Scripted reading curriculum and the impact on teachers’ professional identity

Poll, Melanie Sue (2023) Scripted reading curriculum and the impact on teachers’ professional identity. Doctoral thesis, Northern Arizona University.

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Abstract

This research seeks to determine the possible impact the use of mandated scripted curriculum has on veteran teachers’ professional identity. This qualitative study used an interpretivist lens and a narrative methodology. Narrative inquiry (Connelly & Clandinin, 1988) will be used to understand veteran teachers’ professional identities as teachers of reading in the primary grades and whether they are impacted by the directive to use scripted programs with fidelity when teaching reading. The participants were five teachers with a minimum of 20 years of experience teaching reading in the primary grades. Teacher agency was considered as a foundational factor in the study with interviews as the method of data collection. The data was analyzed inductively, looking to derive codes. The final themes derived from the coding process are low percentage use of prescribed curriculum, integration, agency with the subsets of professional knowledge and judgment, and differentiation. The key research findings were that veteran teachers’ practices and beliefs do not align with the mandate of using the scripted reading program, and there is a negative impact on veteran teachers’ professional identity when dictated to teach in a way they do not feel aligns with their belief system.

Item Type:	Thesis (Doctoral)
Publisher’s Statement:	© Copyright is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the Cline Library, Northern Arizona University. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author.
Keywords:	Agency; Autonomy; Elementary Education; Professional Identity; Scripted Curriculum; Teachers; Reading
Subjects:	L Education > LB Theory and practice of education > LB1501 Primary Education
NAU Depositing Author Academic Status:	Student
Department/Unit:	Graduate College > Theses and Dissertations College of Education > Teaching and Learning
Date Deposited:	28 Jul 2026 16:46
Last Modified:	28 Jul 2026 16:46
URI:	https://openknowledge.nau.edu/id/eprint/6319

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