Reforming Philadelphia’s Schools From the Outside In: Lessons From a Research Practicum on Civic Capacity

• In Event: Imagine a School: How Researchers Can Support Community-Based Groups’ Visions for Philadelphia Public Schools

Abstract

Objective
The goal of the paper is to explain the opportunities that research workshops on civic capacity may provide to community organizations and universities engaged in K-12 education reform. The empirical case is a University of Pennsylvania research practicum on local efforts to reform Philadelphia schools.

Theory
In education, as the professional authority of school boards and superintendents diminishes (Wirt & Kirst, 2005), community organizations including nonprofit advocacy groups, youth centers, and faith-based organizations are increasingly prominent political actors. This phenomenon is best exemplified by studies of civic capacity and its impact on urban school reform. Civic capacity refers to the extent to which public and private sector actors create and maintain broad-based, durable alliances that facilitate the identification and pursuit of common goals (Stone et al., 2001; Clarke et al., 2006; Briggs, 2008). Work on civic capacity reminds us that while school districts are part of an interrelated network of government institutions, they are not controlled entirely by public officials and bureaucrats. Beyond what happens in the classroom, school, and district, the capacity for effective and sustained reform is contingent on a wide array of committed private actors.

Case Overview: A Research Practicum on Civic Capacity
The paper will explore a spring 2014 research practicum on civic capacity open to University of Pennsylvania undergraduate and graduate students with an interest in urban education, civil society, and public policy. Students are tasked with developing (in working groups) narrow, researchable, policy-relevant questions related to local neighborhoods and their schools (e.g., What strategies generate effective faith-based collective action in response to threat of school closure?). Over the course of the semester, working groups are responsible for collecting and analyzing data. The instructor (a former community organizer and policy analyst) and graduate assistant (a doctoral student with professional experience in the School District of Philadelphia) are responsible for providing ongoing research mentorship and connections to sources of support. The goal is for the practicum to serve as a platform for launching new community-based school reform initiatives in Philadelphia neighborhoods and schools.

Methods
Action Research
This research practicum provides a unique opportunity for “systematic, intentional, and self-critical inquiry” into the opportunities (and challenges) of student research designed to support community based efforts at school reform (Cochran-Smith & Lytle, 1999, p. 22). Data will be drawn from the following sources: (1) instructor and graduate teaching assistant journals, (2) samples of student work, and (3) interviews and evaluations with site partners. Several rounds of a semi-iterative process of data analysis are anticipated.

Significance
Rather than the generalized and disconnected investigations into the nature of school reform that is typically offered in graduate schools of education, this research practicum is specific to Philadelphia, its neighborhoods, and its schools, and has the potential to inform policy alternatives that address present-day issues in education. Thus, the knowledge produced from an inquiry of the practicum has the potential contribute to a broader understanding of the ways student research produced through university-sponsored coursework can support community-based visions of public school reform.

Author

• Rand Quinn, University of Pennsylvania