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Zheng, Yunzheng; Shen, Jianping; Reeves, Patricia
2024 Journal of Educational Administration
In this manuscript, we aimed to (1) illustrate the differences in school–university partnership under the school reform and renewal models and (2) describe the practice of and learning about school–university partnership by reflecting on the three large, federally funded projects, all conducted under the school renewal model.Design/methodology/approachWe used archival data from the three large, federally funded projects, synthesized our research related to school–university partnerships and developed themes for actions and learnings related to the topic of school–university partnerships.FindingsThe school–university partnerships under the school renewal model are different from that under the school reform model. School–university partnership under the school renewal model is associated with positive results for schools and the university. There are clear themes for the actions and learning in the school–university partnership under the school renewal model.Originality/valueIt is original to study school–university partnerships in the context of the school renewal model.
Hashim, Ayesha; Davison, Miles; Morton, Emily; Leak, James; Wright, J. Clark; Dizon-Ross, Elise; Stephens, Sonya; Hamilton, Kara
2024 Journal of Educational Administration
The Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) requires districts to deliver “evidence-based interventions” to students impacted by the pandemic. The policy has created a unique opportunity for researchers and practitioners to engage with evidence to learn how recovery interventions work and under what conditions.Design/methodology/approachThis study is part of a research-practice partnership (RPP) between Guilford County Schools, AIR-CALDER, Harvard University and NWEA to understand the impacts and implementation of ESSER-funded recovery programs. We use a case analysis approach and frameworks of evidence-use and RPPs to explain how researchers and Guilford leaders engage with evidence to improve and evaluate programs.FindingsThe RPP used evidence to inform Guilford leaders’ recovery approaches and strengthened researchers’ evaluations of programs. Conditions that enabled evidence engagement included the RPP’s goals, research activities and collaborative conditions such as boundary spanning activities, team meetings, relationships and trust. We also observed factors that hindered evidence engagement, including the RPP’s nascent stage, structure and breadth of goals, rapid policy timelines and other organizational conditions in Guilford.Originality/valueGiven the complexities of pandemic recovery, RPPs can help researchers evaluate programs in their local context, and present evidence in ways that are actionable to guide decision-making. District leaders can play a valuable role in co-designing research studies attuned to local priorities and context and facilitating research participation among internal stakeholders. However, newly formed RPPs with broad goals for impact will need more time and resources to build an improvement infrastructure for sustaining pandemic recovery.
Madrid Miranda, Romina; Glas, Katharina; Chapman, Christopher
2024 Journal of Educational Administration
The literature highlights the disconnection between university-based teacher education and field experiences as a significant barrier to student teacher preparation. To address this gap, the Research Teams (RTs) programme promotes a Networked Learning System (NLS), focusing on boundary-crossing work, inquiry and critical reflection to generate knowledge. This paper examines the emergence of relational and collective agency within this collaboration, linking school and university knowledge to enhance professional learning and drive teaching innovation.Design/methodology/approachEmploying an exploratory qualitative design, data collection includes advising team notes, reflective session materials, interviews and focus groups. Qualitative content and discourse analysis were utilised.FindingsFindings reveal how RTs promote relational agency among university tutors, school staff and preservice teachers and collective agency in the context of collaborative research. The pandemic presents both social interaction opportunities and challenges.Originality/valueThe relevance of this study lies in the necessity to advance knowledge regarding the development of collaborative learning systems that encourage cross-institutional relationships, allowing for the creation and flow of knowledge. It highlights the role and development of collective and relational agency in fostering the development of a NLS. It also raises questions about the challenges and investments needed to sustain and scale collaborative research models that cross professional and institutional values and beliefs within schools and universities.
Viano, Samantha; Yurkofsky, Maxwell M.
2024 Journal of Educational Administration
Improvement science (IS) has become a popular approach to organizing school–university partnerships because of IS’s potential to increase schools' capacity for sustainable improvement. However, little research has directly examined whether and how specific elements of IS support school improvement, particularly during and post-COVID-19 when improvement was particularly challenging.Design/methodology/approachWe draw on a longitudinal case study of a school-university partnership supporting a group of schools using IS to guide school improvement with data collected in Fall 2019–Spring 2022 including interviews and meeting observations. We compare how educators engaged with three IS elements: plan-do-study-act (PDSA) continuous improvement (CI) cycles, networked learning and driver diagrams. We qualitatively examine participants' perspectives of these elements through the lens of contingency theory, analyzing which elements were more or less successful at empowering schools to continue their improvement efforts throughout the pandemic.FindingsIS processes are varied in their resilience to complexity. Schools mostly abandoned some elements during tumultuous periods (PDSA cycles) while others were successfully adapted to sustain improvement work (driver diagrams). Findings also discuss the perceived impact of university partners in school improvement work, primarily as coaches.Originality/valueThese findings are uniquely positioned to examine whether and how IS elements enabled sustained school improvement amidst the complexities generated by COVID-19. By focusing on strengths and limitations of three common elements, we offer valuable guidance to school–university partnerships about the conditions under which these elements might support sustained school improvement and how these elements might need to be adapted.
