Education Commons^™

Implementing Change: How, Why, And When Teachers Change Their Classroom Practices, Diane Beth Van Bodegraven

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Teacher implementation of school reforms varies widely and often results in inconsistent student outcomes. Teachers adopt or resist change for complex reasons that are not fully understood. This qualitative study explored how veteran teachers described their experiences with school reform and changes in classroom practices that occurred over the course of their careers; it also examined factors that teachers identified as having positive and negative influences on their adoptions of change. The conceptual framework was based on Senge's systems theory as applied to learning organizations and Goleman's emotional intelligence theory. The research questions focused on: (a) How veteran teachers described …