Get 20M+ Full-Text Papers For Less Than $1.50/day. Start a 14-Day Trial for You or Your Team.

Learn More →

Relationships in reform: the role of teachers' social networks

Relationships in reform: the role of teachers' social networks Purpose – Scholars have focused their attention on systemic reform as a way to support instructional coherence. These efforts are often layered on to existing social relationships between school staff that are rarely taken into account when enacting reform. Social network theory posits that the structure of social relationships may influence the direction, speed, and depth of organizational change and therefore may provide valuable insights in the social forces that may support or constrain reform efforts. This study aims to discuss this issue. Design/methodology/approach – This mixed‐methods exploratory case study examined five schools within one under‐performing school district as it enacted a system‐wide reform. Quantitative survey data were collected to assess social networks and teacher work perception of five schools enacting the reform. Qualitative data were gathered through individual interviews from educators within representative grade levels as a way to better understand the diffusion and implementation of the reform. Findings – Despite being enacted as a system‐wide reform effort, the results suggest significant variance within and between schools in terms of reform‐related social networks. These networks were significantly related to the uptake, depth, and spread of the change. Densely connected grade levels were also associated with more interactions focused on teaching and learning and an increased sense of grade level efficacy. Practical implications – The findings underline the importance of attending to relational linkages as a complementary strategy to the technical emphasis of reform efforts, as social networks were found to significantly facilitate or constrain reform efforts. Implications and recommendations are offered for leadership, policy and practice that may support the design and implementation of reforms, which may ultimately increase student performance. Originality/value – The study makes a unique contribution to the reform literature by drawing on social network theory as a way to understand efforts at reform. The work suggests that the informal social linkages on which reform is layered may support or constrain the depth of reform. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Journal of Educational Administration Emerald Publishing

Relationships in reform: the role of teachers' social networks

Download PDF
33 pages

Loading next page...
 
/lp/emerald-publishing/relationships-in-reform-the-role-of-teachers-social-networks-b15hgFFkGg
Publisher
Emerald Publishing
Copyright
Copyright © 2010 Emerald Group Publishing Limited. All rights reserved.
ISSN
0957-8234
DOI
10.1108/09578231011041062
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

Purpose – Scholars have focused their attention on systemic reform as a way to support instructional coherence. These efforts are often layered on to existing social relationships between school staff that are rarely taken into account when enacting reform. Social network theory posits that the structure of social relationships may influence the direction, speed, and depth of organizational change and therefore may provide valuable insights in the social forces that may support or constrain reform efforts. This study aims to discuss this issue. Design/methodology/approach – This mixed‐methods exploratory case study examined five schools within one under‐performing school district as it enacted a system‐wide reform. Quantitative survey data were collected to assess social networks and teacher work perception of five schools enacting the reform. Qualitative data were gathered through individual interviews from educators within representative grade levels as a way to better understand the diffusion and implementation of the reform. Findings – Despite being enacted as a system‐wide reform effort, the results suggest significant variance within and between schools in terms of reform‐related social networks. These networks were significantly related to the uptake, depth, and spread of the change. Densely connected grade levels were also associated with more interactions focused on teaching and learning and an increased sense of grade level efficacy. Practical implications – The findings underline the importance of attending to relational linkages as a complementary strategy to the technical emphasis of reform efforts, as social networks were found to significantly facilitate or constrain reform efforts. Implications and recommendations are offered for leadership, policy and practice that may support the design and implementation of reforms, which may ultimately increase student performance. Originality/value – The study makes a unique contribution to the reform literature by drawing on social network theory as a way to understand efforts at reform. The work suggests that the informal social linkages on which reform is layered may support or constrain the depth of reform.

