This dissertation examines the beliefs, motivations, and practices of teacher educators and teacher candidates at Sposato in order to understand the theory of practice and the core activities and approaches that are involved in teacher preparation at this nGSE. The purpose of this in-depth analysis of the diverse perspectives that emerge from within the Sposato context is to learn how teacher preparation is understood and
constructed from the perspective of the administrators, faculty, and candidates themselves. The ultimate goal is a broader understanding of the model of teacher education at a “No Excuses”-affiliated nGSE. As explained in Chapter Two, the theoretical frameworks for this study provide this dissertation with conceptual and methodological tools to make sense of the dynamic relationships among the beliefs, motivations, and practices of the many individuals involved with the work of teacher preparation at Sposato. The most appropriate research design to achieve these purposes is case study research.
Case study allows a researcher to look at the particularities of a single case within a larger phenomenon while simultaneously creating space for the interpretation of
broader themes that emerge from the collection and analysis of empirical data within the case (Creswell, Hanson, Clark Plano, & Morales, 2007; Stake, 2006; Yin, 2014).
According to Yin (2014), “the distinctive need for case study research arises out of the desire to understand complex social phenomena. In brief, a case study allows
investigators to focus on a ‘case’ and retain a holistic and real-world perspective” (p. 4). A study of Sposato, regarded as a representative case of the nGSE phenomenon,
accomplishes just this. This case study uncovers and analyzes the understandings, core practices, and animating principles of the Sposato program as well as the experiences of teacher candidates, faculty, and administrators within the program.
According to Stake (2006), this kind of case study research also involves understanding and experiencing the “activity of the case,” that is the dynamics that emerge from within the case’s specific context. For the purposes of this case study of Sposato, the activity of the case is the practice of teacher preparation, which includes the perspectives and work of Sposato administrators, faculty, and candidates related to the recruitment, training, instruction, and socialization of teachers into the profession. This practice within teacher preparation programs cannot be accessed without engaging in in- depth conversations with teacher educators and teacher candidates or observing the central experiences of a candidate throughout the course of his or her time in the program. A qualitative case study design made the most methodological sense for this dissertation because it allowed for the investigation of the multiple dimensions of the activity of the Sposato case.
Standard qualitative methods of data collection and analysis, as explained below, were used in this case study (Erickson, 1986). Primary data sources included interviews, observations, and institutional documents and artifacts. These particular qualitative methods were essential to this case study because of the need to incorporate participants’ voice and lived experience, as well as how participants made sense of their experience, into a contextual understanding of the single case (Rossman & Rallis, 2012).
In addition, as I noted in Chapter One, this case study serves as the pilot study for the previously mentioned larger study of the nGSE phenomenon, which was designed to
describe and to assess the project of teacher preparation at nGSEs. The larger study comprises three distinct yet interrelated phases. The first phase of the larger study consists of a frame analysis of publically available documents and materials from nGSE sources (e.g., websites, newspaper articles, media critiques, related digital and social media content) and 30-40 hour-long interviews with nGSE thought leaders and advocates.
The second phase consists of individual case studies of four highly visible nGSE sites which were strategically selected for variation in size, location, funders, founders, mission, history, partners, and demographics, but also to allow identification of common patterns.4 Each of the three case studies following this pilot case represented in this dissertation follow the general qualitative methods outlined below. While the qualitative methods of data collection and analysis used in these individual case studies are similar, the theoretical frameworks guiding each case analysis within the larger study are different from the sociological framework employed in this case study of Sposato. As described in Chapter Two the Bourdieu frameworks directly influenced the research questions of this dissertation about the relationships between and among Sposato participants’
perspectives on practice and the role of the Sposato graduate school as a community of practice. Interview protocols and observation foci used in this pilot case were refined after data collection was complete for the purposes of data collection in this second phase of the larger study.
The final phase of the larger study consists of cross-case analysis among the four cases for the purposes of developing a model or models of teacher preparation at nGSEs. Cross-case analyses were designed to allow the research team to make evidence-based assertions about the difference between the nGSE phenomenon as planned and the nGSE phenomenon as enacted across multiple sites. The social movement and knowledge- practice-justice frameworks described in Chapter Two are central to the design of this final phase.
Scope of the Case Study
Yin (2014) states that a case study is in part defined by its scope, that is, “you would want to do case study research because you want to understand a real-world case and assume that such an understanding is likely to involve important contextual
conditions pertinent to your case” (p. 16). The scope of a case study is one in which there is no clear boundary between the broader contemporary phenomenon of which the case is a part and the in-depth, real-world context of the specific case. This case study of Sposato is consistent with Yin’s criteria because the real-world context of teacher preparation at Sposato cannot be easily separated from the role Sposato plays as an nGSE connected to a “No Excuses” charter management organization (CMO). The work, mission, and scope of the sponsoring Match Education CMO guide the implementation of policies and the development of practice at Sposato. Similarly, the context of teacher preparation at Sposato described below influences the ongoing work of the Match Education CMO to which it is attached.
