitomized the inherent contradictions between a process of “developing the intellectual resources of the nation” (Hollins, 2010) and the pressure on education and teacher education to solve the urgent social and international problems attributed to “businesses [that] can’t find enough skilled workers to fill job vacancies” (Mourshed, Farrell, and Barton, 2013). The macro sociopolitical direction of education and teacher education asserted by university, corporate, and governance reforms since 1983 continues to negatively impact local school communities in the U.S. The urban public school teachers and teacher leaders who willingly participated in this study were engaged in a process to improve TEACHER IDEOLOGIES 16 their practice and improve student test scores. Their individual effort at all meetings and trainings focused explicitly on students’ academic and career success. Teachers’ concerns were explicitly local. However, teachers’ professional development imperatives derived from remote analyses of student data (OECD, 2013; PISA, 2010) compared to “similar” local, national, and international school data (California Department of Education, 2013). At first glance, teachers and teacher leaders at Pseudonym High School (PHS) had not met the school’s academic goals (California Department of Education [CADOE], 2013). According to the CADOE, the 2012 Base API served as the starting point for the required school’s student performance on the 2012 STAR Program and the 2012 California High School Exit Examination (CAHSEE). The base 2012 API at Pseudonym High School was 580 and the 2012-2013 Growth Target was 11 points. The school had improved by only 10 out of 11 (10/11) points and failed to meet the targets in specific subgroups represented in parentheses: Black or African American (2/13); Hispanic or Latino (15/9); Socioeconomically Disadvantaged 10/11; English Learners (-43/12); and Students with Disabilities (2/20). As a result, the school’s failure to get out of its “Program Improvement [PI]” (CADOE, 2013), PHS had not reached its benchmarks of progress so the science teachers, like all departments at PHS, were mandated to improve teachers’ practice. However, as research on change, whether conceptual, institutional, individual; in pieces or whole (diSessa, 2005; Philip, 2012) has indicated, changes take time, cannot guarantee future success, and some change, might be impossible to guarantee (Rancière, 2009, 2011; Žižek, 2013). TEACHER IDEOLOGIES 17 The language of globalization and international business has reframed conversations about the local purpose of education and teacher education (Spivak, 2012) making it salient for the current study. The purposes of education have become macro- political and economically global (Jessop, 2008; van Dijk, 2009, 2012). The ubiquity of educational achievement as an indicator of the security and prestige of a nation (A Nation at Risk, 1983; Al-Rodhan, 2009) has obscured “what will happen in spite of our best efforts” (Spivak, 2010, p. 2). Hollins (2010) summarized the importance of teachers and the consequential effects of their quality and success saying, “Classroom teachers participate in developing the academic and intellectual resources for the nation. The extent to which teachers are successful influences the quality of benefits and services available in the society” (p. 1). Whether one refers to “development of human capital” (Schultz, 1961), “national systems of innovation” (Miettinen, 2002), “cultural political economies” (Jessop, 2008) or iterations of knowledge-based economies (Jessop, 2004, 2008), these macro- sociopolitical forces impact education policy in the United States and effect the discursive and educative relationships in teacher professional development southern California. Education and ideology have connected at the federal level of the nation building since the 17th century (c.f. Harvard, Princeton, Yale, College of William and Mary). However, the unrealized academic resources have also been part of the larger economic and social costs of inequality and misunderstanding what it means to teach. The current research sought to apprehend where the changing understanding of knowledge and of the TEACHER IDEOLOGIES 18 purpose of education intersected and might suggest new possibilities for education and teacher education in the U.S. Statement of the Problem Decades of misunderstanding or redefining what it means to teach and to learn have undermined the social centrality of education in the United States. Without a more nuanced understanding of the complexity of teaching and of teacher education and a commitment to fostering academic excellence, oppositional and reactionary political and social ideologies will be reinscribed at the expense of more students’ academic excellence and intellectual contributions to the future. Purpose of the Study The purpose of the study was to understand how teachers foster academic excellence in urban secondary school contexts and, specifically, how their ideologic lenses revealed commitment or resistance to that goal. Could secondary science teachers in an urban high school required to participate in mandated professional development (CADOE, 2010), transform their epistemic practice and foster academic excellence? To that end, three research questions asked how individual teachers interacted and participated in mandated meetings and professional development and, if synthesized, what that could reveal. The three research questions follow: 1) How do urban secondary science teachers reveal their commitment to fostering academic excellence? 2) How do these teachers respond to contradictory imperatives (double binds)? 3) What epistemic practices point toward teachers who are committed to fostering academic excellence? TEACHER IDEOLOGIES 19 Importance of the Study The aim of the study was to extend the conversation about teaching to foster academic excellence in urban secondary schools; specifically to examine the ideologic lenses (Abbate-Vaughn, 2004; Duncum, 2008; Philip, 2012; Philip and Benin, 2014) made clear in the ongoing social discourse of these teachers. The importance of the current study contrasted the social centrality of public education (Hollins, 2013) with the pervasive double binds (Bateson, 1972; Spivak, 2012) created by contradictory imperatives imposed on U.S. education. If teachers’ social discourse and interactions observed from a constructivist perspective, would reveal more than rejection, compliance, or struggle with the status quo, what would that look like? The contemporary silence of practitioners’ voices in education research has negated the expertise and complexity of learning to teach and of teaching toward the academic excellence of all. There could be important insights that more nuanced ideologic assessments and observations would provide. Research in gender studies, postcolonial theory and research traditions (Bhabha, 1994; Leonardo, 2010; Said, 1993; Spivak, 1993, 2010) as well as engaging with the extensive research and knowledge shared by indigenous literary and methodological traditions (Brayboy, 2005; McCarty, 2012; Moreton, 2006; Smith, 2012; Villegas, Neugebauer, & Venegas, 2008) added to the importance of the voices that supported the current research. Sociocultural research, sociopolitical research on geopolitical economies (Sieverts, 2003; Soja, 2000; Yiftachel, 2009), and studies of economics and policy (Aronson, Barrow, & Sander, 2007; Jacob, Lefgren, & Sims, 2008; Rockoff, 2004) synthesized and deepened this analysis. TEACHER IDEOLOGIES 20 A second benefit for education and teacher education resulted from an extensive reexamination of aesthetic and ideologic notions of “good”, “quality teaching”, and “world class education” that often underpin research on educative policy and purpose. Literature explored teachers’ “quality” in several ways including teachers’ socialization into power (Hollins, 2008, 2010), unexamined white supremacy (Warikoo & Carter, 2009), ideologies of power (Duncum, 2008; Spivak, 2012), and moral obligations cited to fulfill democratic or multicultural ideals (Banks, 1994, 2009; Picower, 2010). Throughout this study conceptualizations of ideology emerged as scholars and researchers sought to express frustration at the lack of “shared purpose of education” or its inequity (Hollins, 2013; Rancière, 2009). The tropes, “education for all” and “world class education” foreshadowed reimagining the purpose of education found in teachers’ voices. This could be one of the most important contributions from this study. Davila and Aviles de Bradley (2010) asserted that, “discussions of the social constructions of race, as well as the discussions of how class manifests itself within this white, capitalist, patriarchal nation is integral in the conversations of the ideologies of teaching and learning within this nation” (p. 55). Their work segued a third benefit from this study: the complexity of mandating change without understanding the depth at which expertise and identity were in relationship in teachers’ practice. The ineffectiveness of interventions into teachers’ practices has been deemed necessary to improve student success. The “coded familiarity” (hooks, 1990) with which politicians, policy makers, and elite educators describe what teachers should know and what they should be able to do (Darling-Hammond, 2000, 2005; Packer and Goicoechea, 2000) has unexamined ontological consequences (Bingham & Biesta, 2010; Jost et al., 2009). TEACHER IDEOLOGIES 21 Fourth, the current study of teacher ideologies increases the value of developing assessments and accountability measures needed for education and teacher education to be inclusive of values and voices that historically have and contemporaneously remain marginalized or silenced (Chapman, 2012; Collins, 2013; Ladson-Billings, 2012; Linton, 2011). The ideological stance of those who must assess a teachers’ movement toward “improved practice” falls beyond the current study but has salience for this research. Critiques of “in-between cities” (Fiedler, 2011) and hybrid communities (Bhabha, 194; Erie, 2004; Roy, 2009; Sieverts, 2003) may be helpful metaphors for understanding how teachers’ practice and the administrative practice of assessing teachers’ practice fall between worlds. Knowledge of assessing teachers and knowledge of teaching are not equivalent practices. Yet they coexist yet do not share common goals or responsibilities. Perhaps this study will create a bridge to further discursive structures that will support teachers’ learning and fostering academic excellence. Theoretical Frameworks Constructivist theoretical assumptions in this research presumed a social centrality to teaching and teacher socialization within the school and local community. It also assumed that within multiple discursive and institutional contexts (Wodak & Reisigl, 2009; van Dijk, 2009), indicators of the social centrality might be observed. Additionally, the intersection of constructivist learning theory (Cole, 1996, Cole & Engeström, 1994; Kozulin, 2003; Packer & Goicoechea, 2000; Rogoff, 1989, 2003) with critical theories proved invaluable. Teachers’ discourse was critiqued with critical race theory (Bell, 1980; Chapman, 2010; Crenshaw, 1994; Dixson, 2013; Ladson- TEACHER IDEOLOGIES 22 Billings, 1995, 2011) and a historical-sociocognitive approach to critical discourse analysis (Fairclough, 1994; Reisigl & Wodak, 2001/2009; van Dijk, 2009; Wodak, 2010). These approaches supported nuanced observations within the case study. The legacy of Vygotsky’s (1962) theory related to children’s relationships with “language and thought”, “instruction and development”, and “the nature of knowledge used in classrooms” (Kozulin, Gindis, Ageyev, & Miller, 2003, p. 1) and was extended to the data derived from the science teachers in this study. These foci selected maximized the interpretations of relationships among research questions and the theoretical perspective. Notions of language and thought (van Dijk, 2006), nuanced understandings of what it means to teach (Hollins, 2009; Loughran, 2013), and considerations of “the influence of global and political forces on everyday actions” (Morgaine, 1994, p. 325) synthesized into three teacher ideologies with six core connections that held them together. Critical and constructivist voices and ways of knowing allowed multiple expressions of teachers’ ideologies to be observed. This research stipulated teachers’ discourse and interactions would follow multiple trajectories therefore, multiple theoretical perspectives were called upon to clarify the paths taken and not taken. Kozulin (2003) suggested that one of the strengths of Vygotsky’s theory (1962) was that as researchers engaged and adapted the learning theory, cultural diversity would become a salient, recurring reality. One of the strengths of the case study was that participants spoke eight languages, ranged in experience from novice to 33 years service, came from four continents, and had a range of content knowledge that made cultural diversity a factual reality. TEACHER IDEOLOGIES 23 Constructivist learning theory, applied to the participant science department’s professional development and department meetings, revealed examples of Vygotsky’s notions of “mediation, learning activities, zone of proximal development, and scientific and everyday concepts” (Kozulin, Gindis, Ageyev & Miller, 2003, p. 2) within the teachers and teacher educators. The teachers’ shared “symbolic systems specific for a given culture that when internalized by individual learners become their inner cognitive tools” (Kozulin, Gindis, Ageyev, & Miller, 2003, p. 3). The teacher leader, Dr. Li, was well trained and skilled in in sociocultural learning theory and explicitly modeled and trained the teachers to participate in Hollins’ (2006) structured dialogue in order to mediate the teachers’ discourse. For the current study, the researcher and the department chair (Field notes, 2013), applied constructivist learning theory and critical approaches to understanding teachers’ discourse in the mandated professional development and department meetings. The department chair, Dr. Li, operationalized both sociocultural learning theory (Linton, 2011) and the specific cultural tool of Hollins’ structured dialogue (2006) in all the meetings and content study groups observed in the spring of 2013. Dr. Li strategically and consistently structured meeting agendas and professional development from “helping teachers co-construct common experiences and everyday classroom learning activities so all the children learn” (Field notes, April 15, 2013). The observations of the STEM department at PHS supported constructivist notions of teacher learning and co-creating practices that emphasized the importance of the teachers’ empirical and theoretical learning (Karpov, 2003) in the local and specific urban context of this teacher community. TEACHER IDEOLOGIES 24 According to Karpov (2003), “a doctrine of scientific concepts as the content of school instruction is a direct elaboration of his [Vygotsky’s] general theoretical view of mediated learning as the major determinant of human development” (p. 65). Dr. Li operated as both a teacher and teacher educator and organized the departments’ professional development around scientific concepts and the scientific methodology of hypotheses and experimentation (Field, notes, 2013). During one meeting, Dr. Li addressed a teachers’ question about learning theory: “sociocultural learning theory applied to teaching science will allow all of us and all of our students to participate and operate from sound theoretical and innovative thinking” (Field notes, May 3, 2013). The next chapters extended and expanded the project. Chapter two analyzed the salient literature informing the research questions and suggesting future possibilities. Chapter three explained the methodology and theoretical perspectives that grounded the research, and from which the observations and ideology charts were created. The description of the data in chapter four reflected both Creswell’s (2009) method for collecting, coding, and understanding layers of expected and unexpected outcomes and Abbate-Vaughn’s (2004) process of synthesizing data into core connections, themes, and finally, into three specific ideologies. The data analyzed and reported in chapter four revealed predominant themes and insights discussed in chapter four as findings. Finally, the findings and primary implications for practice and recommendations for future research coalesced in chapter five. TEACHER IDEOLOGIES 25 CHAPTER TWO: REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE This review of literature, articulated in three questions, explicitly examined teaching and learning to teach toward academic excellence in urban schools. This synthesis of critical race theory, critical discourse studies, postcolonial scholarship, and complexity science informed and problematized philosophical inquiry pertinent to the research questions about teacher ideology. The first research question asked how teachers fostered academic excellence and grounded this search in Abbate-Vaughn’s (2004) sense of teacher ideology and Duncum’s (2007) who entwined Western and Northern philosophical studies with vernacular understandings of those traditions that impact student learning and the education of teachers for work in urban contexts. Spivak (2012) prompted research question two. Her analysis of double binds (Bateson, 1972) as both common and as and Connolly’s (2009) understanding of “the most fundamental assumptions each makes about the world,” intersected as contradictory imperatives force choices that resonate and inform teachers’ decisions and their students’ learning. From those choices, the last research question pondered epistemic practices that foster academic excellence. This track led toward the last research question that scrutinized pedagogy and epistemic practice within the observable confines of one teacher community of practice. Together this literature affected the methodological decisions of chapter three and the analysis of data and findings in chapter four. Teacher Ideologies and Academic Excellence The current study assumed teachers acquired, expressed, interrupted, and reproduced ideologies largely by text and talk thus making teacher ideologies relevant. The sociocognitive discourse method of van Dijk (2006), Table 1 below, served as an TEACHER IDEOLOGIES 26 introduction and guide to the precision with which CDS articulates ideology. This definition framed the talk and text of ideologies to include: 1) belief systems; 2) collectivity of social actors; 3) foundational or axiomatic social beliefs; and 4) sociocognitive and gradually acquired stability. The assumptions appeared later within the three teacher ideologies and the sic core connections. Table 1 Ideological Structures and Strategies of Discourse (van Dijk, 2006) Assumptions Talk and text of ideologies Examples Ideologies a re … 1. Belief systems.  Do not contain practices or structures that are based on the ideology  Needs a cognitive component to account for notions of belief and belief system Referent dependent on context; The pronoun we is a structure; Typically refers to the in group of the current speaker” (p. 115). 2. Collectivity of social actors. Not private 3. Foundational or axiomatic social beliefs  General or abstract in nature  Provide coherence to the group beliefs  Facilitate acquisition and use of the ideology in common situations  Specify what cultural values are relevant for the group (freedom, equality, justice, etc.) “A racist ideology may control attitudes about immigration, a feminist ideology may control attitudes about …glass ceilings on the job or knowledge about gender inequality in society…” (p. 116). 4. Sociocognitive and gradually acquired thus relatively stable. May also disintegrate when widely accepted or “common” When “everyone knows” something, ideologies loose edge Ideologies are no t … Personal beliefs; necessarily negative; “false consciousness”; may not be dominant; may define resistance and opposition; Ideologies not the same as discourses that express, enact, or reproduce them Abbate-Vaughn (2004)studied teacher ideologies through the definitional lens of Sharp and Green (1974) and reflected enriched studying teacher ideologies and their impact on student learning. Abbate-Vaughn (2004) based her research on an understanding of ideologies according to Sharp and Green (1975): ..a connected set of systematically related beliefs and ideas about what are felt to be the essential features of teaching…[including] both cognitive and evaluative aspects…general ideas and assumptions about the nature of knowledge and of TEACHER IDEOLOGIES 27 human nature-the latter entailing beliefs about motivation, learning, and educability…some characterization of society and the role and functions of education in the wider social context…of the tasks teachers have to perform, the specific skills and techniques required with ideas about how these might be acquired and developed…[and] criteria to assess adequate performance, both on the material on whom teachers “work”, i.e. pupils, and for self-evaluation or the evaluation of others involved in education. (p. 68). Abbate-Vaughn’s (2004) seminal research indicated that what drove teacher groups was not the individual’s ideologies but the organized or “shared beliefs of specific groups-developed over time” (p. 230). Abbate-Vaughn (2004) critiqued four studies of teachers in elementary and middle schools who were also in professional development situations: Datnow (1998), Lipman (1998), Westheimer (1998, 1999), and Achinstein (2001) and discovered that various systems of thought such as idealism, language, logic, mathematics and philosophical idealism, prior experience, or entrenchment could conflict in negative ways in teacher communities. Abbate-Vaughn (2004) found teachers both constructed and polarized around “That’s not my job” versus “We can change the world” (p. 229). Lipman (1998) had demonstrated “relations of domination” that appeared across the white teachers in the study. He found these ideologies often devolved to a shared belief that minority students were academically inferior to white students. Abbate-Vaughn’s (2004) findings have outlined the current research and validated the significance of exploring teacher ideologies as indicated in Heinrich, Heine and Norenzayan (2010) “What people think about can affect how they think” (italics in original, p. 1). TEACHER IDEOLOGIES 28 Abbate-Vaughn (2004) discovered non-negotiated ideologies in some communities of teacher professional development and “more balanced communities where competing ideologies are negotiated” (p. 29). Two useful ideological notions reported from Westheimer (1998, 1999) were “individualistic ideology” and “principles of community” (p. 230). Importantly, these ideologies, community building and an acceptance of dissent, prove useful in coding and sorting the data in the current study. Abbate-Vaughn (2004) found that conflict affected each teacher group but the groups’ responses pointed toward cohesion or instability. Conflict pointed toward shared ideologies among groups of teachers. Additionally, the level of negotiation also predicted group cohesion, trust, respect, and generalized approaches to problem solving. Negotiations took place in more stable groups of teachers and represented danger in groups that did not share a high level of trust and respect for each other or the process of the professional development. Abbate-Vaughn’s (2004) methodology included a sorting and coding process unique to teacher ideologies. That methodology was applied in the current project and Tables 2 and 3 in the next chapter adapted Abbate-Vaughn’s conceptualizations. Her research characterized teacher groupings as “Quiet” “Academic” and “Effort” then extended the form to the unique context and teacher ideologies at Pseudonym High School and resulted in three new interpretations of teacher ideologies: “Oppositional”; “Transitional”; and “Transformational”. After Abbate-Vaughn (2004), the following studies revealed nuanced conceptualizations of teacher ideologies; aesthetics and ideology (Duncum, 2007), authority (Pace and Hemmings, 2009), he allure of closing the achievement gap (Warikoo TEACHER IDEOLOGIES 29 and Carter, 2009), linkages between power and ideology (Mayes, 2010), and ideologies revealed through conflicting imperatives (Spivak, 2012) and completed the first section of the literature review. Duncum (2007) reviewed aesthetics historically and its development within Western philosophic traditions as notions of individual taste in art or beauty and the sublime (Bell, 1976; Wolff, 1983). While Duncum (2007) acknowledged the Western arc of aesthetics from ancient Greek philosophers through the modern aesthetics of Kant, Schiller, and Hegel in the eighteenth century (Featherstone, 2007), he focused on the importance of aligning vernacular Western and globalized use of aesthetics and ideology. Duncum (2007) and the vernacular usage of both aesthetics and ideology grew from a duality of “visual appearances and effect” (p. 6) taken from the British critical theorist Williams (1976). Aesthetics understood in this manner suggested that it possessed a sensory and a cognitive aspect. Sensory apprehension was the first part of aesthetics as one tried to make sense of one’s response, next the more cognitive sense making or characteristic way of thinking or interpreting the world emerged. That internal need to understand the world overlapped the ideology and intentionality of the aesthetics. He explained that in many films “Visual images are often highly attractive yet offer repugnant ideology… that can set up strong internal conflict in the viewer” (p. 123). How teachers resolved that form of double bind or conflict was part of research question two as well. Duncum’s (2007) first tenet was similar to a double bind. He argued that individual and systems critiques should include how aesthetics supports the impetus to “offer up ideology as natural and seductive and how [it] work[s] to achieve assent” (p. 132). Ideology retained a rhetorical function to argue for itself. TEACHER IDEOLOGIES 30 The second tenet of Duncum’s (2007) work validated the importance of aesthetics as it has transformed into colloquial and “everyday” usage. Aesthetics transformed from its Western and Northern philosophic traditions now took on many vernacular forms. For example there are studies on the “aesthetics of consumerism” (Postrel, 2003); the “aestheticization of everyday life” (Featherstone, 2007; Southerton, 2011; Welsch, 1996); “aesthetic science” (Shimamura and Palmer, 2012); and “the aesthetic brain” (Chatterjee, 2013). Each specific perspective, overlapping concept, and individual form of sense making joined contemporary issues with aestheticization or described the sensory aspect of a contemporary issue as important. Duncum (2007) problematized the purposes to which aesthetics directed many strategies. He advised education to accept that aesthetic experiences actually drive ideologies. The “thing” that is sensed at some aesthetic level was not the ideology but Duncum (2007) argued that marketing and argumentation, more generally, use aesthetic appeals to lure, entice, repel, malign, or persuade “audiences” to take some action. That suggested action pointed toward an ideology. In observing teachers’ social discourse, many recommended actions or rejection of actions also pointed toward ideology. This concept is not new. Scholars have commented on the abuse of power, questioned whiteness as privilege, offered up rationales for value-added assessments (Polikoff & Porter, 2005) domination as central, normative, and inevitable (Apple, 2000; Bhabha, 1994; DeCuir and Dixson, 2006; King, 1999). Author and literary critic, Morrison (1992), expressed the power of taken-for-granted assumptions that lie in forms of “desire and dread” thus pointing to deeply hidden evocations of power, cultural TEACHER IDEOLOGIES 31 hegemony, racial superiority, or dismissal of the “other” (pp. x-xi). That desire and dread interpreted by Duncum (2007) became aesthetics and ideology. Duncum (2007), an art educator, wrote extensively about education as a means of understanding power (1993), visual culture and its lures (2006a), and the aesthetic use of violence (2006). Duncum (2008) contended that sensory reasons or appeals to aesthetic values could lure people to confront or accept dubious ideas and political stances. Duncum (2007) cited aesthetic allure or repulsion in numerous examples of the persuasive and purposeful marketing of ideas, products, university programs, business models, and political candidates. He developed three tenets of use to this research: sociopolitical equivalency, aesthetics delivers ideology, and the pedagogic value in understanding aesthetics and ideology in the context of teacher education. First, Duncum (2007) extended a definition from British cultural studies (Williams, 1976) in which aesthetics included “visual appearances and effect” (p. 6). Duncum asserted that aesthetics leads into ideology as a characteristic way of thinking or “an interpretive scheme” people use to understand the world. Duncum (2007) described many instances of the allure and sense making of aesthetics and its ability to intentionally produce effects. An aesthetic appeal then delivered the purposeful marketing of ideas, products, programs, and political candidates. From that aestheticization of desire, his declaration that aesthetics delivers ideology also gave its study pedagogic value. Ideology expressed through cultural and market-driven examples indicated a combination of visual appearances and their effect or lure. Duncum (2007) used ideology as a term that broadly characterizes characterize “ideas, beliefs, beliefs, and values” TEACHER IDEOLOGIES 32 (Davis & Sumara, 2006, p. 125) and expressions that may or may not be held by everyone in a social group. Ideologies expressed “through cultural sign systems that are constitutive of social practice” informed “the way people act in the world” (p. 126). Duncum (2007) connected aesthetics and ideology with historical examples utilizing multiple views of art and advertising of political movements as being aesthetic or ideological based on the preference of the organization speaking. This is valuable for the current study. For example, in looking at the marketing and rhetoric of A Nation at Risk (1983), the report developed a metaphor of risk and created an equivalency between mediocrity in education and acts of war. Eighteen years later, the January 2001 signing of NCLB and the attack on New York in September that year made the issues inseparable. In order to examine what is driving U.S. education and teacher education, Duncum’s (2007) analysis of the sociopolitical equivalency of aesthetics and ideology are important. The admonition that aesthetics delivers ideology pointed to Duncum’s (2007) third tenet: there is an overlooked pedagogic value in understanding these terms in education. Duncum (2007) then connected aesthetics and ideology with pedagogy. He suggested revisiting historical viewpoints in forms of art, advertising, or political movements. He reaffirmed that curriculum mandated within schools are products of aesthetic and ideological preferences of a particular author or organization (Anyon, 1980; Apple, 2004). A Nation at Risk: The Imperative for Educational Reform (1983) argued for the connection of national security and educational reform. Written and distributed by the U.S. Department of Education and by the Commission on Educational Excellence, implied a credibility and reliability that has remained almost unassailable. TEACHER IDEOLOGIES 33 In order to examine what is driving U.S. education and teacher education, Duncum’s (2007) three tenets aligned aesthetics and ideology. As Duncum (2008) concluded, all individuals need to understand how aesthetics supports the impetus to “offer up ideology as natural and seductive and how [it] work[s] to achieve assent” (p. 132). Duncum (2007) argued that aesthetics is commonly misunderstood and political ideology or agenda behind the imagery. Next, Duncum (2008) suggested aesthetics included broad discourses like “economics, politics, social and cultural experiences” (p. 132). One of the foundational Common Core Standards (2011) and part of the 21st Century Science Standards (2010): that students need to be able to examine forms of arguments (visual imagery, including pictures, reports, advertising, letters, texts). As Duncum (2007) concluded, all individuals need to and understand how aesthetics supports the impetus to “offer up ideology as natural and seductive and how [it] work[s] to achieve assent” (Duncum, 2008, p. 132). Pace and Hemmings (2007) argued, “Authority is a fundamental, problematic, and poorly understood component of classroom life” (p. 4). They advocated the study of authority that synthesized social theories, educational ideology, and political dimensions of ideology so authority and power were distinctive. That distinction utilized in the analysis of teachers’ discourse throughout the current research project, proved insightful. Additionally they advocated including educational ideology to assess the political struggles and agendas that had an impact on ideology. Pace and Hemmings (2007) analyzed ideologies of authority and power. Ultimately, the ideological differences between patriarchal compliance, social justice, emancipatory pedagogy, critical theories, TEACHER IDEOLOGIES 34 and transformative intellectualism diverged along major theoretical ruptures. None focused on the same purpose of and for education. Pace and Hemmings (2007) argued that historically in U.S. education, in spite of various conservative, liberal, and radical approaches to authority and power, a social efficiency ideology (Callahan, 1962; Giroux, 1986; Kliebard, 1987) has prevailed. In spite of noticing and understanding the “hidden curriculum” (Anyon, 1980; Jackson, 1968) in schooling, Pace and Hemmings (2007) asserted that social efficiency ideologies continue, “socializing students to the norms, values, and purposes (moral order) of schooling (pp. 13-14). Socialization in the form of “maintaining order” has remained the “top priority as teachers respond not only to their own concerns but also to those of their superiors” (p. 14). These indictments of social efficiency as well as other under-theorized political ideologies in education affirmed the fundamental importance of authority as a factor in schooling. What proved invaluable to the current study was Pace and Hemmings (2007) affirmation that theory, ideology, and context matter in understanding macro and micro level interactions and teachers’ social discourse. Pace and Hemmings (2007) concluded that theoretical elaborations on power and authority must simultaneously examine underlying ideologies of power and privilege and that to resolve or reform education, “theorists, ideologues, and researchers acknowledge the fact that a good education simply is not possible without classroom authority relations that promote learning” (p. 22). A frequent debate in education surrounds the topic of social justice versus indoctrination and their roles in education. Cochran-Smith et al. (2009, May) took on the highly contested nature of “social justice” and examined it as an ideology inside the TEACHER IDEOLOGIES 35 national conversation on teacher quality. They sought to understand how “teacher candidates in a program with a stated social justice agenda understood this concept and how their understandings played out in classrooms” (p. 347). Their study and findings have implications for this research since “preparing teachers to teach for social justice is prevalent in a number of teacher education programs, partnerships, recruitment efforts” (p. 349). Additionally, by attempting to understand how “understandings played out in the classroom” they relied on a discursive analysis of teachers’ talk and text. Through the rhetoric and imagery of “the academic achievement gap” Warikoo and Carter (2009) explored holistic and ideological tensions necessary to maintain the visualization of broad systemic, educative failure as a “gap”. Warikoo and Carter (2009) examined this oversimplification as a way of understanding teachers’ ideological purpose when all their work was directed by education policy. Warikoo and Carter (2009) revealed a propensity for “cultural explanations for ethno-racial differences” in student achievement (p. 366) and discussed academic attainment between immigrant minorities and children of native or enslaved minorities. By investigating the allure of “bridging the achievement gap”, they concluded, “cultural arguments that have come to dominate the field problematically define specific ethno- racial identities as subtractive from the goal of academic mobility while defining the ethnic cultures and identities for select immigrant groups as additive and oriented toward this goal” (p. 368). Their research affirmed the presence of larger ideological interests invested in maintaining a cultural explanations model. That validated additive and subtractive cultural explanations for differential educational outcomes Warikoo and Carter (2009) TEACHER IDEOLOGIES 36 argued, “culture inheres in practices and meanings shared by members of a particular social group, such as families, ethnic networks, neighborhoods, communities, schools, and organizations” (p. 368). This concern for understanding systemic maintenance drew from Ogbu’s (1978) seminal analysis of voluntary and involuntary immigrants. Warikoo and Carter (2009) determined that schools themselves function as “cultural actors with pervasive ideologies, rules, and codes that bolster status hierarchies among social groups” (p. 386). As agents in the educative process, schools “tend to sustain models of domination and subordination along class and race lines. Schools as social agents, maintain the ideologies of the status quo while diverting discourse to sociocultural explanations for differential academic results” (p. 386). Warikoo and Carter (2009) found that school agency operated at multiple levels and could be maneuvered at the expense of the students because “differential cultural identity models and social boundaries make each school unique social agents capable of influencing “ethno-racial differences in achievement outcomes” (p. 386). Warikoo and Carter (2009) suggested viewing the schools themselves as influential factors in students’ academic outcome. The imaginary of an achievement gap affects the “culture” of each school, minimizes and dislocates responsibility and that perception of the school’s agency impacts students’ academic performance. They noted, “students are embedded in a web of social identities; thus, it is simply dangerous to attribute schooling behaviors to a singular racial, ethnic or cultural identity” (p. 386). Their work pointed to the ongoing argument for examining what aesthetic judgments underlie differing local “cultural purposes” in schools. Those unmarked cultural spaces TEACHER IDEOLOGIES 37 may be misnomers for what Warikoo and Carter (2009) consider being aesthetic, political, and ideological spaces. Warikoo and Carter (2009) cited numerous authors then declared that “ Racial and ethnic identities emerge from the intersections of macrostructural, institutional (schooling), and individual-level forces; they are neither static nor one dimensional, and their meanings, as expressed in schools, vary across time, space, and region. This complex understanding of the literature that has promoted Warikoo and Carter (2009) to view “racialized oppositional cultures” (p. 368) as a proxy for viable “cultural ethos” of a school. They concluded that for researchers “it is simply dangerous to attribute schooling behaviors to a singular racial, ethnic or cultural identity” (p. 385). Warikoo and Carter (2009) encouraged a more nuanced theoretical approach to understanding what Hollins (2006) referred to as the culture of schooling and what herein became ideologies of power and privilege in urban schools. Summary of Literature on Teacher Ideology and Academic Excellence The first finding revealed fostering academic excellence as well resisting it indicated teachers’ shared belief systems (Abbate-Vaughn, 2004). The literature suggested referents to power and privilege as well as authority (Duncum, 2007; Mayes. 2010; Pace & Hemmings, 2009) revealed shared beliefs. Power, privilege, and authority became the first set of core connections running through all teacher ideologies. Abbate-Vaughn’s (2004) model of sorting data, adapted in the next chapter; Tables 2 and 3, predicted that there would be coherence (van Dijk, 2006) within ideologies and across core connections. An indication from Duncum (2007) pointed TEACHER IDEOLOGIES 38 toward ideologies that could be determined by the lure to which one chose to be drawn. Duncum (2007) indicated ones power and purpose revealed differences in ideology. Power and purpose themselves did not indicate an ideology. Power extended to many positive and negative uses. For example, teachers’ use of power or their vision of education’s purpose indicated differing ideologies as decisions facilitated student learning or shortened the length of meetings. The needs implicit or explicit in teacher ideologies pointed toward varying perspectives on fostering academic excellence.. Teacher Ideology and Contradictory Imperatives The second research question derived from Spivak’s (2012) aesthetic analysis of education, offered a transition from how teachers foster academic excellence to a more ontological line of inquiry; how do individual teachers deal with or respond to contradictory imperatives? On one level, perhaps all education research deals with contradiction, oppositional perspective, paradox, or juxtaposition. Critical discourse studies (Fairclough, 1994; Reisigl & Wodak, 2001/2009; van Dijk, 2006) suggested that discourse was an engagement with and argumentation for or against ones beliefs. Takacs (2003) indicated: Few things are more difficult than to see outside the bounds of your own perspective—to be able to identify assumptions that you take as universal truths but which, instead, have been crafted by your own unique identity and experiences in the world. We live much of our lives in our own heads, in a reconfirming dialogue with ourselves. Even when we dis cuss crucial issues with others, much of the dialogue is not dialogue: it is monologue where we work to convince others to understand us or to adopt our view. (p. 27) TEACHER IDEOLOGIES 39 However, the substance of research question two indicated that contradictory imperatives required an engagement with ones identity. Spivak’s (2012) “Introduction” presenting a new edition of her essays (2012) put her in a calculated reengagement with her earlier thinking and writing. Spivak (2012) positioned “reflection” prominently and validated that the teacher community at Pseudonym High School regularly engaged with contradictory imperatives as they examined student work, engaged in lesson study, participated in meetings, and critiqued students’ language and mathematical proficiency in the classroom and through multiple assessments. Spivak’s (2012) aesthetic analysis of the “double bind” (Bateson, 1972) or “learning to live with contradictory instructions” (Spivak, 2012, p. 3) proved important for understanding how teacher habits and internalized socialization (Hollins, 2011) pushed back against political and economic demands that teachers change their practice to improve student learning outcomes. As she explored the “double bind” Spivak (2012) maintained double binds are epistemological and ethical responses to problems. Spivak (2012) urged engagement with habits since not examining them perpetuated psychological, not epistemological, and educative habits (Spivak, 2012, p. 8). Spivak’s (2012) juxtaposition of the double bind opposite “maximal capitalism and unmediated cyber literacy as the greatest good” (p. 11) allowed an assertion of great importance to this study. Spivak extolled the importance of learning as a form of “displacing belief onto the terrain of the imagination” (p. 10). In that she transformed aesthetics, ideology, and the purpose of education into new and as yet unknown geographies of learning. “The only requirement is that, when you work with literatures TEACHER IDEOLOGIES 40 of the global South, you learn the pertinent languages…learn the language with literary depth rather than only social scientific fluency” (p. 114). Spivak’s (2012) “Introduction” supported an educative imperative to study education and teacher education as aesthetic education; to allow the displacement of beliefs and habits necessary to bring about epistemic change. Following Spivak (2012), this allowed for reimagining the purpose of education from and within imagination and Spivak (2012) suggested that was “a description of reading in its most robust sense” (p. 10). The unexamined impact on teachers’ identity and sense of coherence while being demanded to produce “quality education”, world-class education”, or understand the implications for pedagogy induced by the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) (2013) indicated contradictory imperatives were in play. NGSS (2013) and international standards (OECD, 2013) called on students in urban contexts to increase global knowledge and responsibility, while simultaneously demanding epistemic change from teachers in that context. At the beginning of the current study PHS had not met the 2011- 2012 state and federal academic benchmarks and therefore, were mandated to develop and create portfolios attesting to what was covered in the professional development. The complexity of managing ones teaching practice while being required to change that practice with immediate results supported an ontological examination of the literature. White (2000) argued that identity and history include ontological commitments that have entwined “how we articulate the meaning of our lives, both individually and collectively” (p. 4). White’s (2000) philosophical work defined ontology and alluded to the importance of “reflecting upon the most basic conceptualizations of self, other, and TEACHER IDEOLOGIES 41 world, as well as how such reflections in turn structure ethical-political thought” (p. 6). Ontology included “the most fundamental assumptions each makes about the world, including within that compass assumptions about time, nature, human subjectivity, the final source of morality, the territorial space of politics, and the often vexed relations between these elements” (Connolly, 2009, p. ix). This supported understanding how teachers’ in the study responded to contradictory imperatives in their practice. To better understand the impact of competing imperative in teaching, Davis and Sumara (2008) explained subjectivity or self-conscious awareness that may be revealed in “different discursive systems and practices” (p. 210) such as teacher professional development. Intersubjectivity then referred to levels of “social accord” that have both possibilities and constraints (Davis & Sumara, 2008). As teachers participated in professional development they were participating in reconciling numerous subjective and objective, but always, contradictory imperatives. , they have engaged in a deeply complex presumption: that teachers’ professional development and learning “is dependent on, but not determined by, teaching” (Davis & Sumara, 2008, p. 215). The professional development may be oriented to specific outcomes, but the work teachers do together may produce or create the “conditions for them to exceed themselves “ or possibly “transcend expectations in ways that simply cannot be known beforehand” (Davis & Sumara, 2008, p. 215). Mayes (2010) also studied power and its relationships with “the role of teacher identity and micro-level interaction [are] in the construction of power relations in the critical classroom” (p. 189). Mayes (2010) argued traditional power relations between teachers and students were often misunderstood and within critical traditions were TEACHER IDEOLOGIES 42 construed as needing to be redistributed. This redistribution dilemma resonated for the current research study in its investigation of identity and “the paradox of ideology” in educative relationships. Mayes (2010) claimed identities to be “dynamic, intersubjective, constructed moment to moment through social interaction, and, at the same time, subject to existing ideologies and perceived social constraints” (p. 195). That constructivist and intersubjective approach (Davis & Sumara, 2008) led to her contention that institutional contexts were often under-analyzed as perceived constraints. Mayes (2010) investigated if it was possible to bring about change by “implementing an applied theory that was purported to have such change as a goal” (p. 190). While Mayes’ (2010) work was largely in the examination and analysis of a critical pedagogy curriculum in which she participated, the contradictions she observed were applicable because she specifically critiqued teacher training within the curriculum. The most relevant critique of critical pedagogy expressed by Mayes (2010) was that power it is a fallacy to suggest that power can be transferred from teachers to students. A curriculum that advocates empowerment will not automatically empower students. This critique was important to consider in the context of teacher education at Pseudonym High School. While the teachers are not involved in developing a critical pedagogy or curriculum, they are participants in processes that demand reflective critique at the level of classroom interactions. The current study is concerned with the micro- level interactions that reveal power and identity but ultimately define the local context in which the teachers learn with each other. TEACHER IDEOLOGIES 43 Mayes (2010) suggested that theories of identity occur in many disciplines but share a notion of identity as “dynamic, intersubjective, constructed moment by moment through social interaction, and, at the same time, subject to existing ideologies and perceived social constraints” (p. 195). Mayes (2010) found that “power can be investigated most productively by examining social interaction in institutional contexts” (p. 206). Her advocacy of understanding local contexts through discourse pointed to similar work by Epstein (2010) who cautioned that studying identity in international contexts posed different ontologic problems. Yet, Mayes (2010) asserted, “teachers constructed their identities as directive or non-directive depending on the context, and thus ended up reinscribing institutional power in many cases, but perhaps disrupting it in others” (p. 206). Mayes’ (2010) work alluded to emergent expressions of teachers’ ontological and identity development as she observed their engagement with social interactions in their institutional contexts. Hollins’ (2012) ongoing research reflected the emergent nature of teacher subjectivity and intersubjectivity as she took on the broad theme of sharing a vision of the purpose of education within teaching and learning then wove it into the most particular levels of teachers’ identity formation and epistemic awareness of place. Hollins (2012) traced the trajectory of teacher socialization and the manifold cultural constructs that have influenced a majority of teachers to assist young people “find their place in society” (p. 105). Hollins argued that understanding teacher socialization in the United States also involved accepting an intimate, nuanced awareness of power and privilege in relationship with others. Accepted or rejected, socialization melded contradictory imperatives. TEACHER IDEOLOGIES 44 Hollins’ (2012) insisted that learning to teach built on but would not necessarily interrupt or challenge one’s socialization. Most people reproduced the system of domination and subordination they learned as children. As the dominant ideology of power and privilege inheres as part of teachers’ identities (Helms, 1990, 1993; McIntyre, 1988), to leave it unchallenged has sweeping implications for teacher education. “Culturally constructed teaching and learning practices in schools provide greater access to academic learning for the privileged than for those from disenfranchised cultural and ethnic groups” (Hollins, 2011, p. 105). Hollins (2011, 2012) discussed the implications of white privilege in teacher education and provided an overview of seminal research, theories, and models of white socialization and identity development. Her work included analyses of Helm’s (1993) Black and White Identity Development: Theory, Research, and Practice and extended to King’s (1991, 2011) seminal article, “Dysconscious racism” and McIntosh’s (1988) metaphor of emptying the “invisible knapsack of white privilege”. Hollins’ (2011) scrutiny of teacher socialization within contexts of unexamined white power and privilege bridges both an aesthetic decision to maintain one’s habits of practice and an ontological process that resists change and may be found in discourse. Hollins (2012) identified two contentious sites of teacher education discourse: 1) the perpetual appropriation of knowledge of the world as an extension of self (p. 113) and 2) the conviction that knowledge is neutral and universal (p. 116). Within a political context that includes monolithic ideologies of corporate globalization and the elimination of teacher education (Darling-Hammond, 2010; Giroux, 2010; Zeichner, 2010), Hollins’ (2011) research points toward reframing discourses of power and privilege. TEACHER IDEOLOGIES 45 Hollins (2012) proposed changing the “social discourse of learning to teach” (p. 125). Framed by the notion of “constructing knowledge in practice” Hollins (2012) advocated for interruptions of the ideologies of privilege that “perpetuate students’ low academic performance” (p. 125). She referred to this as working on teachers’ epistemic practice. The significance of Hollins (2011) for this research emanates from the social centrality of education and teacher education in the U.S. As individual teachers make ontological and substantive alterations in their practices they are altering the quality of the center and of students’ learning. In the current model of teacher education, deciding to “teach students from diverse and underserved groups” (Hollins, 2011, p. 128), Hollins argued what it means to teach revolves around the education of diverse groups of young people (Hollins, 1998, 2006, 2008), however, its operationalization has been inconsistent, often incoherent, and scattered. Hollins (2011) asserted the imperative for teacher education to operate from a shared vision of teaching and the resultant habits of mind. To rethink educational habits of mind as part of a rigorous clinical practice represented a resolved competition between seemingly equal imperatives. Summary of Literature on Conflicting Imperatives Spivak (2012), White (2009), Davis and Sumara (2010), Mayes (2010), and Hollins (2012) indicated that mandated change, whether embraced or rejected, challenged individuals, questioned self-concepts, and presented conflicting imperatives. The decision to change ones teaching practice was determined to be a choice made from ontological and conflicting imperatives. Individual teachers made choices to move among ideologies and social discourse within the department that ran along fault lines of TEACHER IDEOLOGIES 46 predictable ideologies. Knowing that many decisions within a community of teachers increase the complexity of being on a fault line, teachers were being challenged to decide what ideologies were going to extend the theoretical perspectives they held. Hollins suggested that those fault lines could be teachers’ socialization and therefore malleable. Earlier, Warikoo and Carter (2009) observed “pervasive ideologies, rules, and codes” within schools that maintained stratified hierarchies and social status between and among students also operated to the detriment of learning. The sources of conflicting imperatives were located internally and externally for most teachers. The ability to choose was also inherent. Teacher Ideology and Theories of Practice Research on individual teacher’s practice and their beliefs about knowledge and knowing (Hofer, 2004; Hofer & Pintrich, 1997; Kuhn, 2000) overlapped with ontological claims (Packer & Goicoechea, 2000; Slotta & Chi, 2006). The third question moved that argument by asking what epistemic practices fostered academic excellence. The question assumed teachers could differentiate assumption and beliefs about the nature of learning, knowledge, and pedagogy. What remained unknown were linkages between teacher ideologies and the level of responsibility that accompanied the ideology. Would pedagogies that intentionally sought to foster academic excellence be sufficient to accomplish that goal? Hofer (2001) suggested that personal epistemology research may be moving toward “an integration of ideas from multiple models: an identifiable set of dimensions of beliefs, organized as theories, progressing in reasonably predictable directions, activated in context, operating as epistemic cognition” (p. 377). California’s educational TEACHER IDEOLOGIES 47 requirements (2010) and content standards, “designed to encourage the highest achievement of every student, by defining the knowledge, concepts, and skills that students should acquire at each grade level” (CDOE, 2010) left no room for a personal epistemology that integrated multiple models. To look at the phenomenon of teacher ideology and epistemic practice more closely, Cochran-Smith et al. (2009) investigated the impact of Boston College’s social justice teacher education program and characterized it as “good and just teaching” (p. 347). Acknowledging that social justice education is criticized as both under-theorized and ambiguous, they reported their study affirmed that social justice as a teaching practice included “pedagogical strategies and methods teachers use as well as how they think about their work and interpret what is going on in schools and classrooms” (p. 350). The analysis of “how teachers think about their work” compared with how teachers described their work represented a valuable observation that made their analyses relevant for the current research study. Cochran-Smith et al (2009) examined 12 master’s level teacher candidates over a three year period in a program with an explicit “social justice agenda” (p. 348). Next, they the major critiques of programs designed to prepare teachers “to teach for social justice” (p. 349). Importantly, they framed the final discussion with a caveat and asserted, “false dichotomies between social justice and knowledge/learning” and “flawed assumptions about teacher education as a neutral and value-free enterprise” (p. 349) have remained problematic in teacher education. Cochran-Smith et al. (2009) asserted teachers’ attitudes and beliefs, although well researched, produced few studies focused on the impact social justice teaching would have on student learning. TEACHER IDEOLOGIES 48 Cochran-Smith et al. (2009) argued, “teaching for social justice, or what we title here ‘good and just teaching’, has informed “teaching in a democratic society and has stood as an example of their ideology”. This work of Cochran-Smith et al. (2009) exemplified an important distinction the current study hoped to illuminate. Social justice remained both a controversial ideology and an indicator that ideology itself was being examined. Picower (2009) chose to examine preservice teachers’ unexamined ideologies from a critical race perspective. Picower focused her qualitative study on the under- examined and predominantly white teaching force in the U.S. This was accomplished by looking at eight, white, female pre-service teachers enrolled in a multicultural education course taken during their last semester of a university program in New York. As analyzed by Philip (2012),“seeking to demonstrate such intentionality, Picower (2009) explored how the life experiences of White prospective teachers shaped their understandings of race and difference, which they protected and maintained among themselves through “tools of Whiteness.” Driven by the fact that the teaching force and profession continues to be predominantly White (Cochran-Smith, 2004; Jordan-Irvine, 2003; Ladson-Billings, 2001) and the students are not, generates a “demographic imperative”. Citing, Banks (1996) and Cochran-Smith (2004), “How do white preservice teachers conceptualize race and difference and what role do these conceptualizations play in maintaining existing racial hierarchies?” (p. 198). Picower (2009), a white researcher, sought to understand “how white teachers construct identities of people different from themselves” (p. 198) and therefore, the study TEACHER IDEOLOGIES 49 situated race as the primary organizing principle of the study. Picower (2009) relied on particular tenets of critical race theory (CRT) to analyze the operationalization of whiteness in the preservice teachers “particular understandings of race and difference.” Picower (2009) asserted, “Whiteness is the ideology and way of being in the world that is used to maintain White supremacy” (p. 198, capitalization in original). The study identified how these teachers were able to negotiate these “particular understandings” when “their ideologies were challenged through a course on multicultural education.” (p. 199). Within the study, each prospective teacher was in their final semester, enrolled in a multicultural education course that proposed to “help new teachers begin exploring their own racial identity and class privilege, their assumptions about students of color, and their developing understandings of the role of teachers in urban schools” (p. 200). Picower’s (2009) research, based on teaching from a culturally relevant perspective (Adams, Bell & Griffin 2007; Banks, 1996; Bonilla-Silva, 2003; Kincheloe, 1999; Valenzuela, 1999), involved interviews, transcripts of class sessions, reflective essays, and written assignments. Picower’s (2009) findings suggested developing a “racialized critical consciousness” was not a long-lasting approach to developing cultural competence. Picower found that one course, late in teacher education programs, did little to help white teachers become better educators primarily because resistance to courses and concepts of race and socio-political consciousness pervaded pre-service education classes. Picower (2009) concluded that white preservice teachers entered pre-service teacher education classes with “hegemonic understandings of fear, deficiency, and white victimhood” and left with little changed. When white teachers encountered multicultural, TEACHER IDEOLOGIES 50 culturally relevant courses, Picower (2009) asserted they chose not to challenge identities and concepts of undeserved power and privilege. Because the current study, conducted in a school with a faculty from diverse racial, linguistic, cultural, ethnic, and generational backgrounds, would Picower’s (2009) findings be corroborated? If there are no “majoritarian” (Chapman, 2007, 2010) groups of teachers in the science department, what would influence the ideological make-up of these teachers? That led to an analysis by McGregor (2009), an Australian researcher, and presented social justice teaching within an analysis of the economic and social impact of “neoliberal and free market capitalism” on education. “Global capitalism has placed education at the forefront of national competitiveness, and governments have responded with education policies primarily designed to serve the needs of the market” (p. 345). In so doing, she indicted market-based impulses to change the purpose of education and challenged the assumption that teachers were required to “shape human capital (Apple, 2007) for the private sector” (p. 346). McGregor (2009) was concerned with the purpose of education and the meaning of teaching. She specifically commented on the semantic shift from education and teaching for “human possibility” to the current rhetoric of education and teaching as the “producer of obedient, and moral human capital” primarily for “the interests of global capitalism” (p. 356). The study took place at a middle class and multicultural high school in a metropolitan area of Australia’s affluent state of Queensland. McGregor (2009) described the school as shaped by “neo-liberal beliefs that demanded greater TEACHER IDEOLOGIES 51 competitiveness [for resources] from government schools” (p. 357). She asserted the neoliberal focus included greater student conformity, demands for managerial efficiency, rigorous compliance with standards, and teacher accountability that reflected a social efficiency model of pedagogy. Consistent with a social efficiency model, McGregor (2009) explained the administration determined if teachers’ curricular projects were “socially acceptable” to that administration. At the time of her case studies, McGregor (2009) was a secondary teacher intellectually influenced by emancipatory ideologies of Freire (1970), Giroux (1981) and “a mix of feminist and leftist politics that aspire[d] to achieve social justice” (p. 348). As a teacher, McGregor observed the impact of “globalization” on the school administration. She saw globalization as an ideological reason to limit project with a “social justice” perspective. Compliance was highly valued. Regardless of individual teachers’ success or their ability to foster academic excellence, compliance rather than social justice was considered sufficient to improve test results. McGregor (2009) analyzed the impact of that contextualized educative decision because it shifted what teacher pedagogy was to be and what students were “allowed” to consider while claiming the school sought high academic outcomes. She disagreed and concluded that both teachers and students wanted more for themselves than “the current direction of global educational reforms that privilege standards, accountability, competition, and quantifiable outcomes” (italics in original, p. 356). Summary of Literature on the Epistemology of Practice The literature review on the epistemology of practice extended earlier analyses of teacher authority (Pace & Hemmings, 2007), and socialization (Hollins, 2012) into TEACHER IDEOLOGIES 52 pedagogies of social justice (Cochran-Smith et al., 2009) and critical pedagogy. On one level, the literature reflected a variety of “what we need to do as educators” to improve the content or pedagogy in public schools. However, at a deeper level this literature pointed toward pedagogy itself as ideological and political. The perpetuation of pedagogy without an analysis of its ideology has proved to have a negative developmental and cumulative impact on teacher learning (Hollins, 2010). Secondly, empirical studies connecting identity construction and ideology within teachers’ discourse have argued for more research on how teachers transform individual pedagogy. However, the current reform rhetoric and simplistic policy notions of what it means to teach do not address how teachers and school cultures can chose to maintain, move or transition into more transformative pedagogical possibilities related to fostering academic excellence among students. TEACHER IDEOLOGIES 53 CHAPTER THREE: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY This chapter outlined the methodology used to conduct a case study of urban secondary science teachers focused on fostering academic excellence and to collect and interpret the data. The theoretical framework and qualitative protocols acted as a prism to transform the observation of teachers’ social discourse , activities, beliefs, values, and attitudes These research questions precede the study design, followed by the sample and population, data collection procedures, data analysis, and, finally, suggestions of findings for chapter four. A detailed description of each participant will also be found at the beginning of chapter four. Throughout this dissertation, the literature guided the research. Study Design Pseudonym High School (PHS) was selected as an exemplar of Yin’s (2009) notion of a representative case study designed to "capture the circumstances and conditions of an everyday or commonplace situation" (p. 48). Using the holistic, representative, single case study design allowed the educative processes in place at PHS to be observed as a holistic entity and as a social and transformative possibility. This minimal interference in the PHS science department meetings and regularly scheduled professional development activities mirrored both sociocultural learning theory (Cole, 1996, Cole et al., 1978; Kozulin, 2003; Packer & Goicoechea, 2000; Rogoff, 1989, 2003) and situated cognition developed by Brown, Collins, and Duguid (1989) to inform the data and findings. TEACHER IDEOLOGIES 54 Pseudonym High School (PHS) an urban secondary school that struggled with uneven academic improvement and ongoing, mandated teacher professional development to improve teachers' practice to improve student test scores. This study design investigated the social discourse of the teachers (Hollins, 2012; Wodak, 2010; van Dijk, 2009) over three months in the spring of 2013. All of the names, titles, and district references maintained the confidentiality of the participants. Sample and Population The Pseudonym High School science department is located within a large urban high school in Southern California and is an integral part of the surrounding community (Dixson & Decuir, 2004; Linton, 2011). The student demographics have shifted from a high of over 80% African American students in the 1990s to its current stabilized population of approximately 53% African American and 46% Latino students. Anecdotal information (Linton, personal correspondence, 2013) indicated that the decline in total school population by half of what it was in 2008 and the elimination of five, science teacher positions, coupled with higher expectations and 2010 common core standards were part of what the PHS science faculty accepted as their responsibility. The school population at the time of the study had met the 2011 to 2012 California Department of Education (CADOE, 2013) Academic Performance Index (API) and posted a 29-point improvement. However, because the school’s API increase had not caught up with the California’s expected levels of 2012 student test performance, the teachers remained in district mandated professional development activities. The 2012- 2013 school year continued to focus on data analysis of student performance and extended this focus to core subject matter departments and Small Learning Communities TEACHER IDEOLOGIES 55 or SLCs (PUSD, 2012). Furthermore, the district directed the school to create a plan that identified ways to enhance professional development within the departments and SLCs and to set specific goals for the school to implement, which they published in 2012 on the school website. This study investigated ways in which representative science teachers understood improving their practice. Linton’s (2011) dissertation and sociocultural self-study of professional development expanded the use of Hollins’ (2006) structured dialogue within mandated professional development. A high level of continuity existed from Linton’s (2011) study under Hollins’ mentorship to Dr. Linton’s current leadership as the science department chair. Hollins’ (2006) research was included in official school web pages explaining PHS professional development. Structured dialogue, as conceptualized by Hollins (2006) and Linton (2011), was present in each of PHS’s science department agenda. Each meeting began by recounting the previous focus strategy or approach, allowed for corrections, amendments, and teachers, included discussions of successes and challenges from the previous month, or sharing educative experiences and knowledge gained between meetings. Linton (2011) explained the role of the department chair at PHS was that, “during the debriefing the facilitator…reminded the group about the focus on student performance and the strategies reported from the last meeting” (p. 50). Second, the chair initiated a discussion about the challenges and successes teachers experienced while implementing new strategies. Teachers were encouraged to share evidence of student work and bring in samples that supported the discussion. Those discussions led into step three of structured dialogue: participant interactions about TEACHER IDEOLOGIES 56 pedagogical strategies. This part of the educative process was facilitated in order “to encourage teachers to share, add to, and critique practice. If the teachers did not readily discuss the components of the pedagogies the facilitator used specific questions to scaffold the discussion towards these topics” (Linton, 2011, pp. 49-50). Structured dialogue’s fourth step involved all participants in collaborative planning. At Pseudonym High School, the specific planning was mandated and consisted of developing approaches to lessons themselves that would address the broad concerns of meeting students’ learning needs and supporting district requirements to improve test scores and graduation rates. In 2012-2013 the district and state introduced a stipend for teachers to encourage them to develop individual teaching portfolios. The final part of the structured dialogical process required that documentation of the department driven strategies and processes designed for implementation in the next month. According to research field notes (2013), the department chair’s task was to check up on the progress of the reported strategies, offer support to teachers, answer questions, and collaboratively brainstorm ways to increase student learning. “This recursive process was applied to each department meeting with a focus on improving the academic performance of urban students” (Linton, 2011, p. 50). Structured dialogue was intended to work as a cultural tool (Cole et al. 1978; Rogoff, 1995) to aid in the transformation of the teachers’ social processes (Hollins, 2012). The Pseudonym Unified School District (PUSD), in response to state and federal policy demands (CADOE, 2013) required that all science teachers participate in monthly department meetings within each core subject area in order to plan and enact particular pedagogical approaches; then individually, as well as collaboratively, interpret and TEACHER IDEOLOGIES 57 translate students’ responses to make adjustments that improved subsequent opportunities for learning. Consequently, the schedule of meetings within the science department included a meeting of the science department on the first Tuesday of the month. The science department met on the second Tuesday and the specific inter-department disciplines of life science, chemistry, and physics met every third Tuesday of the month. Teachers met together in the department chairs’ room and followed an agenda set by the department chair. According to Pseudonym Unified School District, a model of “Nested Learning Communities” similar to Figure 2 explained the shared vision of professional development designed and assessed by the district and monitored at Pseudonym High School by the literacy coaches and department heads. PHS utilized the school district’s model of nested circles within a cyclic repetitive process to visually represent the common lesson study. In the spring semester of 2013, the PHS science department continued their yearlong focus on the mastery of writing research reports when they planned a common lesson. Figure 2 illustrated the format and language utilized in the PHS planning. Figure 1. Teacher Professional Development Cycle (adapted from LAUSD, 2003) Focus Plan Ensuring Rigor in Teaching and Learning Apply Teach/ Observe Debrief/ Reflect District X Professional Development Lesson Study Teachers work collaboratively to TEACHER IDEOLOGIES 58 In accordance with local district policy, the department had completed the focus study and conducted numerous planning sessions throughout the year. The teachers worked on students’ research protocols and report writing during the teaching portions of the cycle. After each lesson observation, the department chair, any attendant administrators, and the teacher observers participated in the “debrief and reflect” portion of the above cycle. In May 2013, the researcher attended portions of the above lesson study cycle and compiled field notes. Department chairs in PUSD are non-subsidized positions and involve meetings with administration to develop a master plan and then facilitate the monthly department meetings and professional development (PHS web site, 2013). Duties for the department chairs included printing and distribution of district information concerning instructional reform, school specific information, agendas that were emailed to participants prior to the meetings as well as collecting and updating relevant data for the analysis of periodic assessments and learning outcomes (PHS website, 2013). Additionally, in 2012-2013, the department chair in science was responsible for the administration of a district grant involving teacher stipends for successfully completing individual portfolios that contained specific assignments. The stipends were granted once each semester. In the spring of 2010 Pseudonym High School had initiated the use of structured dialogue (Hollins, 2006; Linton, 2011) as a discourse intervention to mediate instructional reform and academic subject area goals. The academic subject area teachers developed a time-line for implementing particular pedagogical practices introduced in professional development and at department meetings, so teachers could subsequently discuss the effectiveness of their approaches. Implementing structured dialogue, as a TEACHER IDEOLOGIES 59 discourse intervention within the science department, was intended to focus teacher discourse and pedagogical practices on students’ academic science learning. It also presented a forum to question ineffective processes that teachers discovered through their practice. Participants The staff of the science department at the time of this study included 17 certificated staff. The teachers included nine biology teachers, six chemistry teachers, and two physics teachers. The self declared demographics of the 17 teachers included three European Americans, six African Americans, three Hispanic or Latinos, one teacher each from Ghana, India, Nigeria, Philippines, and Puerto Rico. One hundred percent of the faculty possessed credentials to teach secondary science or special education as well as the required credentials to facilitate learning for students from diverse linguistic and culture backgrounds. That percentage exceeds the 2011-2012 district data of compliance with NCLB that was 89.7%. The science teacher participants held varying lengths of service at PHS from one to 33 years and one teacher had 25 years continuous service at PHS. Some teachers came to this department from public and private sector companies and from research experience in large corporations. Since 2008, the current department chair had worked closely with the Principal and with site administration in planning and delivering "coherent, consistent and comprehensive professional development" (Hollins, 2006; PHS website. 