Week Three- Class Reflection

It was great to be in class last night.  I felt a little out of place because I don't know people too well, so I need to try to be more social, remember names, etc for next week!

I really love the discussions in this course and how much I learned about the content but also from each other.  When we discussed the Fowler definitions, it was great to hear what definitions stood out to others.  The instructor at TNCC was also drawn to the definition I liked (compromise and leading to more problems) although he through the use of problems could be type o.  I liked it because compromise (while important) can often water things down and doesn't necessarily fix the problems it had meant to and, in fact, create additional problems.

Talking about coupling helped a lot too, especially the examples others provided-- airport, circus, where there is a center than influences everything (air traffic control, circus master) and the outside things (planes, elephants) don't change the overall picture and how things run.  My example of law school ranking was a little muddle, but I think your perception of where you are in the law school system also influences whether you think you are tightly or loosely coupled to rankings.

This diagram helped me the most:

For the group work, the prompt was to look at policy process (ch 1) first and then through lens of each of four theoretical frameworks (ch 12).  Here's what our group came up with-- it made sense for me but not necessarily other group members, but I like to look at things linearly (first column) and put things in neat, tidy boxes (even if that always can't happen- I will still try) with the other columns.

	Competing Values	Policy Types	Institutional Choice	International Convergence
Issue Definition
Agenda Setting
Policy Formulation
Policy Adoption
Implementation
Evaluation

I loved the conversation our group had about assessments.  It was great to have K-12 perspective, higher ed perspectives, and even my perspective at the law school.  When I was working in undergrad/liberal arts, I would have said absolutely no to national assessments in college.  Now from the law school side, I am not too sure.  Maybe there needs to be something unifying what skills and abilities students graduate with. I see too much variation in writing and speaking abilities in the law school admissions process to not feel like more of our students should be better prepared when coming to law school.

The fishbowl was a really interesting exercise.  I would be nervous to be in the hot spot, but I always wanted to speak up during the conversations.  The conversation about the Culver article mirrored my own ideas that it wasn't as successful as intended since all schools didn't participate and inputted only the data they wanted to share.  CHEV wants tight coupling and the institutions want loose (I didn't think about that when reading since I didn't read the coupling articles at that point).  The fishbowl overall was great.  It was really interesting to be an outside and have that perspective.

Birnbaum- How Colleges Work

Birnbaum's article also talks about loose and tight coupling.  I am a little completed with the boxes she used (predictable and perverse) to describe the types of coupling.  The preserve is the loosely coupled, but the image also confuses what I think loosely coupled systems are.

On pg. 39, it is said that loosely coupled is attacked because it is often used to describe waste and inefficiency in a system.  This seems in contrast to another reading where loose coupling was supposed to cost less.  I don't know if I believe either description.  I can understand that attack in this article, but I do not know if I believe it.

The way loose coupling is described that I like in this article is that it allows organizations to try new things, but not let it influence what else is going on in the organization. If it doesn't work, it can be discarded, but if it does, this new idea can be brought into the tightly coupled system.  I don't consider this waste-- it actually seems smart.  Test pilot something before introducing it to everyone as the new system.  This seems like a good model in policy.

Weick- Educational Organizations as Loosely Coupled Sytems

This article really helped in my understanding of loose and tight coupling, but I still have questions as I head into class on Monday. Tight coupling makes much more sense to me-- since the idea of loose coupling hasn't quite sunk in.  Loose coupling, I feel like, is more indirect effects that direct like in tight coupling.

Loose coupling- tied together weakly, minimal interdependence (also more independence?)
Tight coupling- directly affects/effects one another, more crucial to survival of system (pg. 44)

With loose coupling, I highlighted loose coupling with local adaption. I think this would work with state mandates and how each district interprets.  I see a connection between this and Fowler with policies written broadly.

The article mentioned the idea that loose coupling would be less expensive because it doesn't require as many resources.  I'm not sure about that.  Someone is coordinating the efforts-- it might not be their full-time job like in a tightly coupled system, but someone is still doing the work.

I tried to put on my research methods had when the article started talking about dependent and independent variables with couple systems.  Dependent variable certainly exist in tightly coupled systems, and loosely coupled systems are more independent.  However, I think I understand it to say that loosely coupled can also become dependent variables, but tightly coupled systems can never have independent variables due to the interdependence of tightly couple systems.

Culver- The Virginia Example

I was a bit confused when I finished reading the Culver article.  I was anticipated how it showed that Virginia was a model of coming together and sharing information, but that wasn't the case.  From what I read, the state wanted schools to share information, so it could be analyzed, but most schools did not participate and only reported what they wanted it to be.

