Middle School Teachers' Sense Making of RTI: A Case Study

Read about the Context for the Study and an Overview of RTI in previous posts.

Conceptual Framework of the Study:

This case study examined the participants’ negotiation of uncertainties and ambiguities related to the technical aspects of LAC implementation. Weick (1995) asserted that “sense-making is about the placement of items into frameworks, comprehending, redressing surprises, constructing meaning, interacting in the pursuit of mutual understanding, and patterning. It is grounded in both individual and social activity” (p. 6). Coburn (2005) further posited that sense-making is influenced by the sense-giving or shaping actions of school leaders and by other policies from the larger context of the district. Spillane, et al. (2002) created a cognitive framework that they maintained is “designed to unpack the implementing agents’ sense-making from and about policy” (p. 392). Spillane, et al. (2002) defined a cognitive framework as a view of policy implementation “that takes into account basic information processing, as well as the complexities and influences involved in the processing of information about abstract ideas, the influence of motivation and affect, and the ways that social context and the social interaction affect sense-making” (p. 388). Coburn and Russell (2008) suggested that teachers’ social networks play an important role in policy implementation. Collaborative communities create trusting environments that encourage risk-taking, access to expertise to support learning, and opportunities for teachers to negotiate the meanings and implications of reform (Coburn & Russell, 2008).

This study’s conceptual framework (Figure 1) was a compilation of the aforementioned framework and ideas of the various researchers mentioned (Weick, et al., 1995, 2005; Spillane, et al., 2002, 2006; Coburn, 2005; Coburn & Russell, 2008). The framework was developed into three domains. First, the teachers’ sense-making was explored through an individual cognitive perspective. That was the consideration of how prior knowledge, beliefs, and experiences or worldviews influence the construction of new understandings (Spillane et al., 2002). Sense-making was emphasized over the simple deciphering of new information, because the focus was on the active attempt of synthesizing new stimuli within an extant knowledge and belief system (Spillane et al., 2002).  Teacher motivation, goals, and affect also influences one’s ability to make sense of and reason about reform (Spillane et al., 2002). The influence of motivation and affect on cognitive processing is called motivated reasoning (Spillane et al., 2002; Kunda, 1990).

While individual cognition in teacher sense-making is important in the understanding of reform initiatives, Coburn (2001) posited that it is not a solo affair. Situated cognition involves the collective sense-making within social contexts and networks (Coburn, 2001; Spillane et al., 2002; Coburn & Russell, 2008). Spillane et al. (2002) asserted that knowledge embedded in social situations or contexts as the practices and common beliefs of a community, influences sense-making and action in reform implementation. Coburn (2001) argued that “the nature and structure of formal networks and informal alliances among teachers play a powerful role in shaping the sense-making process and ultimately the kind of sense that is made” (pp. 145-146). Coburn and Russell (2008) provided evidence that district policy affects the nature and quality of teachers’ social networks by cultivating structure of ties, access to expertise, trust, and depth of interaction.

Teacher individual and situated cognition are indirectly influenced by the principal’s sense-giving actions (Coburn, 2005). By shaping access to policy ideas, the social construction of meaning, and conditions for learning, the principal creates an environment under which learning and policy implementation can unfold (Coburn, 2005).

The conceptual framework helped guide all aspects of the study including the research sub questions, design methodology, data collection and analysis strategies, and conclusions. The sub questions were as follows: (a) how do teachers’ individual worldviews influence how they construct understanding, interpretation, and knowledge of LAC; (b) how do teachers’ collective social interactions (among teachers, teachers and leaders, and teachers and students) influence implementation of LAC; (c) how does teachers’ behavior change as they unlearn the present ways of doing things and begin to implement Literacy Across the Curriculum; and (d) what sense-giving role does the principal play in terms of influencing teacher’s sense-making and creating conditions for LAC implementation? The other components of study are addressed in subsequent sections.