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Teachers As Policy Advocates
Strategies for Collaboration and Change

May Hara (Author), Annalee G. Good (Author)

9780807767948

Paperback / softback, published 28 April 2023

160 pages
22.6 x 15 x 0.9 cm, 0.272 kg

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 crisis, and using digital tools in schools.
  • Helps school administrators identify supports and challenges for incoming teachers.

  • 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

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