The Institution of Schooling
Item
Title
The Institution of Schooling
Alternate name
Chapter 4
Abstract/Description
Since educators and researchers are situated in a complex environment and face pressures and obstacles to change structures and activities (Coburn, 2016; Penuel et al., 2015; Peurach et al., 2019), organizational theory can be used to (1) understand phenomena occurring in the context of schooling and (2) shape IRE. In this chapter, we present foundational concepts from organizational theory portraying their relevance for IRE. We describe how organizational theory can enable researchers and practitioners to understand phenomena in educational organizations and design for improvement.
We make concrete six theoretical tools so scholars and practitioners can conceptualize the interplay among institutional and organizational factors in schooling and how this interplay influences IRE. Treating these theories as tools for robust scholarship and deep improvement, we discuss how each theory relates to efforts in IRE to bring about more equitable learning environments and outcomes. Specifically, we highlight how researchers and practitioners can apply theoretical tools to learn more about existing practices, identify needs, and design IRE to further social justice aims in education. This chapter also depicts interconnections among various “planes”—from macro-level structural forces associated with the education system and meso-level organizational conditions guiding collaboration to micro-level conceptions of student ability often intertwined with perceptions of race, gender, and socioeconomic status (Coburn, 2016; Ray, 2019). To expose and explain concepts from organizational theory, we include two cases on IRE. The chapter concludes with a discussion of how these theoretical tools could be applied by researchers and practitioners engaging in IRE.
We make concrete six theoretical tools so scholars and practitioners can conceptualize the interplay among institutional and organizational factors in schooling and how this interplay influences IRE. Treating these theories as tools for robust scholarship and deep improvement, we discuss how each theory relates to efforts in IRE to bring about more equitable learning environments and outcomes. Specifically, we highlight how researchers and practitioners can apply theoretical tools to learn more about existing practices, identify needs, and design IRE to further social justice aims in education. This chapter also depicts interconnections among various “planes”—from macro-level structural forces associated with the education system and meso-level organizational conditions guiding collaboration to micro-level conceptions of student ability often intertwined with perceptions of race, gender, and socioeconomic status (Coburn, 2016; Ray, 2019). To expose and explain concepts from organizational theory, we include two cases on IRE. The chapter concludes with a discussion of how these theoretical tools could be applied by researchers and practitioners engaging in IRE.
[Quoted from pp. 67-68]
Author/creator
Date
In publication
Pages
67-88
Publisher
Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
Resource type
Research/Scholarly Media
Resource status/form
Published Text
Scholarship genre
Theoretical
IRE Approach/Concept
Featured case/project
Open access/full-text available
No
ISBN
978-1-5381-5234-8
Citation
Woulfin, S. L., & Allen, C. D. (2022). The Institution of Schooling. In D. J. Peurach, J. L. Russell, L. Cohen-Vogel, & W. R. Penuel (Eds.), The Foundational Handbook on Improvement Research in Education. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781538152348/The-Foundational-Handbook-on-Improvement-Research-in-Education
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