Preservice Teachers' Negotiations of Quality English Language Arts Teaching in an Era of Acute

316 Pages·2017·1.44 MB·English

University of Colorado, Boulder
CU Scholar
School of Education Graduate Theses &
School of Education
Dissertations
Spring 1-1-2014
Beyond Common Sense: Preservice Teachers'
Negotiations of Quality English Language Arts
Teaching in an Era of Acute Accountability
Sara J. Staley
University of Colorado Boulder, [email protected]
Follow this and additional works at:https://scholar.colorado.edu/educ_gradetds
Part of theEducational Assessment, Evaluation, and Research Commons, and theTeacher
Education and Professional Development Commons
Recommended Citation
Staley, Sara J., "Beyond Common Sense: Preservice Teachers' Negotiations of Quality English Language Arts Teaching in an Era of
Acute Accountability" (2014).School of Education Graduate Theses & Dissertations. 50.
https://scholar.colorado.edu/educ_gradetds/50
This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by School of Education at CU Scholar. It has been accepted for inclusion in School of Education
Graduate Theses & Dissertations by an authorized administrator of CU Scholar. For more information, please [email protected].
Beyond Common Sense: Preservice Teachers’ Negotiations of Quality English Language
Arts Teaching in an Era of Acute Accountability
by
Sara J. Staley
B.S., University of Kansas, 2002
M.Ed., University of Kansas, 2004

A thesis submitted to the
Faculty of the Graduate School of the
University of Colorado at Boulder
in partial fulfillment
of the requirements for the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy
School of Education 2014
This thesis entitled:
Beyond Common Sense: Preservice Teachers’ Negotiations of Quality English Language Arts
Teaching in an Era of Acute Accountability
written by Sara Staley
has been approved for the School of Education
University of Colorado Boulder

____________________________________________
Dr. Elizabeth Dutro, Committee Chair

____________________________________________
Dr. Martin Bickman

____________________________________________
Dr. Margaret Eisenhart

____________________________________________
Dr. Kris Gutiérrez

____________________________________________
Dr. Jennie Whitcomb

Date ______________
The final copy of this thesis has been examined by the signatories, and we
find that both the content and the form meet acceptable presentation standards of scholarly work
in the above mentioned discipline.

IRB protocol # 11-0338
iii
Abstract
Staley, Sara (Ph.D., Education, Literacy, Curriculum and Instruction)

Beyond Common Sense: Preservice Teachers’ Negotiations of Quality English Language Arts
Teaching in an Era of Acute Accountability
Dissertation directed by Professor Elizabeth Dutro

This dissertation inquires into the processes by which four preservice teachers of the
English language arts (ELA) negotiated competing perspectives on teacher “quality” and
“effectiveness” as they moved across contexts in their final semester of coursework in
university-based teacher education. While the contested matter of “quality” is currently at the
center of education-reform debates in the policy arena, and a whole host of perspectives are
weighing in, high-stakes accountability-driven legislation is advancing powerfully narrow
conceptions of what counts as effective teaching. Research has begun to illuminate the ways in
which perspectives engendered by such reforms have impacted teachers’ classroom practice, but
few studies have focused on how novices navigate that contested terrain in their university-based
preparation to construct understandings of high-quality ELA teaching, and of themselves as
high-quality ELA teachers. The present study is an attempt to fill that gap.
Grounded in sociocultural, critical, and poststructural theoretical perspectives, this
qualitative study renders “quality” and “effectiveness” as necessarily contested terms. Guided by
a D/discourse analytic frame (Gee, 2011a, 2011b), this work begins by critically analyzing two
prominent perspectives, that is, two Discourses that frame “quality” teaching in very different
ways: 1) the National Council on Teacher Quality’s Teacher Prep Review (Greenberg, McKee,
& Walsh, 2013); and 2) the Discourse of one university-based teacher education program. This
work goes on to critically analyze four preservice teachers’ language to understand how they
iv
navigated discursive contexts surrounding “quality” in learning to teach. Findings report how
those novices positioned themselves in relation to contrasting perspectives on high-quality ELA
teaching, for example, as advocates for equity and diversity, and as deeply committed to the
human and relational dimensions of teachers’ work, but also how they struggled at times to
overcome dichotomous thinking and a hesitancy to “rock the boat” for fear of imagined
consequences aroused by Discourses of accountability. This work concludes with consideration
of how university-based teacher education might better support novices as they negotiate across
dissonance in learning to teach, and foster their capacities for self-control as they navigate
increasingly high-stakes contexts in an era of acute accountability.
v
Acknowledgements

