Professionalism or Bureaucracy? Redesigning Teaching

This study looks at three districts that redesigned teaching, two with career ladders and one with shared governance. The reforms took two directions—professional and bureaucratic—that had important consequences for the process and the outcomes of the redesign of teaching. Many factors were encompassed in the direction taken, including how districts addressed certain dimensions of job and organizational design—that is, authority and autonomy, collegiality, rank and remuneration, task variety, and organizational shape. Political factors that shaped the direction of development included the state program, the support of the board, the vision of the superintendent, and the interactions of board, superintendent, teachers, and teachers’ associations.