Lowenhaupt, Rebecca; Hegseth, Whitney; Oliveira, Gabrielle; Lai, Betty
2024 Journal of Educational Administration
This paper presents a case study of a school district–university partnership to co-design a Children’s Cabinet, a cross-sector initiative bringing together institutional and community leaders to address youth well-being in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic. In a vibrant, immigrant-serving community in the Northeast United States, the partnership was initiated by district leaders in Spring 2021 after pandemic disruptions led to a youth mental health crisis.Design/methodology/approachOur descriptive, qualitative case study focuses on the structure and emerging design principles of the research–practice partnership, which established a Children’s Cabinet comprised of educational, government and community leaders along with researchers. From Spring 2021 through Spring 2024, we collected and analyzed member and youth interviews, ethnographic observations and artifacts from all meetings and process interviews with key partners.FindingsWe describe the structure of the partnership, including how researchers and district leaders collaborated on meeting facilitation and how researchers conducted and shared applied research. We then discuss three design principles that guided the work, including centering relationships, sustaining focus on key goals and embedding applied research.Originality/valueAs embedded research partners, our team is uniquely situated to narrate the nature and structure of the partnership and reflect on the design of our cross-sector initiative. Increasingly, universities are partnering directly with districts on school improvement initiatives. Our work shows how engaging in RPPs to bring together school, community and research partners can facilitate local leadership and collaboration to address complex, cross-sector goals such as increasing youth well-being.
2024 Journal of Educational Administration
This study examines the impact of a novel co-teaching approach, involving collaboration between university instructors and school teachers, on pre-service teachers’ (PSTs) understanding of classroom management skills, addressing the practical challenges that often exceed the university classroom’s scope.Design/methodology/approachUsing a pooled cross-sectional dataset of 513 students from a Chinese teacher training university, the study employed descriptive statistics, factor analysis and ordinary least squares (OLS) regression analysis. Focus group interviews were also conducted to explore the mechanisms underlying the co-teaching impact.FindingsThe co-teaching team effectively integrates theory with practice, enhancing student engagement and learning outcomes. Most students appreciated the co-teaching format, which positively correlated with their recognition of classroom management and the teaching profession. The success of co-teaching was linked to the authenticity brought by school teachers, including exposure to real-life cases that encouraged PSTs to actively solve educational problems.Practical implicationsPre-service teacher education benefits from university-school collaboration. Inviting experienced school teachers to co-teach in university classrooms offers an efficient instructional approach, improving students’ learning experiences with less time and effort.Originality/valueThis study empirically demonstrates the utility of co-teaching in pre-service teacher education, particularly within China, enriching the literature on school-university partnerships.
Bryant, Darren A.; Ho, Chun Sing Maxwell; Lu, Jiafang; Wong, Yiu Lun Leo
2024 Journal of Educational Administration
This study addresses a gap in the knowledge on how longitudinal engagement in a school improvement initiative influences change in middle leaders’ (MLs') interactions and assesses how school–university partnerships around school improvement can support teachers with formal leadership roles (i.e. MLs’) leadership development.Design/methodology/approachUsing a two-year longitudinal research design, university staff facilitated middle leadership training in a school-defined improvement initiative on lesson study. Results from a pre-test followed by two post-tests administered at one-year intervals were collected on social networks. Analyses examined changes in indegree and brokerage patterns among groupings of senior leaders (SL), subject leaders, cross-school specialists and teachers.FindingsAccounting for staffing changes, 27 of 67 staff members participated in each survey, yielding 1,623 distinct ties connecting school members. Over the first year, advice-seeking increased by 225%. SLs’ initial propensity to consult peers shifted towards MLs and teachers. Subject leaders advising other leaders and teachers increased tenfold. Teachers’ peer-to-peer consultation increased by 2,000%. Specialists with school-wide responsibilities became the dominant group for advising other leaders, such as SLs and subject leaders. These shifts were sustained over the second year.Originality/valueThe study demonstrates that engagement in the school–university partnership support and the corresponding structural changes stimulated robust cross-school dialogue among teachers and various leaders. Brokerage patterns indicated an enhanced role for MLs in driving the school-defined improvement initiative which corresponded to university-designed development activities.
Henry, Wesley L. C.; VanGronigen, Bryan A.; Wronowski, Meredith L.
2024 Journal of Educational Administration
This study investigated a teacher leadership program created by a partnership between a large US urban district, their teachers’ union and a university. We were part of an action-research partnership that examined the program’s implementation.Design/methodology/approachWe employed a hermeneutic phenomenology methodology and mixed-method data collection methods and analysis strategies to understand the experiences of program participants. Data included interviews with program participants, union leaders and district administrators along with an analysis of projects that participants created during the program.FindingsTeacher leadership programs were legitimized through diverse stakeholder collaboration, and involvement of a university partner was viewed as a value-add for teachers. Formalized teacher leadership programs professionalize teachers through expanding professional networks, developing leadership skills and lifting teachers’ voices. When teacher leader work is directed towards school improvement, teachers’ unique perspectives yield varied problems of practice and goals in ways that help schools address these problems.Practical implicationsThis study has implications for districts seeking to create teacher leadership opportunities and for districts and universities seeking to partner for in-service professional learning opportunities.Originality/valueThis study underscores the role effective district-union-university partnerships can play in fostering pipelines for teacher leader development, which can better position school improvement efforts to be sustained over time.
Neumerski, Christine M.; Yurkofsky, Maxwell M.
2024 Journal of Educational Administration
The purpose of this study is to examine dilemmas in a district–university partnership that used network improvement communities (NIC) as a levers for systems change after COVID-19.Design/methodology/approachWe draw on observations and in-depth, semi-structured interviews to understand the benefits and limitations of using network improvement communities embedded within a longstanding district–university partnership to address problems of practice.FindingsFive dilemmas that emerged: (1) the need to continue the pilot roll-out of the NIC while still communicating a vision of the long-term, large-scale vision of NIC work, (2) center collaborative inquiry while still moving at a fast enough pace for participants to see progress, (3) include those most involved in the work while still having efficient decision making processes, (4) respect the knowledge and agency of participants while still supporting rigorous and impactful change and (5) honor the work the district is already engaged in while still extending beyond existing initiatives.Originality/valueWe conclude that the work of leading network improvement communities as part of a district–university partnership is complex. We add to the emerging research on NIC hub leadership by highlighting the dilemmas that must be managed in this work.
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