2012) aimed at improving the teachers' practice. The science department met frequently to accomplish their professional development and department meeting tasks. TEACHER IDEOLOGIES 60 Before beginning the case study, the Principal of PHS approved the researcher’s site permission request (Appendix A) for the research to be conducted. Next, at a science department meeting in March 2013, each teacher was given an official UPIRB statement and discussed permission and individual concerns. While this research did not involve observing students, it was not required for teachers to approve the study but, anecdotally, all the teachers indicated they were willing to participate. Instrumentation The instrumentation designed by the researcher for use in this qualitative study synthesized literature, official online and printed vision and mission statements, field notes, and observations. Key terms were organized into Table 1 to manage the researcher’s observations. Later, using Creswell’s (2009) notions of expectant, emergent and unusual findings, the results from Table 1 were consulted for outcomes or themes. The terminology and grammar used throughout the study related to a blend of constructivism (Cole, 1996, Cole & Engeström, 1994; Kozulin, 2003; Packer & Goicoechea, 2000; Rogoff, 1989, 2003) and Hollins’ (2012) analysis of learning to teach in urban schools. Additionally, Abbate-Vaughn’s (2004) research protocol was adapted and led to identifying three teacher ideology groupings and the core connections that held each ideology together.. Duncum (2007) observed the tension between aesthetics and ideology as political in nature. Aesthetics included visual appearances and intentional or unintentional lures. The intentional lure developed to persuade or entice viewers was also examined as marketing or ideological strategy indicating that the lure was similar to creating an intentional double bind (Bateson, 1972). For example, Duncum (2007) described the TEACHER IDEOLOGIES 61 attraction and repulsion produced by emotional and moral conflicts endured watching a violent scene in a children’s movie while laughing at the humorous behavior of a character. Warikoo and Carter (2009) analyzed the convergence of ideology and authority and posited that there were no value-free or non-political forms of education. The research question developed from the seminal work of Packer and Goicoechea (2000) who focused on ontology within constructivist learning theories. Their work pointed toward a complex process of change, intersubjectivity, and human agency in teacher education. Next, Mayes (2010) introduced intersubjective power and its use and abuse in identity construction. Issues related to reinscribing the presumptive dominance of institutions also related to Mayes (2010). Hollins (2011) concluded the second research question with an elaboration on identity and the relationality necessary for actualize educative purpose. Hollins’ (2011) analysis framed power and privilege in teaching in order to analyze the core complexity of U.S. education that revealed a lack of shared vision and purpose. In order to capture the complexity and double binds inherent in shared visions of purpose, this research examined Spivak’s (2012) understanding of the moral challenges and complex decisions negotiated within communities of teachers. An example of the complex external theories that influenced local urban contexts was the development of university, corporate, and governmental influence. The “Triple Helix” developed by Etzkowitz and Leydesdorff (2000), Etzkowitz (2004), Leydesdorff (2012), acknowledged the expanding similarities in reform purposes yet their challenges to urban schools were unanswered. Jessop (2008) outlined the redefinitions of learning in knowledge-based TEACHER IDEOLOGIES 62 economies set on education reform. Robertson (2012) discussed globalization in relation to Europe that resonated with U.S. discourse of human capital, skills, and innovation. Hollins (2013) encapsulated current work within education and teacher education on the social centrality and importance of a shared vision of competent teaching and a model for clinical practice. To review, the three research questions, key words and terminology explained above and listed in Table 1, assisted data collection and analysis. Data Collection The data, field notes, and recordings were stored and secured off-site per the UPIRB requirements (USC, 2013) in a locked office and on a secure, password-protected computer throughout the preparation and duration of the study. Per strict IRB regulations and to further protect the anonymity of participants and protect international copyright laws, all digital audio recordings, photos of posters, handouts, and flyers were “modified to eliminate the possibility that study participants could be identified” (USC, 2013). At the conclusion of the research, they will be securely deleted. The data collection took place in April and May 2013 at four department meetings and at five "common lesson planning, observation, and debriefing sessions” described as mandated professional development (CADOE, 2012). The data was collected, per the University of Southern California and the UPIRB, by May 15, 2013. The information and data sources varied both within and between observed sessions. Per the IRB permission (March, 2013), the researcher used Table 1 while observing the activities. Additionally, the researcher drew seating charts, counted interactions, noted the order and frequency of speakers, the enforcement of meeting rules and norms, as well as individual TEACHER IDEOLOGIES 63 behaviors, attitudes, and perceptions (Yin, 2009, p. 89). The researcher collected public documents about policies and outcomes related to the larger school and district. For example, the "School Report Card” developed by the Pseudonym Unified School District (PUSD) as a public document, compared the Annual Performance Index (API) and Annual Yearly Progress (AYP) data by the last three year and by student subgroups and socioeconomic indicators. Additionally, the researcher took written and electronic Field notes and three photographs of the debriefing posters (Appendix D) that were developed on the final day of the research study. The posters represented the teachers' observations from the common lesson process and were recorded by one of the administrative leaders. Data Analysis This research integrated two approaches data analysis. First, Creswell’s (2009) was consulted for developing codes on four broad levels that began with the school’s website and keyword for the initial analysis of the data. Secondly, the list expanded to include “codes that were surprising and were not anticipated at the beginning of the study” (Creswell, 2009, p. 187). Third, codes included words, phrases, or references that stood out as unique, unusual, or “of conceptual interest” (p. 187), to the research. Finally, the fourth level of coding combined expected, emergent, and unusual data for use throughout the interpretive process. The second form of data analysis extended Abbate-Vaughn (2004) and her exploration of teacher ideologies and the “shared beliefs” of the teachers within each specific group. Her research included two tables that visually described the process of TEACHER IDEOLOGIES 64 developing themes and findings. The following tables synthesized the current research data from broad to specific core connections. Table 2 Sample of Coding Ideologies. From Data Analysis to Emergent Themes Adapted from Abbate-Vaughn (2004); indicated by an asterisk (*) Within the data from the study, isolated comments took on new meaning when coded preliminarily (Abbate-Vaughn, 2004). The next step was to verify each grouping with the three research questions. At that point, it was discovered that some part of each question found an answer in each teacher ideology. The sample in Table 2 indicated that many of the relationships in the Oppositional group were pushing back against change and resisted pedagogical inquiry as a “waste of time” or something unnecessary. The Oppositional group ultimately shared the position that responsibility for student learning rested outside themselves and their ideology. Some thought that its unimportance deserved little respect and while the teachers in the Oppositional group demanded their right to authority, autonomy, and respect, they showed very little of those core connections to the larger community of practice. Dr. Li ignored the commentary and Data samples in Ch. 4: Preliminary code*; Possible themes Verification* of codes by research questions (RQ) Pattern Code*; Emergent themes “Do we have to add this to the pacing plan” “When do we have to do this?” “I’ll volunteer, as long as someone else goes first.” Frequent tardiness Interrupt large group for individual concerns Epistemic concerns Change v. status quo Lack of leadership Impact of change on time for other duties Respect for rules and norms RQ 1: How do teachers reveal commitment to academic excellence? What beliefs underlie actions and comments? Individual autonomy Resist change Responsibility Source of control TEACHER IDEOLOGIES 65 maintained the integrity of the group with short statements and no emotional content that could distract the other participants. Table 3 presented the second layer of sorting after determining possible pattern codes (Abbate-Vaughn, 2004). The table highlighted the juxtaposition of the emergent themes from each set of data and the research questions with researcher field notes and the names of the possible members of that ideology. Again, the columns offered a view of the connections and, at that point, the well-known participants’ positions began to have substance and an internal integrity that helped maintain them in the context of school reform at Pseudonym High School. Chapter Four elaborated on each ideology. Table 3 Sample of Continuation from Emergent Themes to Teacher Ideologies Pattern Codes*: from Ch. 2 Field notes Participant analysis*; Ideological group Teacher ideologies and core connections Individual autonomy Resistance to change Source of responsibility Source of power or control Oppose leadership; Insecure about pedagogy; use behavioral learning theory- aversion and punishment Declarative statements disguised as questions What separates teacher from students and parents? Oppositional group: Ross Archer Greg Angela Terry Jack Abhay Michael Oppositional  School functions to maintain order and continuity with past  Hostile or aversive to meeting structure  Not responsible for students’ behavior or testing outcomes  More strict discipline needed  Unstated behavioral learning theory  Unclear theoretical perspective  Malleable pedagogy to cope with observations and teacher assessments TEACHER IDEOLOGIES 66 CHAPTER FOUR: FINDINGS The challenge of the study was identifying the core problem within the data. By identifying the variations in teacher ideologies and the core connections among them, this study revealed evidence, linking variations in student outcomes with variations in teacher ideologies. The variations in teacher ideologies were titled “core connections” and represented teachers’ opinions, beliefs, values, and attitudes toward the source of responsibility for teachers practice, adaptations for assuring academic excellence, and “the culture of practice within the teacher community” (Hollins, 2012) that maintained the status quo. The core connections extended Abbate-Vaughn’s (2004) forces driving “organized belief systems” among urban teachers. The research questions had asked how individual teachers in mandated professional development meeting interacted and with what purposes? If synthesized, what could the normative culture of practice at PHS indicate about teacher ideologies and student learning? The three research questions that pointed toward ideology included; first, how do urban secondary science teachers reveal their commitment to fostering academic excellence; second, how do these teachers respond to contradictory imperatives; and third, what epistemic practices pointed toward teachers committed to fostering academic excellence? Participants Detailed descriptions of the 17 individuals mandated to attend meetings, professional development sessions, and create portfolios indicated the variations in individual understanding of fostering academic excellence, solving competing imperatives, and connecting pedagogy to the goal of increasing state test scores for all TEACHER IDEOLOGIES 67 groups of students. Pseudonym High School sustained flat or low growth in the state test scores for the previous five years and had failed to meet national and state standards of proficiency in all subgroups of students. However three of the current science teachers had been able to achieve much higher outcomes consistently and 6 others were improving. At the time of this study (2012-2013) the teachers were mandated to improve the science test scores and to make necessary pedagogical changes to accomplish that goal. The following descriptions of the 17 teachers derived from researcher observations, field notes, self-reporting by individuals, research, and public records. The biology teachers have more depth of description because they were observed beyond meetings and professional development into the content level lesson planning, implementation, and debriefing. Biology Teachers (9) Dr. Li, an African American female who held a doctorate in teacher education, was the department chair. She received high performance reports (CADOE, 2011, 2012) and positive anecdotal comments made by faculty throughout this study (Field notes, 2013). Those indicators suggested that Dr. Li was respected and appreciated. Dr. Li spoke English and an African American vernacular dialect from Louisville, Kentucky. As a scholar and teacher educator, Dr. Li endorsed the inclusion of published research in the school’s literature and on its website. One article, Hollins (2006), argued that consistency, coherence, and continuity in the department were essential to fostering high academic outcomes. Additionally, Dr. Li applied structured dialogue (Hollins, TEACHER IDEOLOGIES 68 2004) as a tool for conceptual change within department meetings. Some teachers reflected that style of discourse. Dr. Li prepared agendas and handouts for every meeting, followed an established protocol that provided multiple opportunities for the teachers to engage with the meetings’ sociocultural and pedagogical content. Since 2008, Dr. Li’s students displayed steadily improved test scores (CADOE 2009, 2013). Similarly, former students’ success at the next level of science attested to Dr. Li’s expertise. Ross, an African American male and former administrative scientist at a national aerospace corporation relied on his “authority, intuition, and creativity” (Field notes, 2013) to create relationships with students “so they would behave and finish their assignments” (Field notes, April 25, 2013). He was in his third non-consecutive semester teaching biology at PHS. He consistently stated that the reasons his students had low test scores was first, their work ethic and secondly, the unavailability of parental guidance and lack of supervision over homework. He did not assume responsibility for the continuity of the students’ learning because of his status as a professional scientist, not a teacher. Catrina, a Mexican American female, had been teaching for three years at PHS and was the youngest teacher in the department. She was a graduate of a prestigious college in Los Angeles and was an enthusiastic advocate of improving the academic excellence of her students. However, she confessed that her students’ scores were flat (Field notes, 2013). Catrina participated attentively in all the department meetings and lesson study preparation. She brought student work to the meetings and engaged other teachers in discussions of what the work might reveal. TEACHER IDEOLOGIES 69 Archer, a Nigerian male trained in South Africa was a molecular biologist who spoke five languages: Hansa and Igbo from Nigeria, Afrikaans, French, and English. Archer was adamant about strict discipline and was not concerned about the high levels of failure in his classes. He retained a behavioral approach and strict academic upbringing into his classroom and asserted, “I got the best education. It would be unacceptable to teach any other way.” He once stated that he wished there were more honors students at the school and a more sound disciplinary policy so he could do his work and not constantly have to deal with unruly students (Field notes, 2013). According to school district (PUSD, 2013) and state rankings, his students underperformed consistently and had a high failure rate in his classes. Chalmers, a white male, had been a biology teacher for 10 years before he moved to California. He had been at PHS for 14 years. Chalmers arrived late to meetings and often disrupted the flow of the meeting with individual or content level questions that were appropriate for his small group. Dr. Li redirected him to the agenda each time. Otherwise, he did not speak in the meetings. He did spend extra time reading and reporting on what he had learned in the extra reading materials. Chalmers admitted privately that he was doing all he could and did not like meetings designed to help new teachers. Greg had begun his teaching career at PHS in 1980 and was now a 33-year veteran teacher. He once stated to the researcher that he had no interest in meetings or their purpose. He did not speak in meetings and although his room was used for the biology debriefing session at the end of the study, he never spoke publically nor was he TEACHER IDEOLOGIES 70 asked to speak, at any meetings attended by the researcher. His students consistently scored lowest of all the sections of STEM classes analyzed. Angela, a Philippine female, had been a math and science teacher for 20 years in Manila, Philippines before joining the science faculty of PHS 11 years ago. She taught ninth grade biology at PHS. Angela was frequently absent or over 20 minutes late to department meetings and frequently explained where she had been as she walked into the room. Angela rarely spoke otherwise and when she did, it was at a low volume and many teachers asked her to repeat her question or comments. Her students received low class grades, frequently failed her biology class, and were often roaming in the halls during classes. Her student test data indicated a negative testing arc that resulted in lower science proficiency scores among her 9th grade students compared to their eighth grade testing data. Nathan, a Puerto Rican male, was a first year teacher in biology and health. He was friendly and willing to do all the work assigned. He talked about being overwhelmed and appreciated Dr. Li’s assistance. He participated in all of the department and professional development meetings and helped this content group. However, the school administration did not get a substitute for him to participate in the common lesson study and he was then pulled from the group to cover another teacher’s lunch duty. Terry, an African American female spoke English and taught biology within the special education department at PHS for seven years. Terry, as a resource teacher supported some students in classroom settings but most of her students were in a classroom with her due to diagnoses of either severe learning disorders or serious speech TEACHER IDEOLOGIES 71 impairments. She attended one department meeting, arrived late and then told the science literacy coach in attendance that she had to leave early and go to a parent meeting. Chemistry Teachers (6) Jeffrey, a Euro-American male was a 10-year veteran teacher and was bilingual in English and Spanish. He was reticent to speak in meetings but easily discussed issues in the smaller, more content specific groups. He frequently spoke to Dr. Li during lunch and after meetings about pedagogy and the discipline in their shared hallway. Jeffrey was also completing an on-line master’s program in education administration. He was conscientious about meetings. His students’ test scores were consistent with their class grades and were among the highest in the department. Nikolas, a Euro-American male was a well-liked chemistry teacher who consistently helped PHS students to achieve high test scores. He arrived on time, followed through on meeting requests, and brought student work as needed. One time in a chemistry content group, Gloria asked him to explain what the neatness of the student work demonstrated about student understanding and Nikolas was able to reframe his earlier comment and explain exactly what Gloria’s question pointed to in his evidence and began a new discussion on its value. Jack, a white male had been a chemical engineer prior to moving to Southern California and to PHS. He was now a 10-year teaching veteran and was a special teams coach for the PHS football team. He rarely spoke in meetings but was open and willing to share if approached. Jack often stated that his students were amazing (Field notes, 2013). His students’ test scores stayed flat but his chemistry students received high TEACHER IDEOLOGIES 72 grades in his classes and were anecdotally acknowledged as well prepared for advanced chemistry (Field notes, 2013). Gloria, a white female, had been a student teacher at PHS in the spring semester of 2010 - 2011 school year and was then hired as a long-term substitute teacher in biology before being hired as a full time chemistry teacher. This was her second year teaching tenth grade chemistry. Her student test scores had steadily improved; more students passed the class and went on to advanced chemistry. However, the overall scores remained below the proficiency demanded by the district, state, and federal policies. James, a Mexican American male had also been a student teacher at PHS. After his student teaching James was hired to replace a teacher who quit unexpectedly at the end of the first semester that school year. In his two years at PHS, students improved test scores both years and did well in his classes but still scored below the state level of proficiency in chemistry (CADOE, 2013). James admitted to Dr. Li that the changing standards and expectations were great but implementing them was extraordinarily time- consuming and frustrating for him. He asked Dr. Li to help him create a better strategy for the students next year (Field notes, 2013). Willa, a Ghanaian female had been a chemistry and honors chemistry teacher for 35 years and was planning to retire at the end of the current school year. She was reticent to participate in large group meetings and since the researcher did not sit in on the content level meetings in chemistry, Willa’s participation there was unknown. Her students’ test scores had been flat but at proficiency for five years. For the last two years all the student scores were declining. TEACHER IDEOLOGIES 73 Physics Teachers (2) Abhay, an Indian male and former astrophysicist at the University of Delhi and was part of the PHS faculty for the last 17 years. He dressed formally, in a suit and tie, and arrived punctually to all meetings. If he arrived early, he left and walked in the hall until the meeting was to begin. He spoke loudly. Abhay regularly asked superficial questions about handouts (“Do we need to read this?”), organizational changes (“Is this for all of us?”), meeting dates, deadlines for portfolio completion, and testing schedules. He regularly took notes. Dr. Li redirected most of his questions but he managed to blurt out a declarative sentence in each large group meeting. He was strict in his classes and refused to accept ant excuses for poor or incomplete work. That did not motivate his students. The test scores were flat, his grading was a precise bell curve, and many juniors and seniors repeated his class for college credit. Michael, a Euro-American male was bilingual in English and Spanish. He had taught chemistry and physics in Belize at a charter school for gifted international students. He once stated, “My students just have poor attitudes. They think they deserve higher grades but they have no skills compared to even regular students” (Field notes, May 5, 2013). Michael shared that he was frustrated and felt pressured by the administration to inflate grades so “some could at least pass” (Field notes, May 4, 2013). According to the school test data, more students failed his physics class than passed. There was no data available on state level physics testing at the time of this study. TEACHER IDEOLOGIES 74 Core Connections The teacher ideology groupings followed a series of analyses found in the literature. Abbate-Vaughn (2004) determined that schools themselves act as cultural actors and influence student outcomes. This corresponded to Hollins’ (2012), “culture of practice” among teachers. The six core connections were: 1) power, 2) purpose, 3) theory of learning, 4) theory of knowledge, 5) theory of practice, and 6) nature of responsibility Findings Three teacher ideologies with six core connections participated in and characterized elements of each research question. Within this research study, three unacknowledged but observable teacher ideologies interacted, mediated, and conflicted in the meetings and professional development. Ideologies were discussed, research questions were addressed, examples given, and a chart summarized the ideology. Oppositional Ideology The Oppositional Ideology included eight teachers who interrupted, arrived late, or were frequently absent. This pattern did not change over the course of the study. Oppositional Ideology participants displayed also made irrelevant jokes and displayed ignorance, feigned incomprehension, or may have been confused by pedagogical terms used to transition from one part of an activity to another. The Oppositional Ideology teachers were overwhelmed. One teacher complained about too many students, one had too many class responsibilities and found the meetings to be a waste of time. The teacher who had the