They say that energetically speaking, expressions of love and gratitude are of the highest
vibrations. I wholeheartedly agree. In fact, I have the word grateful tattooed in inky, black
cursive on the inside of my left forearm to remind me to practice and express gratitude daily.
Buddhist teacher and philosopher Pema Chödrön advises us to “Be grateful to everyone,” and
typically, I hold that aphorism close. But, I am called here to acknowledge by name the energetic
forces in my life that have supported me through my own process of becoming, as it has
unfolded beautifully and unpredictably, though not without struggle, over course of the last six
years. Indeed, I am grateful to be gifted this opportunity to express my gratitude.
Mom. I thank you for the strength, love, and endurance you have always graced our
family with. Alone, you have walked a long and tumultuous path, and though your bones are
tired, it’s because you carried Eric and me that I have arrived at this destination. Your struggle
has made me who I am today, and I am proud to represent the first generation of our family to
move on to higher education. Brother. I thank you for almost 35 years of companionship, and for
the support you provided me in a pivotal transition in my life. Richard. I thank you for the
relentless encouragement you have given me throughout my time in graduate school, and for
initiating me into feeling just a little bit more comfortable with the title, “Dr. Staley.”
I am grateful to the tremendous teachers I’ve had in my life and whom I have aspired to
emulate. I am grateful—with abundance!—to my former students and community of colleagues
at La Sierra High School for embracing me and enkindling my passion for teaching, for learning,
and for justice.
To my mentors, Gina Cervetti and Elizabeth Dutro, I literally would not be here writing
these words were it not for your grace, guidance, and caring hearts. Thank you. To my friends,
vi
near and far, I thank you for sticking with me while on this journey, and for supporting my queer
endeavor.
To Bethy, I thank you for your patience, forgiveness, compassion, and truth. Making this
journey with you has been the most unexpected and amazing surprise, but something for which I
am supremely grateful. I thank you for your head and heart. And, for sharing Fran with me.
Finally, to myself: I have not always treated you with compassion, kindness, and care, but
I am learning. Slowly. I am proud of the person you are becoming, and I am grateful for the
commitment you’ve made to learning, growing, and becoming better. Always.
vii
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page

Abstract ………………………………………………………………………………………... iii
List of Tables …………………….……………………………….…………………………... viii
Chapter 1: Traversing the Sense-Making Challenge of Learning to Teach in Times of High-
Stakes Education Reform …………………………………………...………………… 1
Chapter 2: Theoretical Orientations …………………………………………………………... 12
Chapter 3: Mapping the Contested Discursive Terrain on “Quality”: A Review of
Perspectives …………………………………………………………………………… 34

Chapter 4: Methodology ……………………….……………………………………………... 72
Chapter 5: Denaturalizing Everyday Language, Uncovering Figured Worldviews: A Critical
Discourse Analysis of NCTQ’s Teacher Prep Review ………………………………. 102
Chapter 6: Peeling Back the Layers: One Teacher Education Program’s Discursive Production
of High-Quality ELA Teaching ……………………………………………………… 133
Chapter 7: Negotiating “Quality”: Four Preservice Teachers’ Sense-Making Processes ……. 180
Chapter 8: The Frame’s the Thing: An Argument for Reframing the Discourse on Quality
Teacher Preparation ………………………………………………………….............. 242
References ……………………………………………………………………………………. 265
Appendices ………………………………………………………………………………….... 283
viii

Tables

Table
1. Focal Participants’ Positions in the Secondary ELA Licensure Program ……………. 77
2. Transcription Conventions …………………………………………………………… 85
3. Syntactical construction of NCTQ in the Review’s Executive Summary ……………. 296
4. Syntactical construction of university-based teacher education (UBTE) in the
Review’s Executive Summary …………………………….………………………….. 296
5. Syntactical construction of novice teachers in the Review’s Executive Summary …... 298
6. Required Courses for Teacher Candidates Pursuing Secondary ELA Licensure …….. 300
1
Chapter 1
Traversing the Sense-Making Challenge of Learning to Teach in Times of High-Stakes
Education Reform
We’re trying to look in the mirror and fundamentally change how the Department of
Education does business. Everybody else has to be willing to challenge themselves as
well. Schools of education have to challenge themselves. What Doug1 pointed out in
terms of common sense, basic teaching techniques? My simple question is why aren’t
those being taught in schools of education? Why are teachers having to learn that on the
job? Why isn’t that from day one being instilled in our future generation of teachers when
they’re a freshman and a sophomore and a junior and a senior in college… (Duncan,
2009)
This study grew from a curiosity about how preservice teachers might construct
understandings of “quality”2 English language arts (ELA) teaching in a sociopolitical climate
characterized by higher-than-ever stakes for teachers, accountability-driven education reform,
and large-scale efforts to “fundamentally change” public education, as Secretary of Education
Arne Duncan put it in the quote above. When this study unfolded, the economic recession was
still in full swing; states had slashed education funding, class sizes ballooned, teachers’ salaries
froze, and districts tightened their financial belts by cutting positions and handing out pink slips
to the freshest hires. The recession’s thrust collided with the rise of powerful education reform
agendas that legislated radical changes to how teachers and teacher quality were assessed. High-
stakes education reform policies implemented at the federal (e.g., Obama’s Race to the Top) and

1 Duncan is referring here to Doug Lemov, founder of the charter school network Uncommon Schools and
author of Teach like a champion: 49 techniques that put students on the path to college (Lemov, 2010). Finn,
Petrilli, and Scull (2010) describe the book as “a publishing phenomenon… [Lemov’s] forty-nine techniques—
culled from observing über-effective teachers—seem commonsensical, even obvious. But they are precisely
the nitty-gritty tips and practical tools that can keep a new teacher afloat in her first year in the classroom—and
make her much more effective much more quickly” (p. 4). Examples of these techniques are writing on the
board, using exit tickets, and maintaining high behavioral expectations.
2 In this work, I often bracket my use of quality and effectiveness with quotation marks to render the meaning
of those terms as contested. I contend that the situated meanings of quality and effectiveness shift in important
ways depending on their contexts of use, and what we take those terms to mean with regard to teaching and
teacher preparation is not a given. Examining how participants in this study engaged that struggle over
meaning is what I was ‘after’ in this dissertation.