Leading Systemwide Improvement in Elementary Science Education
Managing Dilemmas of Education System Building
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 8224546 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Emily Rose Seeber (0000-0003-0206-8087, University of Michigan, corresponding author), James P Spillane (0000-0001-5744-9085), Xiaoyu Yin (0000-0002-5578-3407), Christa Haverly (0000-0003-0624-7656, Northwestern University), Weiyu Quan (Harvard Graduate School of Education) |
| Year | 2024 |
| Volume | 61 |
| Issue | 5 |
| Pages | 1074-1112 |
| Publication date | 2024-10-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | American Educational Research Journal (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0002-8312 • E-ISSN: 1935-1011 |
| Publisher | American Educational Research Association (AERA) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.3102/00028312241269165 |
| OpenAlex | W4401782704 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 5 |
| References cited | 35 |
Reforming instruction is challenging. In this comparative case study of 12 school districts, we investigated the dilemmas that emerged for system leaders as they engaged in system building for elementary science and the approaches leaders took in managing them. We found that system leaders’ efforts to manage their environments contributed to the preferential treatment of literacy and mathematics relative to science. Leaders managed this dilemma using three strategies: (a) integration of science with other subjects, (b) specialization of teachers, and (c) adopting curriculum materials. This study contributes to literature on dilemma management by showing that dilemmas in education system building are school-subject sensitive, emerge in relation to system building for other subjects, and are embedded in school and education systems’ structural/organizational arrangements
Curriculum · Dilemma · Literacy · Mathematics education · Pedagogy · Political science · Public relations · Science education · Sociology · Educational Assessment and Improvement · Evaluation and Performance Assessment · Mathematics · Psychology · Teacher Education and Leadership Studies
Practicing equity-centered improvement
District leaders’ sensemaking about equity and school mathematics
District Science Coordinators' Conceptions of and Levers for Advancing Equity Agendas at the Elementary Level
Leading cooperative professional development in educational reform at school, local and regional levels
Understanding Science Teacher Learning as Situated in Organizational Contexts
Corporate cultures
Next Generation Science Standards
How Do Teachers Manage to Teach? Perspectives on Problems in Practice
Collective Sensemaking about Reading
Case Study Research
Managing Legitimacy
Handbook of Organizations (RLE
The school principal and the development of social capital in primary schools
Research on Continuous Improvement
Leading instructional improvement in elementary science
The formalized processes districts use to evaluate mathematics textbooks
Adrift in the Sea of Innovations
Dilemmas of Prescriptive Practices and Perceived Alignment in Program Implementation
The Dilemmas of Educational Reform
Reform by the Book
Why Reform Sometimes Succeeds
The Impact of Subject Matter on Curricular Activity
The Good Struggle” of Flexible Specificity
The Iron Cage Revisited
Handbook on Research on Educational Administration
| Citations per year | 5 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2025 - 2026 (2) |
| Highly cited | No |