Journal

Journal of Educational Administration – Emerald Publishing

Published: May 11, 2010

Keywords: Teachers; Public sector reform; Social networks; Leadership; Change management

References

  • Conflict amid community: the micropolitics of teacher collaboration
    Achinstein, B.
  • Central Office Inquiry: Assessing Organization, Roles, and Actions to Support School Improvement
    Agullard, K.; Goughnour, D.S.
  • Collaboration networks, structural holes, and innovation: a longitudinal study
    Ahuja, G.
  • The dance of influence: professional relationships evolve as teachers and administrators engage in whole school renewal
    Andrews, M.; Lewis, D.
  • The analysis of social interaction data
    Baker, F.L.; Hubert, L.J.
  • Teacher isolation and communication network analysis in primary schools
    Bakkenes, I.; De Brabander, C.; Imants, J.
  • The ties that lead: a social network approach to leadership
    Balkundi, P.; Kilduff, M.
  • Self‐efficacy: The Exercise of Control
    Bandura, A.
  • Inequality and Heterogeneity
    Blau, P.M.
  • A purposeful approach to the constant comparative method in the analysis of qualitative interviews
    Boeije, H.
  • The network paradigm in organizational research: a review and typology
    Borgatti, S.; Foster, P.
  • UCINET for Windows: Software for Social Network Analysis
    Borgatti, S.; Everett, M.; Freeman, L.
  • The forms of social capital
    Bourdieu, P.
  • A design research approach to investigating educational decision making
    Brazer, S.D.; Keller, L.R.
  • Trust in Schools: A Core Resource for School Improvement
    Bryk, A.; Schneider, B.
  • Professional community in Chicago elementary schools: facilitating factors and organizational consequences
    Bryk, A.; Camburn, E.; Seashore Louis, K.
  • Leading from the Middle: Mid‐level District Staff and Instructional Improvement
    Burch, P.; Spillane, J.
  • Structural Holes: The Structure of Competition
    Burt, R.S.
  • Cognitive inconsistencies and non‐symmetric friendship
    Carley, K.; Krackhardt, D.
  • Teachers' networks in and out of school
    Carmichael, P.; Fox, A.; McCormick, R.; Procter, R.; Honour, L.
  • Learning to Lead Together: The Promise and Challenge of Sharing Leadership
    Chrispeels, J.
  • System supports for teacher learning and school improvements
    Chrispeels, J.H.; Andrews, C.; Gonzalez, M.
  • Rethinking scale: moving beyond numbers to deep and lasting change
    Coburn, C.
  • District policy and teachers' social networks
    Coburn, C.E.; Russell, J.L.
  • Social capital in the creation of human capital
    Coleman, J.S.
  • Foundations of Social Theory
    Coleman, J.S.
  • Connecting Leadership with Learning: A Framework for Reflection, Planning and Action
    Copland, M.A.; Knapp, M.S.
  • The Hidden Power of Social Networks: Understanding How Work Really Gets Done in Organizations
    Cross, R.; Parker, A.
  • What creates energy in organizations?
    Cross, R.; Baker, W.; Parker, A.
  • A question of trust: predictive conditions for adaptive and technical leadership in educational contexts
    Daly, A.J.; Chrispeels, J.
  • Understanding network structure to understand change strategy
    Daly, A.J.; Finnigan, K.
  • Leadership and success for all
    Datnow, A.; Castellano, M.
  • Systemic Integration for Effective Reform in Racially and Linguistically Diverse Contexts
    Datnow, A.; Lasky, S.; Stringfield, S.; Teddlie, C.
  • Applications of social capital in educational literature: a critical synthesis
    Dika, S.L.; Singh, K.
  • Teachers Leading Change: Doing Research for School Improvement
    Durrant, J.; Holden, G.
  • Leadership in networked learning communities: defining the terrain
    Earl, L.; Katz, S.
  • How networked learning communities work
    Earl, L.; Katz, S.; Elgie, S.; Ben‐Jaafar, S.; Foster, L.
  • Investing in Teacher Learning: Staff Development and Instructional Improvement in Community School District #2
    Elmore, R.F.; Burney, D.
  • Social capital and the diffusion of innovations within organizations: application to the implementation of computer technology in schools
    Frank, K.A.; Zhao, Y.; Borman, K.
  • School leadership and performance: a social network approach
    Friedkin, N.; Slater, M.
  • Leadership and Sustainability: System Thinkers in Action
    Fullan, M.
  • Central Problems in Social Theory
    Giddens, A.
  • The Discovery of Grounded Theory
