A School As a Crucible of Change : a Case Study of Restructuring and a Faculty's Culture

University of Massachusetts Amherst ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst Doctoral Dissertations 1896 - February 2014 1-1-1992 A school as a crucible of change : a case study of restructuring and a faculty's culture. Joseph John Nowicki University of Massachusetts Amherst Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations_1 Recommended Citation Nowicki, Joseph John, "A school as a crucible of change : a case study of restructuring and a faculty's culture." (1992). Doctoral Dissertations 1896 - February 2014. 4908. https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations_1/4908 This Open Access Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. It has been accepted for inclusion in Doctoral Dissertations 1896 - February 2014 by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. For more information, please contact [email protected]. A SCHOOL AS A CRUCIBLE OF CHANGE: A CASE STUDY OF RESTRUCTURING AND A FACULTY'S CULTURE A Dissertation Presented by JOSEPH J. NOWICKI Submitted to the Graduate School of the University of Massachusetts in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF EDUCATION May 1992 School of Education A SCHOOL AS A CRUCIBLE OF CHANGE: A CASE STUDY OF RESTRUCTURING AND A FACULTY'S CULTURE A Dissertation Presented by JOSEPH J. NOWICKI Approved as to style and content by: Charles Adams, Member Jackson, Dean 1 of Education © Copyright by Joseph John Nowicki 1992 All Rights Reserved To Kathleen Ellen and Jude Joseph ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This dissertation is the culminating product of more than two years of intense professional work. To complete it I needed the advice, assistance, support and patience of a great many people. I feel sorry that I can't give them all the credit they deserve. I first wish to thank Dr. Gretchen B. Rossman for her confidence in my work over the past four years and her hours of professional support, encouragement, and the critical insight she contributed as chair of the dissertation committee. I also wish to thank committee member Dr. Charles Adams for his dedicated involvement in all aspects of my education during the past four years. I extend my appreciation to committee member Dr. Randall Stokes for his valuable critique and support since 1979. I want to thank Ms. Starr Pinkos for her extraordinary work as an "unofficial" member of the committee. Finally, from the University community, I must acknowledge the large and positive influence on my educational career from Professor Andy B. Anderson. I will never forget his constant encouragement and very practical advice. There are family that helped in many ways. My wife, Kathleen Ellen Nowicki has been tireless in sharing her quiet strength. My son, Jude Joseph has been the heroic in his understanding patience with his father's activity. I thank my brother Michael Nowicki and wife Jennifer Fini for v their confidence and my parents Joseph and Eugenia for always keeping the faith. I don't think this dissertation would have been completed if not for the essential help shown by members of the North Amherst-Leverett Goat Roping Association. I thank Boss Goat Andy B. Anderson, and fellow goats Harpo Power, Ed Mann, Bob Bourke, Dr. Jeff Will, Randy Stokes, Roger Rhinehart and Mike Nowicki for making sure I knew what to do once the going got weird. Finally, I wish to thank the faculty, staff, and students at the Pioneer Valley Regional School for their assistance. In particular, faculty members Starr Pinkos, Mona Chambers, Claudia Lyon, Justin Duncan, John Lepore, Susan Currier, Evrett Masters, John Ware and Janet Jones were all important to this endeavor in their own way as were many others on the staff. I can't fit the names of all the Pioneer students who kept me going with their support. vi ABSTRACT A SCHOOL AS A CRUCIBLE OF CHANGE: A CASE STUDY OF RESTRUCTURING AND A FACULTY'S CULTURE MAY 1992 JOSEPH J. NOWICKI, A.B., ASSUMPTION COLLEGE M.Ed., BRIDGEWATER STATE COLLEGE Ed. D. , UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS Directed by: Professor Gretchen B. Rossman This case study describes how the culture of a faculty at a junior-senior public high school was influenced by a grass roots initiative of restructuring. The efforts at educational change centered on a move toward detracking their once rigidly grouped classrooms. While a growing body of research literature looks at students in reorganized schools, particularly those that have undergone a process of detracking, this study adds to the relatively little work done regarding how these processes involve the culture teachers share. Utilizing interviewing, participant observation, school based documents and peer review this qualitative research offers perspectives of what change in the structure of a school can mean to those who work in the school. It draws a theoretical framework of understanding from the fields of Education and the Sociology of Education. Changes in the culture of a group of teachers is the focus of this work with the process of detracking providing an ever present back drop. The dissertation addresses how cultural change redefined personal perspectives and meanings shared by educators in a small school. These new meanings created an going dialogue about the role of those educators in issues such as school¬ wide leadership, in-school professionalism, serving as professional development specialists for hundreds of other educators and teacher empowerment. Finally this work presents how the work-day world of teacher's became a "crucible of change", forcing many educators to continually redefine what it meant to be a teacher. • • • vm PREFACE The topic of heterogeneous grouping frames this research about how a move toward altering the grouping arrangements in a school impacted the culture shared by the school's faculty. The intent of this research is not to make an argument regarding detracking and student achievement, though there is a growing body of work looking at just that topic. While I am a supporter of detracking, this dissertation focuses on a faculty caught in the processes of restructuring in a school. What also shapes this dissertation is my experience as researcher and as teacher in the Pioneer Valley Regional School, that serves as the research site. Throughout the time framing this research, as with the years before and after, I have been a teacher. Each day I still work with more than one hundred students from grades seven through twelve. They have always been my primary focus. It will become clear to any reader of this work that I am not only an observer but also a participant in the social scenes that I analyze. I had no part in Pioneer's initial move toward detracking. In fact, I didn't work in the school at that time. I have been a teacher at Pioneer for the past six years. During the past few years I have been an in-house activist of sorts. At times during this dissertation I ix appear a catalyst among the school's faculty in events that not only promoted detracked schools but also questioned models of school leadership. My observations stem from the activity generated by the raw process of day to day events. For example, I suggested that the faculty host and present two conferences on the issue of detracking. I have served as conference chair and visited three school districts as a consultant. Likewise, my work as a teacher often brought questions about what it meant to work at Pioneer from those favoring and opposing detracking. My work as a researcher has forced me to adopt the unenviable position of self-critic in subjecting my own observations and interpretations to an exacting appraisal. I was forced to define and then adhere to the fine line that separates researcher from participant. I have never received the national attention that a few of my peers accepted after the first conference. I never engaged in or encourage the self-promotion that some others did. Still, there were times when I needed to caution myself that I was merging the two worlds and needed to intellectually step back and reestablish the necessary distance a participant researcher must have. My position as researcher was not tied into the role of activist teacher. In fact, as will be evident throughout this work, the role of researcher strained professional relationships I shared with others at Pioneer, played a part in my refusal to serve as an outside x educational consultant, and, unfortunately, resulted in the loss of close friendships I had with staff members. In this dissertation it is clear that I am an advocate for detracking. From reading what follows, it is evident that I am a vocal advocate for more professional development by and for teachers. Similarly, I feel educators should work to end the isolation that often separates teachers into classrooms and away from a professional dialogue shared with peers. My support for these issues and my work toward the professional development that took place at Pioneer existed long before I began this research. The dissertation process refined my ideas. It tempered them with words and actions of others. The self critique and peer review built into this project only helped to crystalize my perspectives. xi TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS.. ABSTRACT.vii PREFACE.ix Chapter I. INTRODUCTION.1 The Study.5 The Symbolic Meaning of Change.7 Culture and Change: New Meanings of Faculty Relationships.9 The Changing Metaphor of Family.10 Professional Culture, Manifest and Latent Cultures.12 A Note About Heterogeneous Grouping and a Faculty.15 The Question of Leadership.16

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