Riding the Implementation Curve: Teacher Buy-In and Student Academic Growth under Comprehensive School Reform Programs

While teachers have long been acknowledged as a key part of educational innovation, research has largely neglected the impact that their buy-in has on reform initiatives. This study addresses this problem by examining the association between teacher buy-in and student academic growth under school re...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inThe Elementary school journal Vol. 117; no. 3; pp. 371 - 395
Main Authors Lee, Se Woong, Min, Sookweon
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published University of Chicago Press 01.03.2017
Subjects
Academic Achievement
Adoption (Ideas)
Correlation
Educational Change
Program Implementation
School Policy
Teacher Attitudes
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ISSN0013-5984
DOI10.1086/690220

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Summary:While teachers have long been acknowledged as a key part of educational innovation, research has largely neglected the impact that their buy-in has on reform initiatives. This study addresses this problem by examining the association between teacher buy-in and student academic growth under school reform programs, with a particular focus on how that relationship changes over time. Using multiyear data from the Study of Instructional Improvement, we arrived at two important findings. Counterintuitively, we found that teacher buy-in is negatively associated with student achievement in general. However, after controlling for program age, we also found that, in schools with more mature reform programs, higher teacher buy-in had a significant positive relationship with students' academic growth in all sampled subject areas. These findings provide useful insights into school reform policies, as well as important empirical evidence on the actual role of teacher buy-in in students' achievement.
ISSN:0013-5984
DOI:10.1086/690220