Examining Teachers' Perceptions and Adaptations Related to the First-Year of Implementation of the Common Core State Standards in a Rural Elementary School in Central Illinois

<p>This study examined the latest mandated government policy of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) and the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC), which fully took effect during the 2014-2015 school year. The study sought to look at these changes through the eyes of a group of elementary teachers in rural Illinois as they work with and through these policy mandates during their initial year of implementation.</p> <p>The study was conducted over the course of the 2014-2015 school year. Data was gathered through a three interview sequence, site visits and the administration of the SOCQ 75 instrument before and at the conclusion of the school year. All three data sources were triangulated to see if they were indicating the same perceptions.</p> <p>The findings were that in this district the teachers were not experiencing negative perceptions of the CCSS, in fact it was quite the opposite. The teachers were in favor of the new standards. They generally felt they were vastly superior to the old Illinois Learning Standards and preferred to work with them. In comparison to the positive perceptions of the CCSS, the perceptions of PARCC were overwhelmingly negative. As far down as Pre-K the teachers felt that the PARCC was an overbearing influence on not only what they teach, but the emphasis on PARCC created undue stress on the teachers, and is a negative influence on the atmosphere of the school.</p> <p>As mentioned previously, the focus of this study was the perceptions of teachers concerning both the CCSS and PARCC. During the course of the study there were some themes that emerged during the study and warrant further research. The most notable is the role that the administrators in the district played in the adoption of the CCSS in the district. The teachers indicated that the administrators in the district made the adoption of the CCSS easy for them.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Doctor of Education in Educational Leadership (EdD)

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Year dc:date.available

2015

Author dc:creator

• Vicich, Jason

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Bengtson, Ed

Contributors dc:contributor

• Goering, Christian Z.
• Holt, Carleton R.

• Education
• Common core state standards
• Partnership for assessment of readiness for college and careers
• Standards
• Teachers
• Curriculum and Instruction
• Educational Leadership
• Elementary Education and Teaching

Repository record dc:identifier

https://scholarworks.uark.edu/etd/1351

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:scholarworks.uark.edu:etd-2350