worst test scores and the highest failure TEACHER IDEOLOGIES 75 rate argued that he was not afraid of the parents and until discipline improved, everyone in the class would suffer. As if replicating the most difficult student behaviors, participants holding an Oppositional Ideology behaved like reluctant students in meetings. Teachers who insisted on their right to power, authority, and respect frequently disrupted, trivialized, distracted, joked, asked, and generally used power to fulfill some implicit, personal need at the expense of the participants. The supporters of that behavior were frequently from the Oppositional Ideology group. The Oppositional Ideology was named after applying the Abbate-Vaughn (2004) sorting and coding methodology (Tables 2 and 3). Oppositional Ideology contained nuanced elements of each of the six core connections. This group hypothetically answered the three research questions with sarcasm and disrespect: 1) “I will not be able to foster academic excellence with these students until they learn to behave”; 2) “Contradictions do not matter. I am the teacher and I am right”; and 3) “I had a good education from far better teachers than I work with and I do not intend to change anything” During the first department meeting after the annual spring break in 2013, the teachers convened to prepare the second common lesson developed from both a district suggested project and state grant that had begun in September 2012. These meetings to design a common lesson for the semester were the second such effort for the school year, designed to occur after the state mandated tests, and would conclude in a common lesson taught by each teacher and observed then debriefed later in the month. TEACHER IDEOLOGIES 76 The following interaction took place within the first minute of the meeting as the department chair elaborated on the purpose of the meeting: Dr. Li: Welcome back, everyone! We are now in our final meetings of the year. As stated on the agenda, today we meet in our content groups… Teacher 1: (Interrupting) What do you mean by content group? The grade level? Teacher 2: She means chemistry or physics departments like the last time we met together. Is that right? Dr. Li: Thank you. (Pause) Content groups relate to disciplines and we worked in small groups just before the break. We started to prepare the second shared lesson in our content groups… Teacher 1: (Interrupting) But I’m the only one teaching honors physics. (Pause) Dr. Li: You were working with the other physics teacher. That was and is the task. Does that help? Teacher 3: (Laughing) OK, as long as I don’t have to go first. (Silence) (Wait time) As Dr. Li reclaimed the meeting, the researcher was reminded of the many times the same three male teachers had engaged in distracting and humorously bound commentaries that required individual attention. The researcher had observed similar interactions and interruptions at the beginning of meetings and over the course of the study; the most frequent interruptions came from these three teachers who often bantered interruptions and the alleged clarifications. The clarifications appeared to the researcher to disguise deeper issues that remained unspoken. TEACHER IDEOLOGIES 77 As a second example, the following interactions were exchanged at the beginning of a department meeting and the opening question was on the agenda as a follow up from the previous week: Teacher 1: What are we supposed to be doing? Dr. Li: This meeting space is an opportunity for us to develop questions that are examples of what we should ask our students. Teacher 1: Did we do this last week? (Laughter) Visiting Literacy Coach: We should get back to the agenda. Dr. Li: I will make a note to follow up on your question later this week. (Field notes, 2013) The series of interruptions and changing the subject and object of the discussion as well as possible discussions based on the department chair’s pedagogical theory ended. By the end of the 2012-2013 school year teachers at the above meetings had been exposed to sociocultural learning theory (Cole et al., 1978; Hollins, 2006; 2010; Rogoff, 1995) for over three years. Those precepts were included in the school’s website (www.pseudonymhs.org, 2013) and were reported to have been consistently included by the department chair (Field notes, 2013). The regular department and content level meetings as well as the science department’s professional development program was explicitly based on and infused with Hollins’ (2006) structured dialogue. Teachers from the Oppositional Ideology easily expressed a need for clarifying simple pedagogic terms such as, “What do you mean by content groups?” TEACHER IDEOLOGIES 78 Regardless of how the department chair may have judged the request, she extended the dialogue to engage briefly with the surface of the question. In doing so the veteran teacher actually stated the real concern behind the interruption: his lack of confidence in operationalizing a lesson and a need to follow an example. It is unclear what preparatory work in learning theory or foundations for improving epistemic teaching practice had been processed by Teacher 1. The expertise of the department chair as a socially and culturally responsive leader (Banks, 2004; Hollins, 2004, 2008; Ladson-Billings, 2001) was observable at these junctures. The resistance to leadership was also evident. During the study, the department chair, Dr. Li, consistently differentiated the precepts of sociocultural learning theory from the purpose of the professional development to examine individual epistemic practices. The teachers who disrupted and asked questions seemed to be the least aware of the difference between learning theory and epistemic and individual change. According to Hollins’ research (2012), had all the teachers been able to internalize the same purpose; to foster academic excellence, sociocultural and situated learning theory supported the pedagogic vision and the above interactions would have been more valuable and pertinent. TEACHER IDEOLOGIES 79 Table 4 Oppositional Group and Core Characteristics Groups Oppositional Members 5-Biology: Ross, Archer, Greg, Angela, Terry; 1-Chemistry: Jack 2 Physics: Abhay and Michael Core connections Power Contradictions in teacher community: Power and privilege reinforce teacher superiority Teacher superiority and authority must be maintained Respect and discipline are mandatory prerequisites to learning Exert control over students through grades, coercion, and punishment Disrespectful toward authority; late, tardy, disrupt, superficial work completed Reject or ignore norms of meetings Unwilling to take on leadership Purpose Teachers must make students behave and learn to fit in. Purpose of learning is to change behavior of students Personal education legacy and expertise valued as extension of self (Hollins, 2012) Value group approval over data Low scores indicate deficits of others: counselors, scheduler, students, parents, administrators, former teacher Learning Contradictions in teacher community: Operant conditioning (Skinner); punish until “bad” behavior is eliminated Passive listener proves learning is taking place Regular criticism of student deficits and parental disinterest justify low scores Change in level of student discipline and respect of teacher indicate learning Teachers exhibit overt and repetitive patterns of absence and tardiness Individual experience most valued; non-reflective on need for change Feigned or actual misunderstanding of goals and purpose of professional development Reluctant, superficial, or no participation Knowledge Knowledge neutral and dependent on personal experiences and intuition Behavioral changes in discipline or elimination unwanted behavior indicate student learning Primarily aversion and punishment Pedagogy Use past training as basis for pedagogy; extension of self Focus on lessons that reinforce power and privilege of teacher and need for students to learn discipline and respect Follow a structure Responsibility Teacher deflects all responsibility for learning outcomes. Not responsible for change to meet academic needs of students Parents and outside tutors should remediate School discipline policies are too lenient If students won’t behave, then they can just leave the class Lowest grade and state test scores in this department Some 9 th graders’ state test scores declined from 8 th grade level TEACHER IDEOLOGIES 80 Transitional Ideology Members of the Transitional Ideology appeared to be focused and frustrated. They shared a dedication indicated by punctual attendance, and completed requests from colleagues for work from earlier meetings. While the group did not engage with the Oppositional Group when distractions appeared, they seemed to trust Dr. Li to take care of things. They asked for help before and after meetings. They met frequently with Dr. Li, Jeffrey, and Nikolas for guidance and help. One teacher improved student test rates by 38% over the year before but she still was below the standard. That type of frustration and elusive confidence typified this group. In each of the core connections, the Transitional Ideology participated and sought to foster academic excellence. They took responsibility for student learning but often were unsure how to do that. Some of the group did not have a sound theoretical framework but willingly listened and engaged with Dr. Li to change their understanding. The following experience within the biology content area occurred late in the study and included three teachers from the Oppositional Ideology and three from the Transitional Ideology. Dr. Li was the only faculty person who was in the biology group and represented the third result, the Transformational Ideology. As an example of the dynamic of all three ideologies, the common lesson revealed many details about each core connection and each teacher ideology. The common lesson study had been a topic throughout the semester and one had been complete during the fall. The lesson required the students to work in pairs and work with puzzle pieces to conduct a hypothetical research experiment designed as a game in which students’ observed a specific biologic relationships in a woodland ecosystem titled, TEACHER IDEOLOGIES 81 “Predator and Prey” (Appendix G). The hypothetical experiment directed students to predict how foxes and hares might behave in a particular ecosystem. As requested by Abhay, the department chair Dr. Li “went first” and presented the model lesson developed in her class with observers and her content group of biology teachers. Dr. Li led her tenth grade biology class seated at lab tables and in pairs, and briefly reminded them that the shortened class today and all the spectators were related to all the work they had been doing since Spring break. The students initially had few questions and one of teams with several questions asked Dr. Li to help them first. When the questions ended, the student pairs began their game at lab tables. There were 14 lab tables clustered together around the room. The spacing in the room allowed six observers and the researcher to circulate and observe or listen to the student conversations. Some observer’s spoke to the paired groups, others walked around and took notes, two people randomly asked some students to explain their tasks, and that continued until the class was ended by the teacher. With no further directions, each student pair began cleaning up their table and many students helped put away the game pieces, student’s lab notebooks, and straightened the tables and chairs before the lunch bell rang. The debriefing portion of the formal lesson study protocol began with the lunch bell and all the observers reassembled in a classroom next door to the class. The teachers brainstormed on the two charts labeled Figure 2. The literacy coach had prepared two large chart papers with two tasks that the teachers were to complete by the end of the 30- minute lunch break and the coach served as the scribe to record the session. Figure 2 TEACHER IDEOLOGIES 82 represents the chart paper that was digitally photographed by the researcher after the debriefing session ended and with the permission of the literacy coach. CHART 1 CHART 2 What did we see? Hear? Modifications 1. Collaborative pairs 2. Actively engaged 3. Questioning-clarifying 4. Prior assignment (evidence that students were prepared for activity) 5. Volume of engagement increased as the comfort level increased 6. Responding to guiding questions 7. Students were able to follow mapped questions 8. Needed examples for more clarity 1. Scaffolding under abstract concepts 2. Visuals 3. Push reteach back 1 week 4. More hares [pieces for experiment] 5. Variation in population -add number on some 6. Pre-Read as Pre-lab 7. Limit # of generations to 6 from current 20 8. Cardstock for predators 9. Inserting discussion Figure 2. Debrief Charts (© Moakes digital photographs, 2013) (Note: the administrative advisor set up the debrief charts and added what was suggested.) The 24” by 36 “CHART 1” on the left listed “observations” and “CHART 2” on the right was to be filled with “suggestions”. There was no discussion of norms at the start of the debrief session nor the pedagogy and learning theory framework inherent in their observations. Because this activity was the last attended by the researcher, subsequent meetings about the lists and the impact of them was limited. Chart 1 contained superficial observations that did not inherently reveal any deep understanding or specific pedagogical knowledge by the respondents. Teachers acknowledged the paired seating arrangement; students were working in pairs. Items 2 and 3 were subjective observations but they were not elaborated on with examples. It was not clear to the researcher if teachers who observed the lesson were able to critique or discuss the educative process in which they functioned. The severe time constraints arranged for this portion of the process limited the depth and breadth of the social discourse. Could teacher pairs have made lists and included more depth? Was it possible TEACHER IDEOLOGIES 83 to discuss the debrief process? What was going to help the next teachers’ do a better lesson? Within the observed lesson, two students worked together and completed six to nine simulations, not the expected 20 generations of the populations studied. While twenty simulations were expected, discussions in the debriefing neither indicated how teaching could support better outcomes nor was the selected lesson plan critiqued or scaffolded (Vygotsky, 1978). No one asked, “What if we watch the next class and see how the students do after lunch and with one more time to complete the task?” As if the debriefing was a fait accompli, the modifications were listed quickly. Comment number 7 addressed the complexity of the time constraints but the school lunch passing bell rang at item 7 and the teachers’ spoke simultaneously and over one another: I have to go next, this is too much. We’ll never get them to do 20 levels, they can’t do that. If Dr. Li couldn’t get the students to finish 20 levels, there’s no way my kids will be able to do it! We should ask them to do maybe five or six generations. How could we teach it any faster? The second brainstorming or modification page contained intersubjective architectural metaphors like creating more “scaffolding” and making extra game pieces to finish on time. The debriefing then became focused on whether lowering the number of hypothetical trials for the students that would allow the teachers to complete the lesson in the allotted time. The literacy coach, who was at the charts taking notes, summarized the teachers’ concerns, “Because the department has been planning for most of the year and designed TEACHER IDEOLOGIES 84 the lesson to fit a regular schedule, it seems like with a few alterations, the lesson’s expectations could be met” (Field notes, 2013). Presuming, “the lesson’s expectations” were known to all the teachers, they were not elaborated; the teachers spoke quickly with each other. With the exception of the department chair, each one of the six teachers made a comment and seemed to agree that the number of practice trials be lowered to 6 levels. There was no discussion of learning theory, the value of practice, or who benefitted from the change but one teacher said, “We can’t finish it on time.” That became the stated reason for reducing the number of trial generations that would meet the expectations. Per the lesson study protocol, the teacher being observed, in this case the department chair was not a participant until the end of the “debrief” session and after the lunch bell and passing time had rung. The debrief facilitator asked the focus teacher to share. The group remained silent. The Department Chair stated, “Scaffolding would help but we need to discuss this lesson more deeply and focus on student learning, not just the teacher observation. And, since the students are in the hall, we need to go to class”. With that, the literacy coach nodded, dismissed the group, and took the charts off the wall to eventually return to her office (Field notes, 2013). Both misunderstanding and lowered expectations were observed in this particular debriefing session but will be elaborated upon in Chapter Five. The participants from the Oppositional Ideology dominated the time by making superficial comments and deflecting responsibility. The Transitional Ideology and its general lack of confidence TEACHER IDEOLOGIES 85 resulted in fewer comments and an unwitting acceptance of the Oppositional Ideology and its lack of concern for fostering academic excellence. However, it would not be realistic to say that one ideology understood the lesson and one did not. The presenting problem in the debrief was one of style; who spoke was misunderstood as knowledge and since Dr. Li was to speak last the meeting was dominated by the Oppositional Ideology. It would be naïve to suggest or equate the decisions to end the session as quickly as possible with a lack of concern or disregard for student learning. The different expressions of concern within this short meeting supported the researcher observation that the organization of the teachers’ lesson study and the time constraints reflected the school culture. PHS was awarded grant money for teacher professional development. Six teachers had classroom substitutes so they were able to attend the class observation, one and the teachers were required to discuss the findings from their extensive lesson study project during a 30-minute lunch break. The administrative delegation of one 30 minute lunch period for a months-long lesson study process was neither comprehensive nor well- articulated and thwarted the purpose of the school improvement grant (Appendix F). TEACHER IDEOLOGIES 86 Table 5 Transitional Ideology and Core Characteristics Groups Transitional Members 3-Biology: Catrina, Chalmers, Nathan 3-Chemistry: Gloria, James, Willa Core connections Power Emerging power and confidence Difficult maintaining consistency in classroom behavior Admitted responsibility for student learning but frustrated with results Willing to participate and lead Purpose Authority follows trust Value excellence and personal growth Teaching practice should reflect purpose to foster academic excellence Accept personal frustration is part of learning to teach Enjoy classes and continue work on creating positive relationships with students Learning Willing to change in order to help students improve academically Understand mandate to improve epistemic practice; Mixed results; high class grades Ask questions and stay on task until completed; group has new and more veteran teachers Knowledge Mixed approaches New teachers frustrated and developing pedagogy to improve discipline Pedagogy Create cooperative work groups, partners, and study groups. Students expected to help each other succeed Mixture of handouts, notes, lectures, tests Some structured dialogue Responsibility Represent students and their work positively when discussing progress Mixed and flat test scores Transformational Ideology The third finding was that three teachers, Dr. Li, Jeffery and Nikolas stood out representing a Transformational Ideology. These teachers worked as hard within the confines of PHS as other teachers, but what they worked on was different. Each had made a commitment to fostering the academic excellence of these students at this school. They easily articulated theoretical perspectives and an extensive pedagogical vocabulary with which to analyze and break down new challenges. TEACHER IDEOLOGIES 87 At the beginning of the official debriefing session, the literary coach who had affixed the large chart paper to the walls (Table 4) demanded the teachers’ attention “…so we can finish on time” and directed them to share their observations that she would write on the chart. The teachers complied. However, a review of the chart indicated that superficial comments could have become opportunities for teachers to discuss their responsibilities to the students. For example, the “observation” that the students worked together was neither accurate nor expanded upon. The students sat together and theoretically worked together, but proximity and the layout of the room were not evidence that the students worked together. Merely sitting next to someone does not cause work to be done by either student much less, together. The researcher overheard Jeffrey and Nikolas discussing ways they could have a better idea of each student’s comfort level alone and with others. The superficiality of the comment could be, on more reflection, an opportunity for the teachers to explore their differing beliefs about what “working together” or working in pairs means. The short debrief session guaranteed that the commentary would be superficial. While teachers were going to expand on their comments in online evaluations, the value of the teacher discourse was eliminated by the expectations and structure of the debrief session. Brainstorming differs from structured dialogue (Hollins, 2011; Linton, 2011) and cannot produce the range and depth of analysis nor the individual accountability and emergent social discourse possible among teachers (Hollins, 2008, 2009). All of the individuals could have scrutinized their observations and opened their participation to deeper analyses but there was simply no structure or plan in place for that to happen. The TEACHER IDEOLOGIES 88 observed debriefing was not recognizable as “research-based” nor as a strategy to improve student learning outcomes, improve teachers’ epistemic practice, or foster academic excellence. Since the final step of the entire debriefing session was to be done online, the teachers may never have had another opportunity to delve into the possibilities for growth made possible by the extended common lesson planning. The assumption of each research question was that teachers make a commitment based on their individual socialization (Hollins, 1998/2008) and then expressed it implicitly or explicitly. Given the varied and diverse cultures, ages, academic experiences, level of degree completion, and years of experience, the teacher ideologies followed cognitive and utilitarian lines. Table 6 Transformational Ideology and Core Connections Ideology Transformational Members 1-Biology: Dr. Li (Department Chair); 2-Chemistry: Jeffrey and Nikolas Core connections Power Respect and seek out leader Discipline embedded in pedagogy Culturally relevant pedagogy (CRP) Comfortable with practice and with change Help all teachers’ change Purpose Student learning has an ethical or moral imperative Value equality and intelligence Maintain successes while enlarging number of students with mastery Purposeful engagement with all teachers Create opportunities to mentor, co- teach Consistency, coherence, & continuity, in pedagogy and within curriculum Learning Social and interactive process (Dewey) Co-construct with students and colleagues Change is part of learning (Biesta) Positive about new teachers’ learning Self-directed in content meetings Model respect and self-discipline in TEACHER IDEOLOGIES 89 Table 6, continued Knowledge Sociocultural and embedded in Prior knowledge deepens new knowledge Non-linear Behavioral discipline consistent with PHS Positive self-concept vital for Pedagogy Pedagogy includes multiple opportunities to master information. Classes have simple, fair, and consistent structures, policies, and energy Structured dialogue used regularly as tool for improving practice Responsibility Take responsibility for practice and educational outcomes Adapt practice to meet student needs Responsible for departments’ collaboration and fostering school culture of academic excellence Pedagogy flows from theoretical perspective Refine pedagogy to optimize learning Proficient and above test score; scores improve yearly; scores connected to pedagogy The department chair’s social discourse exemplified a commitment to fostering academic excellence in a Transformational Ideology. Dr. Li demonstrated her theoretical framework through consistent, coherent, and comprehensive references to sociocultural learning theory (Hollins, 2006). She advised the school to include Hollins’ (2006) understanding of learning theory on the PHS website. Dr. Li used academic terminology throughout the length of the research study. In that way, the effectiveness and the shifting discourse among the participants pointed toward the shared theoretical perspectives and how teachers could accomplish their intention to foster academic excellence. The important indicator from this research question suggested teachers’ agency mirrored each of the three teacher ideologies. Some of the processes observed in this study tended to ignore the importance of individual teachers’ ontological participation in change and transformation. As a reminder, ontology defined as “the most fundamental assumptions each makes about the world, including within that compass assumptions TEACHER IDEOLOGIES 90 about time, nature, human subjectivity, the final source of morality, the territorial space of politics, and the often vexed relations between these elements” (Connolly, 2009, p. ix). While this broad definition offered the researcher an opportunity to observe how rules and norms affected the teachers, the findings consistently reorganized ontological factors along teachers’ ideologies. The debrief session was rushed and each teacher added at least one item to the “brainstorming sheets”. The individual department group did not have any visible rubric or criteria for the debrief session, although there is a mention of it in the 2 X 2 form in Appendix D. The literary coach chose to finish the project and asked the teachers to complete the charts. There was no time taken to clarify the purpose of the debrief and all comments were assigned by the coach as responses to one of the charts. It seemed accepted but not a consensus. The teachers’ were to complete an on-line evaluation of the year-long project and teachers planned to regroup and discuss the observation forms at a later time but the focus on following the schedule and completing the lesson came to dominate the debrief. The time constraints prevented the group from answering the three questions on the observation form: 1) “What was some evidence of effective/highly effective practices you saw during the observation?” 