Formulating Partnership Policies for Improvement? The Role of School-Partner Network Characteristics in Student Outcomes

• In Event: Social Policy and Education Poster Session: Networks, Partnerships, and Data

Abstract

School improvement efforts increasingly focus on the interconnected set of organizations in schools’ external environments. Popular policy initiatives such as Network Improvement Communities and Collective Impact suggest better outcomes are related to relationship characteristics. This study leverages broader research on interorganizational relationships and social networks to examine how different relationship characteristics among schools’ partners might explain how external organizations play a role in student outcomes. Using mixed-methods data, we examine this question for New York City high school partnerships from the 2001–2002 to 2004–2005 school year. The findings propose three key mechanisms by which school partnerships can matter: the length of partnerships, concentration of partners in an industry, and overlapping ties among partners.

Authors

• Ebony N. Bridwell-Mitchell, Harvard University

• James Jack, Harvard University

• Joshua Childs, The University of Texas at Austin