Informal social learning networks as the coordinating mechanism of systemwide improvement¶

Theory · All theories
Evidence · 1 claim (1 for) · 1 study (1 review), q2 · 0 of 1 report an effect size · 1 claim rests on one study

Description¶

The book proposes that coherence in Chicago's district reform did not come from formal mandates alone but from informal social learning networks operating across the system. The overview states that the authors "detail how informal social learning networks functioned as the invisible hand lending coordination and coherence to improvement efforts over time." The framework treats learning among educators, leaders, and civic actors as the connective tissue that made coherent systemwide change emerge "amidst the cacophony that typically characterizes school district reforms."

Design Implications¶

Context¶

Requirements¶

• Sustained improvement efforts over time across varied local school communities and supporting organizations

Constraints¶

• The account is specific to Chicago's decades-long reform context as described in the overview

Target Learners¶

• school leaders
• teachers
• district system leaders

Target Learning Objectives¶

• organizational learning for systemwide instructional improvement
• coordination of reform efforts

Claims¶

• An innovation foreign to the rest of its system tends to be rejected; lasting change needs a coordinated bundle of innovations. [+W]

Related Theories¶

• CCSR theory of action: research builds capacity by supporting the search for solutions
• Five Essential Supports for School Improvement (5Es) framework
• Five Chicago school turnaround reform models mapped to four federal intervention models
• Chicago's three-pronged theory of change: classroom instruction, schools as the unit of change, and differentiated district support
• Competing theories of action for school change in Chicago: business-oriented, teaching-and-learning, community-dialogue/equity, and parental-control views
• Three-theme characterization of innovative interdisciplinary exploratory research: new frontiers, equitable co-design, and networked communities

Examples¶

• System leaders partner with external organizations to re-envision central office support for a system of schools
• Extend systemic reform deeply into central district operations such as budgeting, finance, human resources, and facilities

Key Sources¶

• How a City Learned to Improve its Schools. (1987). Harvard Education Publishing Group. https://www.hepg.org