Post Induction Urban Science Teacher Identity Development Amid Reform PDF Download

"This study considered the complex nature of professional identity development among post-induction urban science teachers. These teachers were navigating multiple reform efforts, both in the teaching and learning of science, and in the neoliberal sense of helping to "turnaround" an urban high school under threat of closure by the state for its "underperforming" status. The state asked a local research university to establish an Educational Partnership Organization and become the school's governing body to guide reform efforts. Research highlighting teacher voice in such reform contexts is rare, particularly for post-induction urban science teachers; this multiple case study addressed this gap. Holland, et al.'s (1998) construct of Figured Worlds was used to operationalize identity to credit cultural contexts and teacher agency. Phenomenological interviews with teachers, classroom observations of their instruction, video-stimulated debriefs, and lesson artifact collection informed data collection. Classroom observations were analyzed using the Reformed Teaching Observation Protocol (RTOP) (Sawada et al., 2000) to assess reform-based practices, along with the Inquiry Science Observation Protocol (ISIOP) (Minner & DeLisi, 2012) to assess teachers' verbal practices. Data were analyzed using abductive analysis and Atlas.ti software to facilitate coding and theme development of individual cases as well as across cases. A theory of emerging identity elements was developed within the complex ecologies of reform. This theory informed analysis efforts to explore the ways teachers understood, appreciated, accepted, and committed themselves to reform-minded science practices as well as their confidence and competence (UAaCCC) in enacting such practices. Key findings included learning how collaboration, a culture of "all-in," and high stakes testing significantly shaped participant teacher identity. This study offers useful methodological implications for studying professional science teacher identity in the context of reform."--Pages xiii-xiv.