Walter Doyle

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• Janssen, F., Westbroek, H., Doyle, W., & Driel, J. V. (2013). How to make innovations practical. Teachers College Record, 115(7).
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  Abstract: Background/Context: A fundamental tension has long existed between school reform proposals and actual teaching practice. Despite a large literature on teacher change, the discontinuity between innovation and practice continues and many attempts to reform teaching fail to be enacted in most classrooms. Purpose/Objective/Research Question/Focus of Study: The purpose of this paper is to present a bridging methodology for connecting pedagogical innovations to the practical demands of teaching. The methodology is framed within practicality theory, which is an ecologically grounded analysis of the design issues and constraints that practitioners face in the everyday work of teaching. To conduct lessons, teachers must construct procedures (instrumentality) that fit circumstances (congruence) within available time and resources (cost). Underlying these practicality dimensions is a set of reasoning processes that can be understood from the perspective of three strands of research on bounded rationality-goal systems, heuristics, and evolutionary planning. Intervention/Program/Practice: The analysis of teacher practical reasoning provides a design foundation for a bridging methodology consisting of (a) construction of a heuristic goal system (HGS) representation of the hierarchy of goals and heuristic means that underlie a teacher's planning decisions with respect to lesson segments used to carry out instruction; and (b) a teaching impact analysis (TIA) that connects an innovation's lesson structure to a teacher's heuristic goal system and shows how a teacher can adapt his/her current practice to achieve increased expected value (i.e., an improvement). Research Design: This study was designed as an analytical essay that theorizes teaching practice, teacher reasoning, and a bridging methodology for connecting teaching practice with specific educational innovations. Cases of an experienced biology teacher and of 11 student teachers are presented that demonstrate the nature of this bridging methodology and variations in its use in particular circumstances. Conclusions/Recommendations: The bridging framework provides a practical tool for identifying the action-guiding model of a teacher, the connection of this model to the precise components of an innovation, and the recombination or adaptations a teacher can make to achieve personal goals through an innovation. Although further studies are needed, this framework promises to furnish a powerful tool for making innovations practical. © by Teachers College, Columbia University.
• Osher, D., Bear, G. G., Sprague, J. R., & Doyle, W. (2010). How can we improve school discipline?. Educational Researcher, 39(1), 48-58.
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  Abstract: School discipline addresses schoolwide, classroom, and individual student needs through broad prevention, targeted intervention, and development of self-discipline. Schools often respond to disruptive students with exclusionary and punitive approaches that have limited value. This article surveys three approaches to improving school discipline practices and student behavior: ecological approaches to classroom management; schoolwide positive behavioral supports; and social and emotional learning. The article examines their epistemological and empirical roots and supporting research, suggesting ways to combine approaches. © 2010 AERA.
• Doyle, W. (2009). Situated practice: A reflection on person-centered classroom management. Theory into Practice, 48(2), 156-159.
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  Abstract: This article provides a situated perspective on the person-centered classroom management practices described in this issue, in order to highlight the special contribution these practices make to sustaining meaningful student engagement in classroom activity. Building on Paul Gump's efforts to conceptualize the classroom environment, the discussion focuses especially on understanding the programs of action embedded in activities as central elements in establishing and sustaining productive classroom order. Because these action systems are jointly constructed by teachers and students, person-centered practices have enormous power for engaging students in classroom events. © The College of Education and Human Ecology, The Ohio State University.
• Doyle, W., & Carter, K. (2003). Narrative and learning to teach: Implications for teacher-education curriculum. Journal of Curriculum Studies, 35(2), 129-137.
• Doyle, W. (1997). Heard any really good stories lately? A critique of the critics of narrative in educational research. Teaching and Teacher Education, 13(1), 93-99.
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  Abstract: In this paper I examine the problems of "truth" in the use of narratives to study teaching. The analysis focuses on the themes of universality and control that have dominated the study of teaching and conceptions of the relationship between research and social policy. I argue (1) that teaching can only be known through story; (2) that story gives rise to provisional models that teachers can use to address local situations; and (3) that policy is a storied process grounded in the cherished narratives of a society and, thus, story is central to fostering school improvement. Copyright © 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.
• Morgan-Fleming, B., & Doyle, W. (1997). Children's interpretations of curriculum events. Teaching and Teacher Education, 13(5), 499-511.
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  Abstract: The purpose of the project reported in this paper was to explore the nature of children's everyday interpretations of curriculum events in classrooms and the potential impact of these interpretations on their evolving understandings of subject matter. The particular focus of this study was on how students in a fourth-grade class interpret curriculum events, especially those involving mathematics. To establish a framework for examining the experienced curriculum, we drew on four lines of inquiry: (a) subject matter learning; (b) everyday representations of mathematical concepts; (c) knowledge production processes in classrooms; and (d) children's event structured knowledge. The domains of research surveyed above underscored for us (a) the importance of interpretation in the acquisition of knowledge, (b) the role of everyday understandings in this interpretative process, (c) the significance of children's immediate experiences with curriculum in a classroom, and (d) the potential influence of broad event frames in children's interpretation of curriculum. Within these perspectives, then, the observations and analysis were focused on children's interpretations of curriculum events, with special attention to their interpretations of events involving mathematics. © 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.
• Doyle, W., & Carter, K. (1996). Educational psychology and the education of teachers: A reaction. Educational Psychologist, 31(1), 23-28.
• Doyle, W., & Ponder, G. A. (1977). The practicality ethic in teacher decision-making. Interchange, 8(3), 1-12.
• Doyle, W., & Redwine, J. M. (1974). Effect of intent-action discrepancy and student performance feedback on teacher behavior change. Journal of Educational Psychology, 66(5), 750-755.
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  Abstract: Studied the influence of 2 types of verbal feedback on changes in teacher perceptions and behavior. The experiment was conducted in a microteaching-type laboratory setting in which 36 experienced junior high school teachers taught the same content to 2 groups. Feedback between sessions consisted of information about (a) discrepancy between stated intent (S's estimate of how he or she would teach) and observed behavior and (b) student learning outcomes. Teacher behavior was coded using interaction analysis categories. Feedback treatments were associated with significant changes in teacher intent. No significant effects were observed for teacher behavior or for the interaction of treatments. (15 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved). © 1974 American Psychological Association.