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Abstract
This qualitative study focuses on school administrators’ understandings and actions as leaders of the Common Core reform. In interviews with eight school and district leaders from five diverse districts in Pennsylvania, several aspects of Common Core, or PA Core, implementation were consistent across regardless of student population demographics and urbanicity. The findings show that (a) administrators view themselves as leaders of buildings or districts but not of reform implementations; (b) while it may not require them to make drastic changes, the PA Core is considered an opportunity to address aspects of the district or school that are in need of improvement; and (c) administrators are aware of their school context and their diverse students’ needs, but the PA Core is not yet adapted to address these diversity issues. These findings suggest that the Common Core pushes administrators to focus on certain areas of school improvement, such as curricula, assessments, and professional development that attends to the Common Core requirements; yet, the Common Core is similar to previous practice, even if its standards are deemed more rigorous.
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Author Biographies
Julia Mahfouz holds a PhD in educational leadership from the Pennsylvania State University. Her research interests are within school improvement, professional development, and principal leadership. She has been involved in projects on social emotional learning, mindfulness interventions, and school reform. At present, she is exploring the influence of a mindfulness-based professional development on principals’ well-being and leadership.
Nikolaus J. Barkauskas holds a PhD in educational theory and policy from the Pennsylvania State University. His research interests include the philosophy of education, ethics in school reform, and moral literacy in young children. He is currently studying the strategic giving practices of private philanthropic foundations in support of the Common Core State Standards.
Erica B. Sausner is a PhD candidate in educational theory and policy, and comparative and international education at the Pennsylvania State University. Her research interests include education policy, community resilience, civics and citizenship, and underrepresented groups in education. She has presented her work at American and international conferences, including papers related to educational leadership, school boards and local control, and international assessments in the Global South.
Mindy L. Kornhaber is an associate professor of educational theory and policy at the Pennsylvania State University. For the past several years, her work has been focused on standards-based reform, testing policies and their influence on educational equity, and students’ intellectual development. She is also concerned with assessment, educational equity, how theories of intelligence influence school practice, and school reform.