    Glaser, B.; Strauss, A.
  • Collective efficacy: theoretical development, empirical evidence, and future directions
    Goddard, R.D.; Hoy, W.K.; Hoy, A.
  • Collective teacher efficacy: its meaning, measure, and impact on student achievement
    Goddard, R.D.; Hoy, W.K.; Woolfolk Hoy, A.
  • Theoretical and empirical investigation of teacher collaboration for school improvement and student achievement in public elementary schools
    Goddard, Y.L.; Goddard, R.D.; Tschannen‐Moran, M.
  • The strength of weak ties
    Granovetter, M.S.
  • The strength of weak ties: a network theory revisited
    Granovetter, M.S.
  • The micro‐structure of school desegregation
    Granovetter, M.
  • Educational change in Southeast Asia. The challenge of creating learning systems
    Hallinger, P.
  • The search‐transfer problem: the role of weak ties in sharing knowledge across organization subunits
    Hansen, M.T.
  • A capital theory of school effectiveness and improvement
    Hargreaves, D.H.
  • Education Epidemic. Transforming Secondary Schools through Innovation Networks
    Hargreaves, D.H.
  • Sustainable Leadership
    Hargreaves, A.; Fink, D.
  • Tie strength and the impact of new media
    Haythornthwaite, C.
  • Rethinking school reform: the distractions of dogma and the potential for a new politics of progressive pragmatism
    Henig, J.; Stone, C.
  • School Districts and Instructional Renewal
    Hightower, A.M.; Knapp, M.S.; Marsh, J.A.; McLaughlin, M.W. (Eds)
  • Building bridges for resource acquisition: network relationships among headteachers in Ugandan private secondary schools
    Hite, J.; Rew, W.; Nsubuga, Y.
  • Multiple networks of public school administrators: an analysis of network content and structure
    Hite, J.; Williams, E.; Baugh, S.
  • The school as a professional learning community: perspectives from Tasmanian and English schools on the essentials for creating a community of learning in a school
    Hollingsworth, A.
  • Crafting coherence: how schools strategically manage multiple, external demands
    Honig, M.
  • Street‐level bureaucracy revisited: frontline district central‐office administrators as boundary spanners in education policy implementation
    Honig, M.
  • District central offices as learning organizations: how socio‐cultural and organizational learning theories elaborate district‐central‐office administrators' participation in teaching and learning improvement efforts
    Honig, M.
  • Crafting coherence: how schools strategically manage multiple, external demands
    Honig, M.; Hatch, T.
  • The past, present and future of school improvement: towards the third age
    Hopkins, D.; Reynolds, D.
  • From social ties to social capital: class differences in the relations between schools and parents network
    Horvat, E.; Weininger, E.; Laureau, A.
  • Reform as Learning
    Hubbard, L.; Mehan, H.; Stein, M.
  • Collaborative practice: a model of successful working in schools
    James, C.R.; Dunning, G.; Connolly, M.; Elliot, T.
  • Finding time for teams: student achievement grows as district support boosts collaboration
    Johnston, J.; Knight, M.; Miller, L.
  • Interpersonal Networks in Organization: Cognition, Personality, Dynamics, and Culture: Structural Analysis in the Social Sciences
    Kilduff, M.; Krackhardt, D.
  • Social Networks and Organizations
    Kilduff, M.; Tsai, W.
  • What firms do? Coordination, identity, and learning
    Kogut, B.; Zander, U.
  • Network conditions of organizational change
    Krackhardt, D.
  • Distributing leadership to make schools smarter: taking the ego out of the system
    Leithwood, K.; Mascall, B.; Strauss, T.; Sacks, R.; Memon, N.; Yashkina, A.
  • Trained for isolation: the impact of departmental cultures on student teachers' views and practices of collaboration
    Lima, J.A.
  • Social networks in teaching
    Lima, J.A.
  • Teachers' professional development in departmentalized, loosely coupled organizations: lessons for school improvement from a case study of two curriculum departments
    Lima, J.A.
  • Thinking more deeply about networks in education
    Lima, J.A.
  • Social Capital: A Theory of Social Structure and Action
    Lin, N.
  • Naturalistic Inquiry
    Lincoln, Y.; Guba, E.
  • Constructions of teacher leadership in three periods of policy and reform activism
    Little, J.W.
  • Using Data to Improve Learning for All: A Collaborative Inquiry Approach
