Exploring Absorptive Capacity in Networked Improvement Communities

• In Event: Marriott Roundtable Session 12
  In Roundtable Session: Organizational Learning and Improvement

Abstract

Persistent disparities in learning outcomes and opportunities among students from different racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic groups have compelled an expanding number of educators to form networked improvement communities (NICs) – a type of research-practice partnership that brings together researchers and organizational stakeholders in structured collaboration to address shared problems of practice. In this paper, we examine how the distinct structure, role groups, and routines of NICs can positively influence the absorptive capacity of educational systems. We contend that for researchers, practitioners, and community stakeholders to remedy longstanding educational inequities, they require a collaborative structure that augments absorptive capacity: one that enables trust-building, goal interdependence, shared learning, and bolsters the ability of districts and schools to develop and mobilize knowledge for continuous improvement.

Authors

• Manuelito Biag, Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching

• Jon Norman, Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching