Exploring the space between: Social networks, trust, and urban school district leaders

Una serie de académicos han estudiado el contexto del distrito en el que se encuentran inmersos los centros educativos. Estos estudios sugieren la importancia de las oficinas municipales como apoyo o limitación del trabajo de los centros educativos ofreciendo estrategias para construir las relaciones entre los distritos y los líderes locales. Esta es una tarea importante y, sin embargo, frecuentemente se pasa por alto que las mejoras de los esfuerzos organizativos se construyen socialmente. Por ello, el análisis de las redes sociales y la confianza entre los líderes del distrito y de los centros educativos puede proporcionar una visión desde dentro respecto a los apoyos y limitaciones relacionados con la mejora. En este estudio de caso se utiliza una red social y datos sobre la confianza para explorar las mejores prácticas relacionadas con los líderes, en un distrito escolar de tamaño medio con bajo rendimiento. Los resultados sugieren unos lazos sociales de la red débiles, bajos niveles de confianza y una previsible relación entre la confianza y los intercambios recíprocos con las mejores prácticas relacionadas con la mejoraA number of scholars are exploring the district context in which schools are embedded. These studies suggest the importance of the district office as a support or constraint to the work of schools and offer strategies for building relations between district and site leaders. While this is an important task, what is frequently overlooked is that organizational improvement efforts are often socially constructed. Therefore, an analysis of social networks and trust between district and site leaders may provide additional insights into supports and constraints related to improvement. This case study uses social network and trust data to explore the underlying best practice relations between leaders in a midsize underperforming urban school district. Results suggest weak network ties, low levels of trust, and a predictive relationship between trust and the reciprocal exchange of best practices related to improvementEsta investigación ha sido apoyada por una financiación de la W.T. Grant Foundation (Grant, nº 10174

Improving low-performing schools through external assistance: Lessons from Chicago and California.

This article describes the design and implementation of external support to low-performing schools using data from Chicago and California. Using the literature on external support, instructional capacity, and policy strength, the study gathered data from interviews, observations, document review, and surveys. The findings suggest that the model of assistance employed in both Chicago and California was inadequate to the task. While the policies examined demonstrate recognition that low-performing schools need additional capacity if they are to substantially improve student outcomes, external support providers used limited and haphazard approaches, and as a result, the support component had little influence on teaching and learning. In addition, because the external supports relied on a market-like support structure with few other mechanisms to ensure quality, and because there was limited quantity (intensity) of support, the benefit that external assistance might otherwise have provided was limited. This was particularly problematic for the lowest capacity schools, many of which experienced limited change despite increased educator effort and involvement of external providers. In essence, external assistance through these school accountability policies did little to improve educator and organizational performance

Law and Order in School and Society: How Discipline and Policing Policies Harm Students of Color, and What We Can Do About It

Systemic violence and disparate school discipline policies hinder equitable, just, and safe schooling. They also restrict access to social opportunities and civil liberties. Research shows that schooling contexts and social policies set up the conditions for young people of color to experience violence in regularized, systematic, and destructive ways. This policy report centers on questions of race and disparate racial impacts. The authors draw from critical race theory (CRT) to redirect how educators might talk more productively about students’ social contexts, violence, and school discipline. They also explore how CRT might help educators consider how attempts to achieve “law and order” unfairly target students of color with a systemic form of violence that harms their ability to secure equitable, just schooling and social opportunity. The report ends with recommendations for shifting state and local policy to better reflect research evidence on the best approaches to keeping all children safe as they make their way through schools and society. A focus on state and local action becomes critical under the current federal civil rights and education policy context

A bridge between worlds: understanding network structure to understand change strategy

A number of scholars are exploring district and site relations in organizational change efforts in the larger policy context of No Child Left Behind. These studies suggest the importance of the central office as a support to the work of reform and offer strategies for building relations between district offices and sites in order to implement and sustain change efforts. What is frequently overlooked in these studies is that organizational change efforts are often socially constructed. Therefore, examining the underlying social networks may provide insight into structures that support or constrain efforts at change. This exploratory case study uses social network analysis and interviews to examine the communication and knowledge network structures of central office and site leaders in an ‘in need of improvement’ district facing sanctions under No Child Left Behind. Findings indicate sparse ties among and between school site and central office administrators, as well as a centralized network structure that may constrain the exchange of complex information and ultimately inhibit efforts at change

1. Principal leadership in low-performing schools: A closer look through the eyes of teachers. (2012)

This qualitative study of teachers in three low-performing elementary schools in Chicago reveals that transformational leadership behaviors were important to teacher motivation, affecting whether they believed that they could improve student performance as the accountability policy required. The findings suggest that principal leadership is critical to turning around low-performing schools. Implications include developing policies to hire principals with proven track records and increasing the capacity of current principals to ensure that they are able to support and motivate teachers in low-performing schools

F. Principal leadership and teacher motivation under high-stakes accountability policies. (2010)

This article examines principal leadership and teacher motivation in schools under accountability sanctions. The conceptual framework is grounded in research on expectancy theory and transformational leadership. The study involves a survey of Chicago teachers and indicates that principal instructional leadership and support for change are associated with teacher expectancy. In addition, teacher experience, advanced education, and race, as well as the school’s performance level, are associated with teacher expectancy. Finally, teacher expectancy is associated with a school’s ability to move off of probation status. These findings have important implications in the current policy context

L. Charter school autonomy: The mismatch between theory and practice. (2007)

In theory, the charter school concept is based on a trade-off or exchange: greater autonomy for increased accountability. Although charter schools have been operating for more than 10 years, little is known about charter school autonomy in practice. This mixed-methods study used survey and case study data to examine the degree of autonomy of charter schools across the country and the factors limiting school autonomy. The findings indicate that many charter schools do not have high levels of autonomy, with schools least likely to have control over budgetary decisions. In addition, school autonomy is influenced by state laws, relationships with authorizers, and partnerships with educational management organizations and community-based organizations. Finally, the levels of autonomy in some schools were dynamic, with schools experiencing less autonomy over time

1. External support to schools on probation: Getting a leg up?

In 1996, the Chicago Public Schools (CPS) began implementing a new school accountability policy designed to improve student performance by providing a combination of consequences and support to lowperforming schools. The center point of the accountability system, the Chicago school probation policy, designates schools as being “on probation” if fewer than 15% (later raised to 20%) of their students score at grade-level norms on the Iowa Test of Basic Skills in reading. When placed on probation, schools face the consequences of decreased autonomy and the threat of more severe sanctions. At the same time, probation schools receive direct assistance from several different sources through the policy’s external support system. The purpose of the support is to assist schools in strengthening their internal operations, raising expectations for students, and improving instruction so as to foster increased student achievement. This report is based on a two-year study of the design and implementation of the school probation policy in Chicago’s elementary schools. The school accountability system in Chicago has undergone changes since the end of this study as a result of new district leadership. The system now includes the use of additional assessment data and subject area tests, emphasis on progress and growth, and a focus on all schools. In spite of these changes, the assistance provided by probation managers and external partners has not changed. Therefore, the lessons learned from this study should still be relevant not only to CPS but also to other jurisdictions instituting similar policies