Gauging Goodness of Fit: Teachers’ Assessments of their Instructional Teams in High-Poverty Schools

Authors
Megin Charner-Laird,
Monica Ng,
Susan Moore Johnson,
Matthew Kraft,
John Papay,
Stefanie Reinhorn
Year of publication
2017
Publication
American Journal of Education
Volume/Issue
123(4)
Pages
553-584
Teacher teams are increasingly common in urban schools. In this study, we analyze teachers’ responses to teams in six high-poverty schools. Teachers used two criteria to assess teams’ goodness of fit in meeting the demands of their work: whether their teams helped them teach better and whether the team contributed to a better school. Their responses differed notably by school, depending largely on the principal’s approach to implementation. In the three schools where teachers assessed teams favorably, principals set a meaningful purpose for teachers’ collaborative work, provided structural support and professional expertise for their deliberations, and established safe environments for teachers’ on-the-job growth.

Suggested Citation

Charner-Laird, M., Ng, M., Johnson, S.M., Kraft, M., Papay, J., & Reinhorn, S. (2017). Gauging Goodness of Fit: Teachers’ Assessments of their Instructional Teams in High-Poverty Schools. American Journal of Education, 123(4), 553-584