Dashboard Lights: Monitoring Implementation of District Instructional Reform Strategies

A Third Way: The Politics of School District Takeover and Turnaround in Lawrence, Massachusetts

“…Differentiation is consistent with the contingency theory of leadership suggesting that the ideal management style varies depending on the characteristics of the organization being managed (Lawrence & Lorsch, 1967). Differentiation need not come at the expense of achieving policy coherence, a factor that appears in several studies of improved districts (e.g., Supovitz, 2006), as long as actions are aligned toward achieving coordinated objectives (Childress, Doyle, & Thomas, 2009; Chrispeels, Burke, Johnson, & Daly, 2008; Johnson et al, 2015). In fact, scholars emphasize that achieving coherence is an ongoing process in which schools work with the central office to craft a fit between individual schools’ approaches and external policy demands (Honig & Hatch, 2004).…”

“…The existing work on turnaround—or dramatic improvement—of low-performing educational organizations has tended to focus on school-level reform (e.g., Dee, 2012; Heissel & Ladd, 2016; Strunk, Marsh, Hashim, Bush-Mecenas, & Weinstein, 2016). Less is known about district-level efforts, which may be better suited to creating the conditions for long-term success (Daly & Finnigan, 2016; Hightower, Knapp, Marsh, & McLaughlin, 2002; Johnson et al, 2015; Supovitz, 2006). The research that has examined districtwide reforms has focused on the effects on student achievement (e.g., Gill, Zimmer, Christman, & Blanc, 2007; Harris & Larsen, 2016; Zimmer, Henry, & Kho, 2017), teacher and school capacity (Rice & Malen, 2003, 2010), identifying cases for qualitative study (e.g., Bowers, 2015), understanding the central office’s role (e.g., Honig, 2003; Rorrer, Skrla, & Scheurich, 2008), uncovering implementation strategies associated with improved academic outcomes (e.g., Coburn, Toure, & Yamashita, 2009; Honig, 2008, 2009; Honig & Coburn, 2008; Strunk et al, 2016), and describing the practices of high-performing districts (Bowers, 2008; Corcoran, Peck, & Reitzug, 2013; Kirp, 2013; Murphy, 2008; Murphy & Meyers, 2007, O’Day, Bitter, & Gomez, 2011).…”

Research on Data Use: A Framework and Analysis

“…Tools intended to foster data use include protocols for examining data, software systems that organize and create reports of data (e.g., Quality School Portfolio [Chen, Heritage, & Lee, 2005] or Grow Reports ), new formative assessments, processes for collecting and analyzing observational data, (e.g., the LearningWalk from the Institute for Learning [Ikemoto & Honig, 2010] or the Snapshot in Duval County [Supovitz & Weathers, 2004]), among others. There are also targeted supports for data use, including the development of data coaches or facilitators (Marsh, McCombs, & Martorell, 2009).…”

“…These studies suggest that organizational change can result when groups or individuals engage in an iterative process of noticing, interpreting, and constructing implications for action in the context of data routines. When organized strategically, data use conversations, and the incremental decisions that result, can add up to substantial changes in policy, the organization of work, and work practices themselves (Honig, 2008;Honig et al, 2010;Supovitz, 2006;Supovitz & Weathers, 2004). For example, Honig and colleagues' study of 3 reforming school districts (2010) shows that central office leaders' ongoing data routines were central to their ability to transform the way Downloaded by [University of Nebraska, Lincoln] at 17:56 31 May 2016 central office work was organized.…”

Under What Conditions Do School Districts Learn From External Partners? The Role of Absorptive Capacity

“…If a department were to integrate ideas from a partner into a new initiative, we would consider this to be learning. Likewise, changes in district routines —that is, the patterned ways actors in the central office interact with one another or with schools (Feldman & Pentland, 2003)—also indicate organizational learning, as when a partner’s ideas are incorporated into PD sessions (Supovitz, 2006; Supovitz & Weathers, 2004). Organizational learning can also occur when a district shifts the structure of its routines, such as adopting a partner’s routine for school walk-throughs (Ikemoto & Honig, 2010).…”