Improvement Leadership Education and Development (iLEAD) Research-Practice Preparation Partnership: University of Denver and Denver Public Schools

• In Event: 64.025 - Problem-Focused and Place-Based Leadership Development: The Improvement Leadership Education and Development (iLEAD) Research-Practice Preparation Partnership

Abstract

The Educational Leadership and Policy Studies (ELPS) at the University of Denver (DU) and Denver Public Schools (DPS) are engaged in a research-practice partnership to support leadership teams in DPS schools in priority improvement/turnaround status utilize improvement science to accelerate improvement efforts leading to increased outcomes for students. This professional development program, Leading the Way, engages small multi-role and multi-level teams from schools that are in the district’s “Intensive” and “Strategic” tier and under significant pressure for urgent change. This program provides structure and supports to help these schools make improvements and learn sustainable patterns of behavior to engage in quick cycles of improvement. The goal of the Leading the Way program is to enhance the capacity of leaders and school advocates to build sustainable structures through Design Thinking and Improvement Science to:

-Engage in quick cycles of improvement to build new patterns of behavior, increase momentum, and alter trajectory;
-Accentuate schools’ assets and unleash latent capacity; and
-Foster networked improvement communities.

Data

Through Leading the Way, DU faculty provide content and strategies and coach school leaders to apply these strategies in their school contexts. The first cohort of 12 schools completed this professional development and a second cohort of 9 schools was launched in June 2019. DU faculty and DPS leaders are engaged in a collaborative case study to study the impact of the Leading the Way program and inform improvements for the second cohort. Data include interviews of faculty, district leaders, and participants; documentation of professional development and school products (protocols, agendas, action and communication plans, prototypes, implementation measures), and school performance data (demographic data, indicators of student engagement, student achievement data, school performance data, and surveys).

Intended Outcomes

iLEAD is helping both institutions refine processes and build enhanced knowledge of Improvement Science to support schools and leaders increase outcomes for students and build leadership capacity to create and sustain productive system level change. Both DU and DPS are in the “small change implementation” and “integrating IS/NICs in the core work” stages in most of the areas on the iLEAD Developmental Progressions framework, and collaborations within iLEAD provide momentum to progress to the “institutionalization” stage. DU has made a commitment to improvement science as a signature pedagogy and 100% of DU ELPS faculty members utilize improvement science in their coursework. All faculty members both teach improvement science and also serve as coaches for the Leading the Way. DPS is anchoring all current improvement efforts in improvement science, and principal supervisors and district leaders are also engaged in these efforts. Both institutions are committed to making improvement science part of the DNA of leadership preparation and practice. This aligned framework will support both aspiring and practicing school and district leaders.

Both institutions identify that improvement science as a critical lever to provide a common language, build shared understanding, and build coherence across the preparation and practice of school leaders. The DU/DPS RPP provides a case example of how improvement science can support reciprocity for leadership development and research.

Authors

• Susan Korach, University of Denver

• Manuelito Biag, Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching