Educational Turbulence: The Influence of Macro and Micro-Policy on Science Education Reform Carla C. Johnson Published online: 18 January 2013 Ó The Association for Science Teacher Education, USA 2013 Abstract Enactment of federal educational policy has direct implications for states and local school districts across the nation, particularly in the areas of accountability and funding. This study utilized constructivist grounded theory to examine the impact of policy on science education reform in a large, urban school district over a 5-year period. The existence and interaction between macro and micro, and explicit and implicit policies created educational turbulence. Findings further extend upon Fullan’s (Change theory: a force for school improvement, 2006) change theory adding high-stakes accountability as a prevalent distractor issue and the need for quad-level, rather than tri-level engagement in reform. Suggestions for addressing educational turbulence are provided. Keywords Policy Á Accountability Á Reform Introduction As we anxiously seek to remedy the broken U.S. educational system, our children and teachers live in the aftermath of educational turbulence. In an attempt to generate reform, federal legislation has mandated higher standards and increased accountability for states to implement in reading and mathematics. Unfortunately, this resulted in fifty versions of academic standards and low-quality assessments created on a shoestring budget. As a result, state-level administration of woefully under resourced policy has created a climate of disarray that must be addressed for science reform to be realized. Educational turbulence is the ‘‘interplay of external variables that directly influence school reform’’ (p. xv) including, primarily, the enactment of macro and micro-educational policy (Johnson 2011a). C. C. Johnson (&) University of Cincinnati, PO Box 210022, Cincinnati, OH 45221, USA e-mail: johnsc2@UCMAIL.UC.EDU; carla.johnson@uc.edu 123 J Sci Teacher Educ (2013) 24:693–715 DOI 10.1007/s10972-012-9333-9