Beyond Decoupling: Rethinking the Relationship Between the Institutional Environment and the Classroom

Item

Title

Beyond Decoupling: Rethinking the Relationship Between the Institutional Environment and the Classroom

Abstract/Description

The decoupling argument?that schools respond to pressures from the institutional environment by decoupling changes in structures from classroom instruction?has been a central feature of institutional theory since the early 1970s. This study suggests the need to rethink this argument. Drawing on a study of the relationship between changing ideas about reading instruction in California from 1983 to 1999 and teachers' classroom practice, the study provides evidence that messages about instruction in the environment influence classroom practice in a process that is framed by teachers' preexisting beliefs and practices and the nature of the messages themselves. Implications are drawn for theories of teachers' autonomy and methodological approaches to studying macro-micro linkages.

Author/creator

Coburn, Cynthia E.

Date

2004

In publication

Sociology of Education

Volume

77

Issue

3

Pages

211-244

Resource type

en Research/Scholarly Media

Resource status/form

en Published Text

Scholarship genre

en Empirical

Language

en

Open access/full-text available

en Yes

Peer reviewed

en Yes

ISSN

0038-0407

DOI

10.1177/003804070407700302

URL

Official Publisher's Webpage (SAGE Journals)

Full-text PDF Shared by Author (ResearchGate)

Citation

Coburn, C. E. (2004). Beyond Decoupling: Rethinking the Relationship Between the Institutional Environment and the Classroom. Sociology of Education, 77(3), 211–244. https://doi.org/10.1177/003804070407700302

Cited in

The Institution of Schooling

Abbreviation

Sociol Educ

Item sets

Handbook Chapter 4 Citations

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