2) “What did your group learn in regards to practices related to the focus element?” and 3) “What questions does your group have as a result of the peer observation?” The questions themselves implied that the “group” had met and discussed possible answers. The questions were to be the response of a group but the culture of the school administration had not been coordinated with the debrief. As such, teachers TEACHER IDEOLOGIES 91 answered individually. Those answers added data to the study but did not seem to further teacher learning. The purpose of the session was to fill in two charts and get to class in 30 minutes. These behaviors and decisions pointed toward teacher ideologies that rejected change or maintained the status quo. It stood in stark contrast to the intention of improving teachers’ practice. On one level, it signaled that the process was finished. On another, teachers’ ontological authenticity that may be difficult to express, was not possible to observe. It conflicted with Davis and Sumatra (2006) who noted the diversity and divergence of individual teachers on affective and ontological levels impact and can benefit student learning. The following example represented pedagogic opportunities that were not explored and reflected matters of teacher agency in complex situations: I have to go next, this is too much. We’ll never get them to do 20 levels, they can’t do that. If Dr. Li couldn’t get the students to finish 20 levels, there’s no way my kids will be able to do it! We should ask them to do maybe five or six generations. How could we teach it any faster? While the teachers did participate and tried to fulfill their obligations, the complexity of change and its neglected ontological components that link aesthetic and ideological reflections were often not resolved. The linearity of current assessment solutions lack regard for the ontological complexity of “improving ones practice”. The second question revealed that many conflicts remained unanswered and that suited the Oppositional Ideology well. However, the reality of time constraints undermined discourse about learning outcomes. TEACHER IDEOLOGIES 92 Research question three looked at and sought to understand what epistemic practices provided evidence of fostering academic excellence. To observe teachers’ epistemic practices and to measure change was not intended in this study. However, an understanding of incentives and change asked, “For whose benefit do teachers change?” and from that, two dominant themes surfaced. Both pointed to complexity science and enfolded the important ontological indicators of research question two: non-linearity of change and teachers’ emergent responsibility for students’ academic excellence. Non-linearity In observing the meetings, lesson study, and small group planning, clashes between linear and non-linear outcomes were observed. The group of science teachers had been engaged for several months and participated in ongoing and specific tasks to be recorded in a portfolio and on line (Appendix F). Additionally, the teachers were enrolled in an education grant from the unified school district to incentivize teachers to improve their practice. The completion of portfolios and online surveys were added to but did not replace the primary teacher assessment tool; the 2013 statewide students’ test scores. Davis and Sumara (2006) suggested that teaching and change were non-linear processes often encountered in education. Therefore, to intentionally change ones epistemic practice would require open ended and nonlinear opportunities for that to occur. Later, Davis and Sumara (2012) added to their observation that within the organicity of complexity thinking, teaching appeared as a structural fluidity and could not be temporally or spatially linear. TEACHER IDEOLOGIES 93 One example from the research to support this occurred during a content meeting after school in which the smaller disciplinary groups met to discuss student work. The meeting notes from the previous two weeks included reminders to bring student work to this week’s session. The analysis was to support the common lesson planning and included protocols for the discussion (Appendix D) that were not specifically referred to during the debriefing (Field notes 2013). As the researcher sat in a group of six chemistry teachers, two had brought student work. The discussion among them was revealing. Teacher 1: Were we supposed to bring student work? Teacher 2: Yeah. It was in today’s bulletin. Teacher 3: I never read those. Teacher 1: Me either. Teacher 2: Well, who brought student work? I have something we just completed today. Teacher 1: Well, that’s good. We can discuss it. Teacher 4: I have something too. Teacher 1: Oh, that will be enough. At that point, Dr. Li had walked to the table and heard the last remark. Dr. Li: Just a reminder to take notes and leave a few minutes to debrief and summarize your conversation. I’ll be the timekeeper for the meeting but you will need to watch the clock this afternoon. Teacher 1: I’ll keep us on time. TEACHER IDEOLOGIES 94 The chemistry group then went on to discuss three student projects and four teachers commented on the neatness of one project and the less neat second project. At no time did Teachers 5 or 6 speak. They may have made comments to a neighbor but the researcher did not record any participation. In a later conversation, Dr. Li shared anecdotally that the two teachers were unwilling to speak at meetings and not likely to bring in student work. Apparently, they did have more conversations among the department colleagues outside meetings. As the discussion went on, Teacher 4 asked why neatness mattered in the student work and how did it show learning. As some teachers stopped and thought it Teacher 1 indicated that neatness was one of the standards. Teacher 4: But how can these students work quickly and be expected to produce more than a draft? Teacher 2: That’s why they work in groups so they can each do one of the jobs. Whoever prints or draws well does the chart. Teacher 4: How does that really tell us that they are participating equally? That discussion continued and the tone was interesting. At the same time they were looking at the student work, the teachers began to talk about a much more complex concern that was not expected in the protocol and could have been overlooked. The teachers discussed an emerging model of how they would look at student work that included a much more complex notion than neatness but spoke to the nature of the coherence of the work produced and the methods by which students solved their mutual problems. TEACHER IDEOLOGIES 95 During that short discussion among the chemistry content group, the superficial observation that some teachers had not brought student work became irrelevant compared to the content of their interactions. The chemistry teachers had crafted and applied the sociocultural concept of cultural tools and signs (Brown et al., 1989), in this instance, structured dialogue, to their social process. According to Hollins (2012), teachers’ ability to “craft and introduce new cultural tools and signs that substantially change the social discourse and relationships among the participants” (p. 29) remains a major element of transformation in education. The non-linearity of the social discourse observed among the secondary chemistry teachers at Pseudonym High School affirmed the first theme in this research and alluded to the second theme. First, the department chair reported that structured dialogue (Hollins, 2008; Linton, 2011) had been introduced to the STEM faculty; the above conversations affirmed that assertion. The chemistry content group had developed a “community of practice” that resulted in the construction of knowledge in practice (Hollins, 2010) and supported social discourse that fostered academic excellence. Emergent Responsibility The concept of emergent responsibility described a conundrum. Emergent responsibility derived from readings in complexity science (Cilliers, 1998; Davis, 2004; Doll, 1989; Luce-Kapler, 2004; Newell, 2008; Simmt, 2003). Davis and Sumara (2012) argued that education was a complex system and as such the interactions among or relationships among component parts are not fixed. The application of complexity thinking to education (Aoki, 2004; Davis & Sumara, 2006) and teaching as simultaneously present time observations and as possible emergent futures (Connolly, TEACHER IDEOLOGIES 96 2009) with multiple intersections in “virtually all domains of inquiry” (Davis & Sumara, 2006, p. 166). As complicated as that may seem, such, emergent responsibility indicated two paths: the responsibility for fostering academic excellence differs from the possibility of fostering academic excellence. Both conditions were present within the PHS science teachers’ community and emerged within the discourse in the community over the length of the research. A deeper sense of shared responsibility was observed among the chemistry teachers who engaged in structured dialogue and sought to improve their practice. The following example from two department meetings both represent and present the emergent responsibility observed among the teachers. Dr. Li: We have been working on the lesson study for many weeks but in short sessions. Today you will be able to work in content groups for 40 minutes and then we will reconnect and evaluate what each group needs to complete the common lesson. Teacher 1: Where are my notes from last time? I turned them in… Dr. Li: I’ll speak to you in a moment. (To group) The content groups may work together anywhere. (Noise of chairs being moved and teachers began). Teacher 1: But where are my notes? Teacher 2: Come over here with us. We have the notes from last week. The complex demand for teachers to take responsibility for fostering academic excellence was observed within this exchange and was different than some earlier interactions at the beginning of the study. Teacher 1 was well known for requesting group time to answer his individual concerns. In this scenario, Teacher 2, a member of TEACHER IDEOLOGIES 97 the same cohort, could be assumed to be interested in the teachers’ community of practice as evidenced by her immediately included Teacher 1 in the larger content group to which he belonged. Simultaneously, by taking responsibility for each other, they modeled what could happen in a classroom when s challenging student interrupts the whole group. The members of the chemistry content group had begun to act in their own best interests and instead of allowing time to be spent with one teacher, a member of the group simply acknowledged the concern and encouraged Teacher 1 to be part of the process. The group took shared responsibility for the participation of Teacher 1. The mandated professional development did not include any way to assess the changes in the shared responsibility that the teachers manifested. Understanding the deep contexts known by the teachers at a local site suggested listening and observing the emergence of phenomenon such as shared responsibility. The research suggested that incorporating more complexity science into education and teacher education (Davis & Sumara, 2006; Hollins, 2013; Rancière, 2009) would be warranted. Constructivist learning seeks to transform social processes. Hollins’ (2012) indicated that sociocultural practitioners’ “ability to craft and introduce new cultural tools and signs” must align with a high level of epistemic craft in order that cultural tools and signs can function to “substantially change the social discourse and relationships among the participants” (p. 29). Those imperatives and multiple levels of critical discernment are unique. Research has indicated that international commodification of knowledge (Jessop, 2008) and the globalization of expectations for education (Duncum, 2008; Spivak, 2012) have oppositional goals than those arising from sociocultural learning theory. The TEACHER IDEOLOGIES 98 research questions assumed that secondary science teachers would seek the academic excellence of all the students, but without a clear, explicit learning theory the purposes, like trajectories of objects, would travel to very different goals. Summary of Research Questions: Themes and Findings Each research question in this study examined elements of social discourse and site specific circumstances that disrupted or enabled case study participants’ ability to foster academic excellence. The previous sections summarized possible themes and important indicators. The following and concluding section will organize the themes into findings and lead into the final chapter of this research study. The importance of exploring the impact of teachers’ ideologies (diSessa, 2005; Philip, 2012; Philip & Benin, 2014) as an aspect of contemporary teacher education reform has been analyzed. The impact of teachers’ ideologies as social groups has been less obvious (Abbate-Vaughn, 2004; Hollins, 1998, 2006). The theoretical framework of the department chair, Dr. Li supported fostering academic excellence was a goal but proved difficult to operationalize in the ideological context of the wider school and the larger school district. The complexity of fostering academic excellence at a local school while being evaluated by external norms, demands, and economic challenges was a double bind that seemed to be unraveling over time. The decades-long privatization and financialization of public education was critiqued in this study as overarching contexts but several findings did emerge as the study progressed. As a reminder, there were five findings and one important indicator from the three research questions: 1) External norms constrained teachers’ success; 2) temporal and economic constraints interfered with teacher success; 3) normative TEACHER IDEOLOGIES 99 professional development maintained the status quo; 4) teacher learning was non-linear; 5) teachers’ responsibility for fostering academic excellence emerged, and the important indicator was that teacher agency mirrored individual concerns. The literature on aesthetic and ideological factors in education (Duncum, 2008; Hollins, 2012; Rancière, 2009; Spivak, 2012) pointed to double binds and contradictions located in the fluctuating purposes of globalized education. In the local and specific context of PHS, the tensions between affect and effect suggested that the teachers were unable to maintain a common vision or purpose. Within the study, unacknowledged aesthetic and ideological factors interrupted the social discourse and purpose of many interactions. External, mandated professional development prevented teachers from exploring personal responsibility for decisions that influenced student outcomes. Third, teachers’ intellectual agency and argumentation skills in meetings mirrored individual concerns rather than either local or global demands for student outcomes. After analyzing the results the research data there were five important findings that emerged from and within the research process. First, a clear theoretical framework remained essential for teachers’ practice both to maintain its coherence and to support change. Second, aesthetic and ideological analyses inherent in education policy and practice are under analyzed and their critique deserved far more attention and acknowledgment. Third, structured dialogue as a cultural tool and sign can substantially transform teachers’ social discourse and could be enhanced by complexity research. Fourth, complexity research and thinking could help teachers embrace the transdisciplinary nature of their work and take on more responsibility for influencing TEACHER IDEOLOGIES 100 research. Finally, the inherent complexity of fostering academic excellence simultaneously implicates all the agents in that which is studied or assessed. TEACHER IDEOLOGIES 101 CHAPTER FIVE: DISCUSSION The findings supported the research claim that aesthetic considerations have successfully driven neoliberal ideological arguments for commonsense educational reform yet remained hidden in policy. Since 1983, the deregulation of public education along with decades of strategic policy moves has recalibrated U.S. education and teacher education to abandon notions of equity, social justice, or fostering academic excellence and replace that with compliance, security, and funding. This problem impacts education and teacher education in the U.S. and deserves more attention by educators and social scientists resistant to offering students’ intellectual resources to supply the fluctuating and non-referential values of capital and markets. The constriction of power and agency over education to a select number of university, corporate, and government entities is not new. While this problem has been identified and analyzed by critical race scholars, American Indian and Alaskan scholars, theorists in Latino, Chicano, multilingual and multicultural studies, the growing inequality of wealth and capitalism (Piketty, 2014) remains an intimate problem for teachers and teacher educators who work to foster academic excellence This research sought to focus on one section of the vast field of “education” and carried out a case study of seventeen teachers in an urban secondary school to determine the viability of aesthetic and ideological analyses of teachers’ practice. The methodology grew from sociocultural and situated learning perspectives located within the researcher, the department chair in the study, and the literature. The last chapter examined the major themes and unexpected themes that arose from the study in order to produce findings. TEACHER IDEOLOGIES 102 This chapter continues with a discussion of the findings, their implications for practice, and finally, recommendations for research. Discussion of Findings In response to the research questions there were five important findings that emerged and will be elaborated upon below. First, a clear theoretical framework remained essential for teachers’ practice both to maintain its coherence and to support change. Second, aesthetic and ideological analyses inherent in education policy and practice are under analyzed and their critique deserved far more attention and acknowledgment. Third, structured dialogue as a cultural tool and sign can substantially transform teachers’ social discourse and could be enhanced by complexity research. Fourth, complexity research and thinking could help teachers embrace the transdisciplinary nature of their work and take on more responsibility for influencing research. Finally, the inherent complexity of fostering academic excellence simultaneously implicates all the agents in that which is studied or assessed. Shared Theoretical Framework Essential The first finding that arose was the importance of a shared theoretical perspective. Hypothetically, any learning theory can inform learning so the more aligned systems and structures are around that theory, the more likely they are to foster academic excellence. The proponents of globalized frameworks (International Monetary Fund [IMF], 2013; OECD, 2013; United States Department of Education, 2008, 2012; World Bank, 2013) share a neoliberal ideology that was evident in the two Presidential Commissions in 1983. Terms like deregulation, cutting public expenditures, privatization, choice, and individualism are markers pointing to the concept of neoliberal aesthetics and ideology. TEACHER IDEOLOGIES 103 The aesthetics of “quality” have driven educational reform and focused analyses of failure on the predominantly white, middle class women who continue to account for around 80% of the U.S. teachers. Clearly, the uniformity of neoliberal voices has had a powerful effect on policy and precedents related to education and teacher education. Connolly (2013) asserted “a neoliberal economy cannot sustain itself unless it is supported by a self-conscious ideology internalized by most participants that celebrates the virtues of market individualism, market autonomy, and a minimal state” (2013). Neoliberalism (Connolly, 2010; Jessop, 2008) as the model of a global economic and political structure (World Bank, 2014) is not a learning theory nor can it foster academic excellence. Because its behavioral approach to learning requires compliance in a timely fashion, it is neither interested in nor can it produce the long-term concepts such as equality and social justice. But what it does produce has a consistency of tone from which sociocultural and situated learning theorists could benefit. The literature of Duncum (2007) supported the assertion that obedience to sameness, a predictable outcome of behaviorism, has little aesthetic force behind it. He supported adding colloquial aesthetic education to teacher education as a means of deepening teachers’ ability to foster academic excellence. Spivak (2012) also credited aesthetic education as an important form of critical thinking to counter the progress of repressive and oppressive political agendas. Spivak (2012) was able to argue for the close, analytical reading of literature as resistance to globalism’s focus on development. Spivak (2012), like Hollins (2012), has argued for deep reading, closely reading texts and that requires grounding in coherent, consistent theoretical and critical perspective. These TEACHER IDEOLOGIES 104 works support the finding that a shared theoretical perspective on learning is essential for fostering academic excellence. Ideological Analyses Deserve Attention The second finding was that aesthetic and ideological analyses of teacher communities of practice could be drawn upon as observational assessments that are based on shared theoretical perspectives. The use of observational assessments and their significance has continued to be important in educational research so these critiques and assessments would also arise from the shared knowledge and understanding within the community of practice. What was noteworthy in the current research was that aesthetics of affect (Duncum, 2007) were observable and suggested that the skilled practitioners operating from shared sociocultural and situated learning theory (ideological effect) challenged the alleged normativity of the status quo without changing the subject. Students’ academic excellence stayed the focus. They chemistry teachers were able to reexamine the student work to look beyond the superficial neatness of a chart and read more critically. Deeply nuanced assessments of teachers and teacher educators must develop from the overarching theoretical perspective of the community of teachers instead of being imposed from external and dissociated contexts. To maintain the status quo, teachers need to continue participating in training as it is. This revealed another value in aesthetic and ideological analyses that was the same as the literature. Like Duncum (2007) had suggested, the colloquial use of aesthetics as affect and the aestheticization of neoliberal ideology may be inferred from astute observation but aesthetics cannot be reduced to an ideology. Therefore, one could TEACHER IDEOLOGIES 105 observe teachers’ affective responses and since one could perform an ideology one does not espouse (Duncum, 2007), inconsistencies and misunderstandings would surface. However, the fostering of academic excellence requires explicit and ongoing social discourse so the shared purposes remain distinct from disagreements. The chemistry group shared their commitment at multiple and complex levels of social discourse and the researcher observed many instances of their intention to foster students’ academic excellence. Structured Dialogue as a Cultural Tool The third finding aligned the importance of a shared theoretical perspective with sociocultural and situated learning by explicating the importance of Hollins’ (2006, 2012) understanding of structured dialogue (Linton, 2011). In Hollins’ research (2003, 2004) in teachers were able to restructure their social discourse as an observable assessment of their efforts to improve student outcomes. Linton (2011) had employed Hollins’ (2006) structured dialogue within her professional development sessions and when the current research observed the discourse among the teachers, structured dialogue had become normative and observable among some teachers. What is noteworthy here relates to the importance of cultural tools and signs (Vygotsky, 1962) as psychological mechanisms that can substantially transform teachers’ social discourse while they continue to foster academic excellence. Structured dialogue may be introduced as a tool for restructuring conversations but as a part of a larger sociocultural and situated learning theory, it may be observed as a sign that a transformative process has begun TEACHER IDEOLOGIES 106 What does this reveal? Structured dialogue (Hollins, 2006) presented itself in this research study and pointed toward transformation of epistemic practices among some participants. Instead of repeating clichés and ambiguous phrases, the chemistry teachers reexamined the sense and meaning of their critiques of student work. Whatever the expectations, the teachers claimed the importance of their learning and used the tool that had been strategically introduced as part of the department chair’s theoretical framework and consistently applied with the whole group as an indicator that the teachers were making progress toward fostering academic