Nine years on: Examining implementation of the national geography standards

Implementation of Geography for Life: The National Geography Standards, has met with mixed success. The purpose of this paper is to explore the factors influencing this innovation adoption process. A framework of external and internal factors that influence how teachers come to understand and incorporate the form and function of educational reform initiatives guides the research. Four external factors (authority, power, prescriptiveness, and consistency) influence teachers' decisions to implement educational innovation. Internal cognitive issues of teachers' misconceptions, perceptions, prior knowledge and experiences play a role in how they come to interpret and understand the nature (form) and intent (function) of an innovative educational reform such as the introduction of subject matter standards. A case study of three educators' approaches to teaching a unit of instruction is used to measure teacher understanding of the form and function of the Standards and the factors that influence implementation.