UC Riverside

According to existing research, teacher professionalism has been severely compromised during this most recent era of high stakes accountability in education. Studies have shown a significant lack of teacher autonomy regarding curricular and instructional decision-making, leading researchers and those in education to question the current status and nature of teacher professionalism. To investigate the current state of teacher professionalism in elementary education I conducted a qualitative case study in two elementary schools with vastly different achievement levels and varying degrees of teacher experience. Data included observations of teaching in classrooms, observations of staff meetings and grade level meetings, interviews with teachers, interviews with administrators and collection of documents, such as curriculum and assessment data. Findings indicate that micro-level contextual factors such as physical and cultural environments, student achievement levels, role of administration, and teacher experience, to be central in determining the nature of professionalism at each school. Additionally, conceptualizations of professionalism did not always dictate nor even translate into teacher practice at each site. While findings from previous studies suggest that teacher professionalism and practice are strongly influenced by macro-level educational decision-making, this research demonstrates the importance of attending to site level factors in shaping conceptualizations of professionalism and teachers' professional practice.