excellence among the students. Zeichner (1993) defined four paradigms for teacher education as a “matrix of beliefs and assumptions about the nature and purposes of schooling, teaching, teachers, and their education that gives shape to specific forms of practice in teacher education:(p. 3). Daniels, Cole, and Wertsch (2007) had indicated that a major thesis of Vygotsky had been that “the human mind must be understood as the emergent outcome of cultural- historical processes” (p. 1). Combining those perspectives, structured dialogue (Hollins, 2006) became an emergent and observable sign of the teachers’ ability to mediate particular activities that had a shared purpose (Kozulin et al., 2003). Additionally, this finding demonstrated that a shared learning theory, in this case constructivist theory, could be identified and distinguished using this ideological analyses. Complexity Research and Thinking The fourth finding suggested that complexity research and thinking could help teachers embrace the transdisciplinary nature of their work and take on more responsibility for influencing research. Davis, Sumara, and Luce-Kapler (2000) wrote extensively of the biological nature of complex systems and wrote of educations’ TEACHER IDEOLOGIES 107 interdependence, emergence, and form as a biological entity that remains “utterly unique … still-forming deep product of the interlocked and complex dynamics” (p. x). The complex nature of teaching suggested more interdisciplinary work with complexity thinking. Davis, Sumara, and Luce-Kapler (2000) analyzed what it means to educate or to teach in a complex system that has shifted course in favor of globalized notions or conceptions of good teaching. The importance of language and its evolution within teachers’ discourse grew from exploring how teachers’ discourse related to epistemic goals. Together, they revealed the importance of interrupting the certainty of globalized answers to local and unique contexts. The behavioral assumptions embedded in mandated professional development were not observed in this study. The ambiguity of improving student learning was invisible as a process. If the scores went up to national standards, the teachers at PHS were considered to have improved. But what happens when decades of reform fail and then the reformers demand more punishment? Will new teachers be more accountable to fostering academic excellence? So far, the complex system approach advocated by Davis and Sumara (2012) suggested that within complex settings, there may be multiple and multidisciplinary ways of inducing both teachers and students to foster academic excellence within themselves. Academic excellence seen through the added lens of complexity thinking focused this research on intimate connections between discourse and change. More than simply recording frequency or use of practices to determine change or compliance, complex systems require highly creative and innovative assessments that would include framing TEACHER IDEOLOGIES 108 education within a learning theory that is carried out using consistent, comprehensive, and coherent tools and signs (Hollins, 2006, 2012). Inherent Complexity of Fostering Academic Excellence The fifth finding, that fostering academic excellence cannot be reduced to its parts, assessments, desires of corporate stakeholders, good teachers, best practices without analyzing the aesthetic and ideological ground on which they are constructed. The desires and acceptable affect within diverse cultures precludes simplistic reductions to human desires and human rights. Complexity thinking (Davis and Sumara, 2012) offered an elegant alternative. Complexity thinking offered alternative interpretations of or perspectives on the complex system of education (Davis & Sumara, 2006; Mason, 2008). Conventional analyses of teachers’ discourse could benefit from a more rigorous critical race or critical discourse approach to the talk and text (van Dijk, 1998). Complexity thinking (Davis, Simmt, 2003) suggested that observing the intersections of difference and the adaptive behaviors taken on, such as structured dialogue, as indicators of transformation. Like Davis and Sumara (2012) described, the teachers’ intellectual and social community adapted and transformed as it was learning to improve its epistemic practice (Hollins, 2012). The changed discourse was observed within the chemistry department but not in the biology group in this study. However, structured dialogue was not observed at the beginning of the study yet did present itself before the end of the study. That indicated the work of the department chair, Dr. Li, had been heard or enabled and interpreted through some teachers’ language systems and discourse to TEACHER IDEOLOGIES 109 indicate that some teachers were integrating the process (Davis & Sumara, 2006; Hollins, 2012; Picower, 2009). What was noteworthy in this set of findings was the collective impact that one person’s reiterative, consistent, and comprehensive learning theory and perspective had on the application of sociocultural and situated theory to other teachers’ practice. The department chair consistently spoke of and demonstrated her knowledge of sociocultural learning theory in classes and in her leadership of meetings. In some ways the five findings, shared vision, integrated aesthetic and ideological considerations, the tool of structured dialogue, and the complex, systemic integration of differences allowed cultural signs of transformation to appear and effect teachers’ social discourse and ultimately, their ability to foster academic excellence. Implications for Practice Two implications for practice derived from this study were based on observations of many strategies utilized by the teachers and teacher leaders to assist and resist change. First, the expertise and consistency with which the department chair offered up aesthetic considerations such as high expectations, quality, success, respect, and integrity was matched by the theoretical framework or normative ideology in which she operated. From a sociocultural and situated learning perspective, the aesthetic and ideological elements were aligned. The teacher leader’s ability to translate culturally relevant teaching into culturally relevant leadership implied that there are many new directions for combining aesthetic, ideological, sociocultural, and complexity research in education and teacher education. TEACHER IDEOLOGIES 110 The second implication from this study was the need to develop an updated epistemology of schooling (Biesta & Osberg, 2007). They suggested, “knowledge is not a reflection of a static world but emerges from our engagement with the world” (italics in original, p. 28). The teachers represented in Transitional and Transformational ideologic groupings at PHS took up the challenge to improve and change. The department chair shared responsibility with all the teachers to help translate the mission of PHS into pedagogy. Responsibility for individual teachers’ transformation to ensure students’ academic excellence was shared and teachers learned to improve their epistemic practice to realize that goal. Third, the shared purpose and coherent strategies observed at PHS derived from the complex and emergent nature of education generally as well as the PHS science faculty who encouraged and guided transformations in the practice of teaching. The department chair was fluent in constructivist earning theory as well as its relationship to teacher education, as evidenced by her discussions with teachers (Field notes, 2013). Continuity, consistency, and coherence (Hollins, 2006) of theoretical perspective expressed by some of the PHS teachers reflected the department chair’s intentional and strategic approach that successfully translated into meaning for the individual teachers. Fourth, the quality of teaching as interpreted by each ideological group on the PHS science faculty, related directly to the adoption or rejection of structured dialogue as a tool and sign indicative of teacher learning. Structured dialogue derived from the continuity, consistency, and coherence (Hollins, 2006) of a theoretical perspective within this culturally relevant context, assisted more than half of the teachers in the case study to improve their philosophy of practice so it reliably fostered academic excellence. TEACHER IDEOLOGIES 111 Recommendations for Research The current study suggested that teacher ideologies had an important, unmeasured, and under-theorized impact on the academic excellence of students in an urban secondary school. Similarly, the research suggested that teacher ideology groupings with shared theoretical infrastructures, made numerous cognitive decisions that rejected, attempted, or succeeded in transforming individual philosophies of practice. One recommendation for research that acknowledges the complexity of teaching and learning to teach (Davis and Sumara, 2006, 2010), would be to ask different questions. Dr. Picus (dissertation meeting, 2014) wondered what a panel of academic experts from a variety of specialties such as teacher education, education finance, and superintendency studies, would suggest to the Principal at PHS. His question was intriguing and suggested an intellectual review of the literature The education of teachers and the education of teacher educators have been the subject of decades of critique. The “data” on teacher evaluations, like many qualitative inquiries, depends on the knowledge, skills, ability, and perspectives of the researchers and observers. Ideologies discovered in this study suggested that more transdisciplinary qualitative research applied to education and teacher education should be done to explore the impact of ideologies on learning. Future studies of ideologies and the complexity of change might begin with the three teacher ideologies herein: Oppositional, Transitional, and Transformational. More core connections would be found. Other groups and configurations of faculty, administrators, health professionals, legal and financial staff within each school culture TEACHER IDEOLOGIES 112 deserve deeper case study analysis and longer time spent on studies would improve the generalizability of the study, However, the most important reality, fostering academic excellence remains the idealized quest for education. The random improvement of some school populations at a given time may not sustain itself. There are important futures that require expertise now; that demand excellent attention; that predict the future; and lead to the last section of this chapter. Conclusion The current research suggested that ideology applied to education reform research revealed more nuanced measures of fostering academic excellence and of understanding what prevents the student achievement gains sought by education reform (Polikoff & Porter, 2014). The strength or weakness of the associations revealed in the current study may be understood as teachers’ ideologies are conceptualized as an important mediators of quality teaching. The Oppositional, Transitional, and Transformational categories of teacher ideologies related positively to the low, flat, and high scoring test results at PHS. By applying the categories and core connections to other teachers, administrators and professional staff, a more complex but more precise image of what helps and hinders the achievement of academic excellence in urban contexts might be revealed. This research directed toward understanding teaching and teacher education in a more complex and detailed manner, specifically exploring teacher ideologies, proved encouraging. The results revealed levels of mastery and excellence or quality teaching, within this particular and complex urban context at PHS. Many detailed examples from TEACHER IDEOLOGIES 113 each form of meeting indicated that many teachers occupied the transitional phase of fostering academic excellence. There was progress being made in teachers changing their epistemic practices but each needed more time and experience. The new and veteran teachers who were making the transition needed time to integrate the changes into their identities as quality teachers. The teachers in the Transitional Ideology faced mixed results during the process while making but not having mastered the epistemic changes, use of structured dialogue, and shared purpose that they took on and demonstrated in this study. Finally, the diversity of the faculty and their representation in each ideology suggested more research could be developed about the nature of ontological and epistemological change in teachers who faster the academic excellence that reform desires. 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With the approval of the USC University Park Institutional Review Board (UPIRB) and the consent of Dr. Ullah, Principal, I will attend four meetings within the science department until May 15, 2013. I will take notes, audiotape and transcribe parts of meetings, and review public documents but will not participate directly in the meetings. No individual names will be recorded or any identifying qualities included in the research. The anonymity of all participants will be protected during and after the data collection, as well as after the dissertation is completed. Your names are a matter of public record. This letter of agreement is required by the UPIRB. Title of Study: Rereading Purpose: How Teachers Understand Their Practice Type: Qualitative case study of a single department in an urban public high school in Los Angeles Purpose: To examine how teachers engaged in improving their practice discuss the purpose of education, what knowledge matters, and the educational effects of practice. Method: Audio record and transcribe meetings; take notes; collect public documents. Completion: May 2013 TEACHER IDEOLOGIES 137 Please sign this form to indicate receipt of this letter of agreement. A copy of your signed form will be placed in your mailbox at school or mailed to you at a specified address physical or electronic address that you specify. Thank you for your cooperation and insights. Linda Moakes Principal Investigator. I have received the letter of agreement and give my informed consent to participate in Linda Moakes’ study. Signature Date Please submit copy to ______________________________________________________ TEACHER IDEOLOGIES 138 Appendix C Accreditation History of Pseudonym High School April 2013: Accreditation History of Pseudonym High School WASC Accreditation History During the 1984-1985 full accreditation visit, a six-year term was granted and was followed by three consecutive six-year terms within the subsequent 18 years. These positive visits were due to the stability in staff and administration. WPHS began its previous WASC self-study cycle during the 2001-2002 school year. After two postponements, the WASC visit took place in April 2004. From this visit, the school received a three-year term with ten Critical Areas for review and a special visit scheduled for the following year. A three-year visit took place in April 2007 and accreditation was granted for one year. During this special visit, it was determined that the school had made sufficient progress and a two-year term was granted. In December 2008 the staff began preparing for the 2010 visit, which would put WPHS on the first year of a full accreditation cycle in which a 2-year revisit was awarded. This visit, conducted in April 2013 will be considered the midterm visit, which will mark the midway point in the WPHS accreditation cycle. For the full accreditation in 2010, Focus Groups were formed, staff was in-serviced, a WASC Leadership Committee was established and student surveys were administered at the end of the 2009 school year. A School Community Profile and responses to the Critical and Priority Areas were also drafted over the summer. In the fall of 2009, Focus Groups and Home Groups (departments) met. The Focus Groups met about ten times during both professional development days and calendared shortened school days to TEACHER IDEOLOGIES 139 compile answers to guide questions and gather evidence. The Home Groups met about six times to specifically look at student work within departments and to assemble work samples. The members of the WASC Leadership team revisited the content of the Self Study and a consensus was met regarding the critical focus areas and the existing action plan revision. Between the last full visit and present WPHS has met in Focus Groups in professional development settings to discuss the status and progress made toward the achievement and improvements towards the four critical areas given by the last visiting committee. The Instructional Leadership Council (ILC) also continues to make great strides towards improvement of the four WASC Critical Areas. Status of the School In 1998 WPHS entered Program Improvement (PI) status as a result of the failure to make Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP). WPHS has not made AYP since that time. It is now a PI Year 5 plus school. 14 of 26 AYP indicators were met during the 2011-2012 school year. Critical to the AYP is the Academic Performance Index (API). In order to post the API WPHS has raised the testing attendance rate to 95% and over for all standardized tests, including California Standards Test and the California High School Exit Exam. Pseudonym High School did complete the Public School Choice Resolution due to its Program Improvement status however, the School Improvement Grant (SIG) was accepted in February 2012 and WPHS continues to work toward continued academic achievement with the help of these monies and services. Academic Performance Index: 2005-2006 2006-2007 2007-2008 2008-2009 2009-2010 2010-2011 2011-2012 491 -------- -------- 517 546 552 578 TEACHER IDEOLOGIES 140 The participation numbers of 97% CAHSEE and 94% CST are significant improvements for the 2008-2009 school year and WPHS has continued to reach participation numbers since. A Testing Committee was established in the summer of 2007 to develop a school- wide testing focus called Test That Tuesday. The test release questions related to core subject matter, originally presented in binders, is now available to staff on CD-rom. The team continues to develop strategies to improve attendance and standardized test performance, including Pep rallies and activities that encourage students to do their best on testing. Pseudonym High School was recently awarded for having a growth of more than 25 points from the two academic years. An advisory period was also added to the daily schedule at the start of this school year, where Test That Tuesday continues to be utilized and adapted per grade level (i.e. a senior class advisory would use English Placement Test released questions as this is the class taking such exam). TEACHER IDEOLOGIES 141 Appendix D Debriefing Charts Figure 3: Debrief Charts (Digital photographs, 2013) What did we see? Hear? Modifications 1. Collaborative pairs 2. Actively engaged 3. Questioning-clarifying 4. Prior assignment (evidence that students were prepared for activity) 5. Volume of engagement increased as the comfort level increased 6. Responding to guiding questions 7. Students were able to follow mapped questions 8. Needed examples for more clarity 1. Scaffolding under abstract concepts 2. Visuals 3. Push reteach back 1 week 4. More hares [pieces for experiment] 5. Variation in population add number on some 6. Pre-Read as Pre-lab 7. Limit # of generations to 6 [from current 20] 8. Cardstock for predators 9. Inserting discussion TEACHER IDEOLOGIES 142 Appendix E Methodology Table 2: Sample of methodology and coding of ideologies: From data analysis to emergent themes (Adapted from Abbate-Vaughn (2004); indicated by an asterisk * Table 3: Sample of continuation from emergent themes to teacher ideologies Pattern Codes*: from Ch. 2 Field notes Participant analysis*; Ideological group Teacher ideologies and core connections Individual autonomy Resistance to change Source of responsibility Source of power or control Oppose leadership; Insecure about pedagogy; use behavioral learning theory- aversion and punishment Declarative statements disguised as questions What separates teacher from students and parents? Oppositional group included: Ross Archer Greg Angela Terry Jack Abhay Michael Oppositional  School functions to maintain order and continuity with past  Hostile or aversive to meeting structure  Not responsible for students’ behavior or testing outcomes  More strict discipline needed  Unstated behavioral learning theory  Unclear theoretical perspective  Malleable pedagogy to cope with observations and teacher assessments Data samples in Ch. 4: Preliminary code*; Possible themes Verification* of codes by research questions (RQ) Pattern Code*; Emergent themes “Do we have to add this to the pacing plan” “When do we have to do this?” “I’ll volunteer, as long as someone else goes first.” Frequent tardiness Interrupt large group for individual concerns 1. Epistemic concerns 2. Change v. status quo 3. Lack of leadership… 4. Impact of change on time for other duties 5. Respect for rules and norms RQ 1: How do teachers reveal commitment to academic excellence? What beliefs underlie actions and comments? Individual autonomy Resist change Responsibility Source of control TEACHER IDEOLOGIES 143 Opposed to relationships with students TEACHER IDEOLOGIES 144 Appendix F School Improvement Grant School Improvement Grant: Cohort 1, Year 2 Activity The MOU states, One of the evaluation elements that we would like to test drive this year is peer observation. Because of content and instructional competency, peers can often provide a different perspective on a teacher's practice than that of administrators or "outside" observers. As part of this activity, teachers will plan and carry out the observation, and then they will submit feedback on the experience through an online survey. The 2 x 2 peer observation activity by itself should take about 4 hours. Please see the protocol below: 2 x 2 Peer Observation 2 x 2 peer observations are appropriate for providing feedback on the focus elements in 2b, 3b, 3c, and/or 3d. Because 2 x 2 peer observations are intended to be 10-15 minutes in length, it is recommended that only one element be chosen for the focus of the observation. Purpose of the 2 X 2 Peer Observation Protocol: The “2 X 2” Peer Observation Protocol provides educators with a structured process for peer observations. It is important to stress that the 2 X 2 Peer Observation is not evaluative; the protocol provides a vehicle for professional growth and learning, recognizes the expertise of teachers, and provides an opportunity to learn from each other. Overview: A “2 X 2” Peer Observation is designed to take a relatively short amount of time. The protocol can be done with a partner, or with teams of teachers. The participants decide upon the focus of the peer observations, discuss the Teaching and Learning Framework criteria, which will be used, and what would constitute evidence of “best practice”. Once the focus is determined, observations are scheduled by the participants; each participant will be observed and be a peer observer. Protocol Step 1 Focus (1.5 hours) Participants / teams decide upon the focus for the “2 X 2” peer observations. Once the area of focus is decided, participants discuss what would be evidence of best practice relative to the area of focus. Participants may also construct a focus question to guide the observation [e.g., What strategies can be used to ensure that all students have an opportunity to answer the questions posed during a lesson?]. TEACHER IDEOLOGIES 145 Step 2 Schedule (0.5 hours) Participants / teams schedule dates and times to complete the observations and the follow up meeting(s). Arrangements for substitutes may be needed to facilitate the class visits. Teams should schedule an additional time to debrief the entire process / sequence of observations. Step 3 Visit Each observation lasts between 10 and 15 minutes. The observer collects two pieces of evidence that constitute effective and/or highly effective practice in the agreed upon area(s) of focus. The observer also collects two samples of evidence of practice about which the observer has a question. Step 4 Debrief (2 hours) The observer and observed teacher meet briefly after the class visit to share the observation evidence, discussing both the effective/highly effective practices and the questions that emerged during the observation. Discuss what was learned What new questions surface from the discussion? What might be some next steps? Step 5 Reflection (2 hours) Individually, reflect on what you learned from the observations. Document your learning for your Individual Growth Plan Step 6 Next Step Implement ideas learned from the observation Schedule an additional series of “2 X 2 Peer Observations” at an agreed upon time for the same or a different focus area. Directions: Please fill out this form for all of your observations in which you were the observer. Each person fills out his/her own form and then submits it online at http://goo.gl/8tRlM (pseudonym URL) Observer Name: ______________________________ Name of Peer Being Observed: _______________________________ Content/Period: _______________ School: ____________________________________ 2 x 2 Peer Observation Focus Element: TEACHER IDEOLOGIES 146 Before conducting the observation, what evidence would you consider as best practices for the focus element? Focus Question: Time Scheduled for Observations: Time Scheduled for Debrief: Observation Notes: Teacher: Students Questions: Debrief Notes: What was some evidence of effective/highly effective practices you saw during the observation? What did your group learn in regards to practices related to the focus element? What questions does your group have as a result of the peer observation? Next Steps: TEACHER IDEOLOGIES 147 Appendix G Predator/ Prey Data Collection Sheet and Answers Names _____________________ ____________________ Date _______________ Class period_________ Time on task ___________________ Data Table: A B C D E F G Generation Number of fox at the start of the generation Number of hare at start of generation Number of hare caught Number of Fox starved Number of surviving hare and offspring Number of surviving fox and offspring 1. 2 100 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. Data Analysis:

