This book argues that teachers' active participation in policy advocacy is crucial to creating a K-12 educational system that honors the needs of students, families, and communities. The authors examine obstacles to teacher involvement in policy, analyze preservice and practicing teachers' experiences, and present a model for collaborative professional development for teacher policy advocacy. Case studies are used to explore four contemporary policy areas-school safety, student assessment, public health, and digital learning-to identify what teachers know about policy, how they view their relationships to advocacy, and the impact of collaborative professional development on their beliefs and practices. This text offers pragmatic strategies for increasing teacher policy capacity and advocacy agency while simultaneously calling for systemic change at school, district, state, and national levels of policymaking. Teachers, teacher educators, researchers, and administrators can use this resource for reflection, discussion, and action with the goal of creating more effective and responsive educational policy. Book Features: Offers recommendations for how to engage and empower teachers based on original research conducted with student teachers and practicing teachers in two states. Explores how policy affects teachers and students in areas such as school safety, standardized assessments, the COVID-19 crisis, and using digital tools in schools. Helps school administrators identify supports and challenges for incoming teachers.
May Hara is an associate professor at Framingham State University and has taught middle school English and English as a second language in the New York City public school system. Annalee G. Good is an evaluator and researcher at the Wisconsin Center for Education Research at University of Wisconsin-Madison and has taught middle school social studies.
Contents Acknowledgments ?xi Introduction: Teachers as Policy Advocates ?1 Objectives ?3 Conceptual Background ?6 National and State Policy Contexts ?9 Methods ?13 How to Use This Book ?15 1. ?School Safety and Discipline Policies ?19 Teachers Frame the Policy Contexts ?21 Teacher Sensemaking Around Safety and Discipline Policies ?27 Barriers to Advocacy: The Preservice Teacher Perspective ?34 High-Leverage Strategy: EdCamps as Teacher-Led Professional Development ?36 Conclusion ?38 Discussion Questions ?39 2. ?Assessment Policy ?41 Standardized Assessments and Education Policy ?43 Teachers and Assessment Policy Before COVID-19 ?44 Teachers and Assessment Policy During COVID-19 ?52 High-Leverage Strategy: Collaborative Mentorship ?58 Conclusion ?62 Discussion Questions ?63 3. ?Public Health and COVID-19 Policy ?65 Impact of Policies on Teachers ?67 Student Well-Being ?72 COVID-19 as Catalyst ?74 Advocacy Beyond the School Building ?77 High-Leverage Strategy: Coalition Building ?79 Conclusion ?85 Discussion Questions ?87 4. ?Digital Learning Policy ?89 Teachers and Digital Learning Policy Before COVID-19 ?91 Digital Learning Policy During COVID-19 ?93 High-Leverage Strategy: Mapping Concepts and Power Networks ?102 Conclusion ?107 Discussion Questions ?108 5. ?A Collaborative Model for Teacher Policy Advocacy ?111 A Note on Systemic and Individual Action for Change ?113 A Proposed Model for Collaborative Professional Learning and Advocacy ?114 Loci of Influence and Strategies for Action ?115 Collective Action for Change ?125 References ?127 Index ?135 About the Authors ?141