The specific context for teacher preparation at Sposato is an urban teacher residency program built into a new graduate school of education in a large city in the
Northeast U.S. This graduate school of education is connected to a larger charter
management organization (Match Education) that operates four K-12 charter schools for low-income students of Color in this same Northeastern city. The teacher residency program currently admits approximately 70 teacher candidates each year; these candidates begin a two-year sequence divided into a preservice/residency year and an inservice/coaching year. Throughout both years of the teacher preparation program, candidates are working toward the completion of a master’s degree that is granted by the graduate school of education in which the teacher residency program is located. At the time of this writing, Sposato administrators had sought but not yet received accreditation for this master’s degree program through the New England Association of Schools and Colleges, which is the regional accreditor for most institutions of higher education in the region where Sposato is located. This master’s degree, however, had been approved by its state board of higher education. The graduate school of education has existed since 2012; the residency program itself began in 2008. More detail about the specific contours of the Sposato model are described in Chapter Four in a discussion of the teacher preparation community of practice at Sposato.
Sposato, therefore, is a strategic research site (Merton, 1973) for studying the phenomenon of new graduate schools of education located at “No Excuses” CMOs. The goal of this graduate school of education is to “create unusually effective rookie teachers and school leaders for low-income students…The program is mapped backwards from the demands of working in the highest performing urban public schools in America” (SGSE, 2017b). Secondly, this program and school of education have also been designed to be intentionally dislocated from traditional university-based teacher education, as all
nGSEs are per my research team’s definition of the nGSE phenomenon described in Chapter One. The Sposato website states that their school, “offers a pathway into teaching that is distinctly different from the two well-known pathways: traditional graduate schools of education and alternative programs like Teach for America” (SGSE, 2017b). In addition, the media attention that Sposato has received (e.g., Gastic, 2014, D. Goldstein, 2014), similar to the policy and media attention nGSEs more generally have received (Zeichner, 2016), establishes Sposato as what Yin (2014) refers to as a
“common” case within the broader phenomenon “because of the lessons [the case] might provide about the social processes related to some theoretical interest” (p. 52). For the Sposato case, the social processes are the experiences and perspectives of teacher educators and candidates engaged in the work of teacher preparation; the theoretical interest for the phenomenon is the understanding of new models of teacher preparation at nGSEs.
Features of the Case Study
According to Stake (2006) the features of a case study depend upon what type of case is being studied. This case study of Sposato is both what Stake has referred to as an “intrinsic” case, that is, one in which the case itself is of primary interest, and an
“instrumental” case, that is, one in which the case provides insight into a phenomenon of interest. Sposato is an intrinsic case because it is located within the well-known and highly-regarded Match Education charter management organization. Its methods are distinct and the beliefs and practices of Sposato participants represent a set of
relationships that are inherently interesting as an innovative and controversial form of urban teacher education. Yet Sposato is also an instrumental case because, as described
above, the Sposato GSE – along with the other cases the larger study is investigating – provides insight into the broader nGSE phenomenon. In short, this qualitative case study was designed to take advantage of both the intrinsic qualities of the Sposato model as they manifested themselves from insiders’ perspectives and the aspects of the Sposato model that connect teacher preparation at Sposato to the practice of teacher preparation at nGSEs.
Similarly, according to Yin (2014), a case study research design is further defined by three features: its ability to address the fact that the case site is distinctive and has more variables of interest than can necessarily be accessed by the collected data, its use of prior developed theoretical propositions to guide data collection and analysis, and its reliance on multiple sources of triangulated evidence. As described above, the
overarching focus of the case study is on teacher preparation at the Sposato site. This focus could potentially limit the level of understanding that can be generated about participants’ beliefs and practices not immediately related to teacher preparation. Yet this case study, informed by the objective to understand the Sposato case as experienced in its specific context from participants’ perspectives, is designed to allow space for new constructs of interest related to but distinct from teacher preparation to emerge through the course of data collection.
Yin’s (2014) second characteristic was met through the application of Bourdieu’s “theory of practice” as a methodological-analytical tool, as described in Chapter Two. As detailed below, the theoretical propositions derived from Bourdieu’s sociological theories have influenced not only the construction of interview protocols but also the coding of data and the analytical assertions made in Chapters Four, Five, and Six.
To meet the final criterion that Yin (2014) establishes for case study research design, this case study was based on the collection of data from interview, direct observation, and document/archival/physical artifact sources of evidence. Yin (2014) suggests that a case study must rely on these multiple different sources of evidence, each source comprising several distinct pieces of evidence, because “no single source has a complete advantage over all the others. In fact, the various sources are highly
complementary, and a good case study will therefore want to rely on as many sources as possible” (p. 105). Table 1 provides an overview of research participants and indicates the amount and kind of each source of evidence that was collected and analyzed for the purposes of this case study. Further details about each of the primary categories of evidence (interview, observation, and document/artifact), including the method of collection and specifics on participants, follow the table.