Abstract (if available)

Abstract This qualitative case study applied constructivist theoretical perspectives to multidisciplinary literature and analyzed teachers’ social discourse as it revealed individuals’ commitment to fostering students’ academic excellence. The purpose was to determine the relationship between teachers’ organized belief systems and student learning in the context of an urban secondary school and specifically, its science department. The observations, data, and literature intersected at three teacher ideologies: Oppositional, Transitional, and Transformational. Each ideology nurtured by six core connections described characteristics of a specific ideological group. In answer to each research question, teacher ideologies and patterns of students’ academic excellence varied directly with: 1) teachers’ ideologic commitment to academic excellence

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Creator Moakes, Linda Cohen (author)

Core Title Teacher ideologies and fostering academic excellence in urban schools

School Rossier School of Education

Degree Doctor of Education

Degree Program Education

Publication Date 01/20/2015

Defense Date 12/17/2014

Publisher University of Southern California (original), University of Southern California. Libraries (digital)

Tag constructivism,critical discourse studies,critical race theory,ideology,Knowledge,Learning,OAI-PMH Harvest,social discourse,structured dialogue,Urban Education

Format application/pdf (imt)

Language English

Contributor Electronically uploaded by the author (provenance)

Advisor Baca, Reynaldo R. (committee chair), Hollins, Etta R. (committee member), Picus, Lawrence O. (committee member)

Creator Email moakes@usc.edu,moakes10@gmail.com

Permanent Link (DOI) https://doi.org/10.25549/usctheses-c3-523957

Unique identifier UC11297746

Identifier etd-MoakesLind-3122.pdf (filename),usctheses-c3-523957 (legacy record id)

Legacy Identifier etd-MoakesLind-3122.pdf

Dmrecord 523957

Document Type Dissertation

Format application/pdf (imt)

Rights Moakes, Linda Cohen

Type texts

Source University of Southern California (contributing entity), University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses (collection)

Access Conditions The author retains rights to his/her dissertation, thesis or other graduate work according to U.S. copyright law. Electronic access is being provided by the USC Libraries in agreement with the a...

Repository Name University of Southern California Digital Library

Repository Location USC Digital Library, University of Southern California, University Park Campus MC 2810, 3434 South Grand Avenue, 2nd Floor, Los Angeles, California 90089-2810, USA