Collective Sensemaking During State-Mandated Dev-Ed Reforms: Variation in Policy Signals and Collective Deliberations Across Actors’ Role Responsibilities

Abstract

States and colleges nationwide are adopting corequisite reforms, where students concurrently enroll in developmental and college-level coursework. Leveraging the concept of collective sensemaking and interviews with 54 actors at 16 community colleges implementing a statewide corequisite mandate, we examine the policy signals actors received, how personnel in different roles interacted to create an implementation plan, and how institutional supports and constraints shaped collective responses to policy. We find that actors within the same institutions—and even the same position—received different types of policy signals, often shaped by gatekeeping behavior among administrators over which actors should inhabit core implementation roles. Actors with peripheral roles were detached from the early deliberation of policy signals, minimizing their influence over implementation.

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