Reckoning With the Chaos of School Improvement: External (University) Support for School Level Change Agents

• In Event: Leveraging University/School Partnerships in School Improvement

Abstract

This study examined individual and school level factors that advance and suppress the traits of high performing schools. Based on action plans and reflective journals of 28 school-level, practitioner change agents, researchers tracked progress of each practitioner based on participation in a University-based school improvement institute. Findings: 1) factors that advanced high performance traits tended to involve cultivation of intellectual dispositions; 2) change agency did not align with positional authority; 3) The greater the number of change agents within the system, the greater the possibility of school improvement; 4) Universities are well positioned to cultivate intellectual dispositions associated with school improvement; 5) Change agents in school environments that suppress change should be developed given the high rate of leadership turnover.

Authors

• James H. Nehring, University of Massachusetts - Lowell

• Ellen J. O'Brien, University of Massachusetts - Lowell