This seems to be in line with my understanding of the Virginia higher ed system.  I grew up/worked in New York State and Pennsylvania, and these systems seemed to be much more hierarchical than Virginia.  New York has the SUNY system, and Pennsylvania has the flagship with branch campus and other state schools that are tied together with specific missions (many of these schools have a focus on teaching).  Virginia has nothing like that.  Each state school is completely differently.  People are always surprised when they learn William & Mary is a state school since it is its own separate entity, and it really is. I don't see a lot of communication and sharing among state schools, almost like it's a competition- maybe it is.  Since Virginia has such a strong public education system, the non-sharing surprises me.  Yet I can understand that every school wants to maintain its uniqueness.

The only way sharing could happen and Virginia could in fact be "an example" would to have mandates from the state-- but this would require resources and funding that are severely lacking in support of individual schools.  As a result, I do not know if that will happen in the near future.

Bragg- Examining Pathways to and through the Community College

The article talked about the American Graduation Initiative (AGI), and I struggled with this article because of my own personal beliefs with community colleges.  I have known so many not know what they wanted to do, so they went to community college to figure it out with plans on getting a four-year degrees.  Years later, some have their associates, some went on to a four-year school, but most did not achieve either of these.  Community colleges certainly do serve a purpose for more adult learners who need more flexibility with degree programs (most times-- their expectations and end games are different), but I personally do not see the counseling and help at the community college level to get people to four-year degrees.

I know I am making some very large, overarching arguments, and I hope and know there are certainly exceptions, but I would rather see more focused on four-year degrees than community colleges. Financial aid is available just a much to students from lower SES to go to a four-year school than a community college.  Yes, a little more expensive for a four-year school, but I think the value added is there.  Seen on pg. 355, it says that community college will provide more access and credentials.  I disagree- many more access, but I do not think it will add more degrees (associates or otherwise) at the end of the day.

On the other hand, I think the Workforce Investment Act (WIA) is great idea to provide skillets and employ-ability to workers through trade classes and literacy/adult education work.  Pg. 360 discusses how important literacy is for better wages, standard of living, etc.

Another piece of the article talks about dual enrollment and how it will help everyone have access to college. I think this is false.  Dual enrollment is only available in schools once other courses have been exhausted, and it normally put aside for the top achieving students.  If students do not complete courses satisfactorily at the high school level, how can they then move on to dual-enrollment?  I do not believe they can.  The article states that dual enrollment will help prepare students more for college, but if they don't have the basics, taking classes at a community college will not be beneficial.  Community colleges can be a good collaborator for high schools, but the population taking advantage of dual enrollment are not the students who have difficulties with college access.  I do not think this is a viable solution.

I did like the discussion on pg. 384 about bridge programs. I think that is a tremendous idea to help students, and not just a bridge over the summer but one that continues and follows students with a  mentoring program throughout their time in college.  I look at programs like Posse and One Voice and see how successful they are as outside entities, and I believe that higher ed can emulate successfully to help students who normally may not have college access be successful and feel supported en route to their degree.

Week Three- Fowler Reading

Chapter One
Summary and Reaction

I love that the book started with a Wizard of Oz reference.  Besides for being one of my favorite movies, the quote, "Toto, I don't think we're in Kansas anymore," is very relevant to where we are in educational policy. We don't know if the direction we're going in is the correct one (NCLB) but going in another direction is an uphill battle and other potential directions are unclear.

Fowler offers her definition of policy, but also provides other definitions.  I liked reading through these, and there were certainly some that resonated with me.

"Policy sometimes is formed from a compromise among political participants...none of whom had quite in the mind the problem to which the agreed problem responds."  Some things to note with this:

• compromise-- policy develops through people giving in to constituencies and no one quite being happy with the result
• one problem "solved", even more problems to combat/understand and deal with 

Fowler took time to go through the history of policies, specifically racial segregation in the schools.

As with statutes, these rules are regulations provide important clues as to what the policy really is.  It is especially important to note whether the rules are written narrowly or broadly.  pg. 6

Policies are always altered during implementation.  pg. 8

School officials had adopted a pattern of inaction that was tacitly supported by the inaction of their state governments.  pg. 9

I believe these quotes summarize implementation of rulings such as Brown v. Board.  I can see many rules and laws being put in place (particularly with compromise) that makes them written very broadly-- making implementation inconsistent among states, districts, etc.  If each group can view the statue differently and implement it as they see fit, the spirit of the law is not met even if techinivally the letter of the law is met.

Figure 1.1 on page 16 shows a diagram of the political process where it flows from one point to the next and vice versa:

Issue Definition

Agenda Setting

Policy Formulation

Policy Adoption

Implementation

Evaluation

Fowler discusses how this happens in different examples through political administrations.  In today's school systems, this system doesn't just exist at the macro level but also in micro levels in school systems, where school officials have to have their hand in policy making and in the individual schools.