It is important to note here that administrators at Sposato offered full participation and consent to the institutional participation of the Sposato Graduate School of Education in this case study and to participation in the larger study per the agreement described in Chapter One. Several introductory meetings with members of the program’s
administration took place prior to data collection to ensure that the case study posed no major institutional risks and that leaders at Sposato understood the goals and purposes of the study. Two of these meetings included both me, as the primary researcher of this case study, and Marilyn Cochran-Smith, as the dissertation supervisor and the Principal Investigator for the larger study. Program administrators also assisted in securing the participation of faculty, adjunct faculty, and candidates during data collection. As part of the research partnership established between Sposato administrators and myself, I
consulted with program administrators about the number and kind of data sources to be collected to ensure that all of the key elements of the teacher preparation program at Sposato, from their perspective, were included in data collection.
Table 1
Summary of Data Sources and Research Participants.
Data Source Summary of Evidence Totals
Interviews Administrators:
Six participants, one 60-minute interview each
27 interviews Faculty:
Four full-time faculty participants, one 30 minute interview each (NB - these four participants were administrators and participated in a follow-up interview specifically related to coursework)
Two adjunct faculty participants, one 30-60 minute interview each
Coaches:
Five participants, one 30-60 minute interview each Teacher Candidates:
Ten participants (five from residency year, five from MET year), one 60-minute interview each
Direct
Observations Course observations: SPO 100 – Community, Culture, and Context (twice) SPO 115 – Classroom Culture Building
SPO 120 – Instructional Methods (twice) SPO 122 – Content Learning Lab
18 observations
Key teacher preparation experiences outside courses: Group of 6
Student Teaching (four times) Coaching Sessions
Practicum “Site Night” Additional moments: Sposato orientation Sposato graduation Principal Panel Q&A Data Analysis Workshop
Documents Internal Program Documents: Core Values
Interview and Sample Lesson Memo Job Hunt Memo
Observation Memo “Our Agreement”
Sposato’s Vision for Good Teaching Introduction to the Gateway
Summer Coach Training Manual SGSE Data Dashboard
MA Board of Higher Education State Approval
60+ documents Evaluation Rubrics: Kraken Kraken Jr. Professionalism Feedback Implementation Course Guides:
SPO 110 – Relationships and Student Investment SPO 112 – Classroom Management
SPO 120 – Instructional Methods SPO 124C – Math Manifesto SPO 124D – Science Manifesto Syllabi:
SPO 100 – Community, Culture, and Context SPO 110 – Relationships and Student Investment SPO 112 – Classroom Management
SPO 120 – Instructional Methods SPO 122 – Subject Specific Methods Year 2
Handbooks: Student Handbook
Professionalism Handbook Publicly available documents: Sposato website (SGSE, 2017a-r)
Media artifacts published on the Sposato website (as cited in Chapters Four-Seven)
Research participants. For this case study, full-time Sposato administrators and faculty, part-time/adjunct faculty, coaches, and teacher candidates were invited to be research participants. All of these research participants are referred to as Sposato insiders
throughout the rest of this dissertation and the phrase “insiders’ perspectives” used frequently in this dissertation relates to the perspectives shared by this collected group of research participants.
I used the term “Sposato leaders” in this dissertation to describe the following people: administrators, full-time faculty, part-time faculty, and coaches. Though Sposato is part of the larger Match Education CMO, which has its own administrative structures and organization of which some Sposato administrators are a part, only those leaders who worked within the Sposato divisions of the Match Education CMO were of interest and invited to participate in this case study. All Sposato administrators were invited to participate (six of seven volunteered) and included people such as the Sposato Dean, the Director of Coaching, the Director of Training, and the Director of Partnerships. Faculty members included administrators who taught courses at Sposato as well as two adjunct faculty who taught in the program. All current Sposato coaches (approximately 30) from the 2015-2016 academic year were invited to participate; five volunteered to be research participants. A member check with the Sposato Director of Operations allowed me to verify the representativeness of these five volunteers compared to the larger set of coaches based on the grade-level and content-area taught by candidates they coached.
In addition, Sposato teacher candidates were invited to participate in this case study. At this nGSE, candidates were defined as both those completing their residency year (preservice year) and those working full time as teachers of record while completing their graduate coursework and receiving institutional coaching (inservice/MET year). All candidates still in the 2015-2016 preservice cohort (41 in total) and inservice cohort (32 in total) when data collection commenced in April 2016 were invited to participate in this
case study. A purposive sample from the 10 preservice and six inservice volunteer participants was constructed in order to attain maximum variation of candidates’ perspectives. A member check with the Sposato Director of Operations allowed me to ensure the representativeness of this purposive sample based on variation of student teaching placement site, grade and/or content area taught, and gender and racial make-up within each of the two cohorts sampled.
Interviews. The collection of interviews was designed to gather the experiences and perspectives of the people most closely involved with teacher preparation at Sposato. As shown in Table 1, a purposive sample of 10 teacher candidates (5 from each of the preservice and inservice years), as well as a collection of administrators, coaches, faculty, and adjunct faculty participated in interviews. Twenty-seven semi-structured interviews were conducted in total; each interview lasted approximately one hour (with the
exception of the four full-time faculty follow-up interviews) and followed a semi- structured interview format.
Following Yin (2014), the length of these focused hour-long interviews was designed to ensure that candidates addressed the constructs of interest in this study. Interviews were semi-structured rather than fixed, though, to maintain a conversational