Annenberg external partners accumulated substantial experience working with schools but were not particularly successful in promoting improvement across the large number of schools they served¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study (2 entries) · qualitative r2–r3 · q2
Currency · newest study 2004 · checked against its sources 2026-10-20 (automated, 2 of 2 entries) · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q2 i? As a group of 45 partners across six years, Annenberg external partners accumulated some 210 years of experience working with schools to help them improve. → Karin Sconzert 2004 q2 i? The Research Project's other reports indicate that as a whole Annenberg's external partners were not particularly successful in promoting improvement across the large number of schools. → Karin Sconzert 2004 (2)

Evidence¶

Karin Sconzert 2004¶

Karin Sconzert, Mark A. Smylie, & Stacy A. Wenzel. (2004). Working for School Improvement: Reflections of Chicago Annenberg External Partners. Consortium on Chicago School Research. https://consortium.uchicago.edu/publications/working-school-improvement-reflections-chicago-annenberg-external-partners

q2 · i? · qualitative · r3

Multi-year qualitative study sampling 19 external partners interviewed in 1997, 1999, and 2001. The report notes the sample accumulated "some 210 years of experience working with schools to help them improve."

"As a group of 45, across the six years of the Challenge, Annenberg partners accumulated some 210 years of experience working with schools to help them improve."

Karin Sconzert 2004 (2)¶

Karin Sconzert, Mark A. Smylie, & Stacy A. Wenzel. (2004). Working for School Improvement: Reflections of Chicago Annenberg External Partners. Consortium on Chicago School Research. https://consortium.uchicago.edu/publications/working-school-improvement-reflections-chicago-annenberg-external-partners

q2 · i? · qualitative · r2

The report attributes the overall null pattern to other reports of the Chicago Annenberg Research Project, not to its own outcome analysis; it treats the partners' experiences as instructive despite limited success.

"While these other reports indicate that as a whole Annenberg’s external partners were not particularly successful in promoting improvement across the large number of schools, it is nevertheless instructive to look to them to learn from their experiences"

Discussion¶

Related Claims¶

• Annenberg external partners were organizationally diverse, and a majority focused their work on curriculum and instruction — related
• Most Annenberg partners found the Challenge's twice-yearly written reporting requirements burdensome and detrimental to their work with schools — related
• High-stakes testing pushed some Chicago schools toward test preparation and away from partners' long-term instructional improvement efforts — related
• Improving schools secured external resources aligned with a development agenda and employed them strategically, and cultivated strong distributive leadership with a make-or-break principal role — related
• Many Annenberg schools had weak human and social resources, including low trust among teachers, limiting their capacity for school development — related
• Initial improvements in Annenberg schools' organizational capacity by 1999 largely disappeared by 2001, leaving little net change — related
• External partners' influence is necessarily limited by their minor role in schools' attention and activity — related