This dissertation examines teacher implementation of an adolescent literacy intervention with a coaching component, guided by questions about fidelity of implementation (FoI) and curriculum adaptation. In the first of two studies, I used data from observations of teachers (n=17) in nine schools during the 2013-14 school year to conduct a nuanced descriptive analysis of FoI. I also analyzed weekly logs completed by literacy coaches (n=3) to examine variation in quantity and intensity of coaching. I then compared variation in coaching with variation in FoI, and finally compared FoI to outcomes for students (n=287). FoI at observation 1 was found to predict coaching time, and FoI across both observations predicted student outcomes. This emphasizes the critical role of investigating implementation in order to better understand the results of intervention research.
In the second study, I used qualitative methodology to analyze adaptations made by four experienced teachers in one school that sustained implementation of this curriculum after the intervention trial had ended. Six focal adaptations were identified, three each from two teachers, and analyzed for productivity using criteria from Debarger and colleagues (Debarger, Choppin, Beauvineau, & Moorthy, 2013). Of the six, only two met criteria for productivity. This suggests that making productive adaptations is difficult, and that teachers should be supported to do so through educative curriculum materials and effective professional development.
In addition, an account of teaching practice methodology was used to define each teacher’s orientation toward the curriculum (Simon & Tzur, 1999), and then to determine whether this orientation demonstrated assimilation or accommodation to intervention principles (Coburn, 2004). I found that the vast majority of time spent implementing the curriculum included adaptations, and that each teacher’s adaptations were different. Although one teacher demonstrated assimilation and accommodation to intervention principles, the other three primarily demonstrated assimilation. These findings suggest the importance of understanding teachers’ orientations toward curriculum in order to provide more tailored professional development which may help teachers accommodate to the most critical pedagogical features of a curriculum.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:harvard.edu/oai:dash.harvard.edu:1/33052843 |
| Date | 20 June 2017 |
| Creators | Troyer, Margaret |
| Contributors | Lesaux, Nonie K. |
| Publisher | Harvard University |
| Source Sets | Harvard University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis or Dissertation, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | open |
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