    Love, N.
  • Network conditions for organizational change
    McGrath, C.; Krackhardt, D.
  • Contexts that Matter for Teaching and Learning
    McLaughlin, M.W.; Talbert, J.E.
  • Reforming Districts: How Districts Support School Reform
    McLaughlin, M.W.; Talbert, J.E.
  • Building School‐Based Learning Communities: Professional Strategies to Improve Student Achievement
    McLaughlin, M.W.; Talbert, J.E.
  • Local strategies for building capacity: the district role in supporting instructional reform
    Massell, D.; Goertz, M.
  • Qualitative Data Analysis
    Miles, M.B.; Huberman, M.A.
  • The role of networks in fundamental organizational change
    Mohrman, S.; Tenkasi, R.; Mohrman, A.
  • Ties with potential: social network structure and innovation in Dutch elementary schools
    Moolenaar, N.M.; Daly, A.J.; Sleegers, P.
  • A social capital perspective on professional learning communities: linking social networks and trust
    Moolenaar, N.M.; Sleegers, P.; Karsten, S.; Zijlstra, B.J.H.
  • Finders and Keepers: Helping New Teachers Survive and Thrive in Our Schools
    Moore‐Johnson, S.
  • Creating a collaborative leadership network: an organic view of change
    Mullen, C.; Kochan, F.
  • Social capital, intellectual capital, and the organizational advantage
    Nahapiet, J.; Ghoshal, S.
  • The strength of strong ties: social networks and intergroup conflict in organizations
    Nelson, R.
  • Successful School Restructuring
    Newmann, F.; Wehlage, G.
  • Qualitative Evaluation and Research Methods
    Patton, M.Q.
  • A social network approach to examining the effects of distributed leadership in schoolwide reform initiatives
    Penuel, W.R.; Frank, K.A.; Krause, A.E.
  • Analyzing teachers' professional interactions in a school as social capital: a social network approach
    Penuel, W.R.; Riel, M.R.; Krause, A.; Frank, K.A.
  • Embeddedness and immigration: notes on the social determinants of economic action
    Portes, A.; Sensenbrenner, J.
  • Making Democracy Work
    Putnam, R.D.
  • Network structure and knowledge transfer: the effects of cohesion and range
    Reagans, R.; McEvily, B.
  • Implementing change within a school science department: progressive and dissonant voices
    Rigano, D.; Ritchie, S.
  • Districts as institutional actors in educational reform
    Rorrer, A.; Skrla, L.; Scheurich, J.
  • Social Network Analysis
    Scott, J.
  • Does professional community affect the classroom? Teachers' work and student experiences in restructuring schools
    Seashore Louis, K.; Marks, H.M.
  • The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of the Learning Organization
    Senge, P.M.
  • From bureaucratic control to building human capital: the importance of teacher learning
    Smylie, M.
  • Social capital and the problem of implementation
    Smylie, M.A.; Evans, A.E.
  • The Chicago Annenberg challenge: lessons on leadership for school development
    Smylie, M.; Wenzel, S.; Fendt, C.
  • School districts matter: local educational authorities and state instructional policy
    Spillane, J.P.
  • Distributed Leadership
    Spillane, J.P.
  • Participant Observation
    Spradley, J.P.
  • Front and backstage processes of an organizational restructuring effort
    Stevenson, W.; Bartunek, J.; Borgatti, S.
  • Professional Learning Communities
    Stoll, L.; Seashore Louis, K.
  • Social networks and planned organizational change
    Tenkasi, R.; Chesmore, M.
  • Beyond Islands of Excellence: What Districts Can Do to Improve Instruction and Achievement in All Schools
    Togneri, W.; Anderson, S.E.
  • Social structure of ‘coopetition’ within a multi‐unit organization: coordination, competition, and intra‐organizational knowledge sharing
    Tsai, W.
  • Social capital and value creation: the role of intrafirm networks
    Tsai, W.; Ghoshal, S.
  • Trust Matters: Leadership for Successful Schools
    Tschannen‐Moran, M.
  • Social structure and competition in interfirm networks: the paradox of embeddedness
    Uzzi, B.
  • What goes on in a network? Some Dutch experiences
    Veugelers, W.; Zijlstra, H.
  • Social Network Analysis: Methods and Applications
    Wasserman, S.; Faust, K.
  • Communites of Practice: Learning, Meaning, and Identity
    Wenger, E.
  • Teachers' learning communities: catalyst for change or a new infrastructure for the status quo ?
    Wood, D.
  • Case Study Research: Design and Methods
    Yin, R.K.