The Promise of Networked Learning: Results From a Two-Year Evaluation of Networks for School Improvement

• In Event: Varied Perspectives on Educational Change

Abstract

Improvement networks promise to address complex educational problems by coordinating the activity of diverse actors to produce and proliferate changes that address the roots of stubborn educational inequities (Bryk, et. al 2013; Park, Hironaka, Carver, & Nordstrum, 2013). Using data from an in-depth formative evaluation of nine networks for school improvement, we find that the most effective networks are run by hubs that actively participant in the network. These hubs effectuate four drivers of network management: (1) a hub-level improvement process that draws from and feeds into network participants’ improvement process; (2) network routines and norms to spur cross-team problem-solving; (3) procedures to rigorously test, vet, and codify effective change ideas; and (4) integration of systems-level actors into the network.

Authors

• Ayeola Kinlaw

• Meghan Snyder, Columbia University

• Elizabeth Marie Chu, Columbia University

• Matty Lau, Columbia University Law School

• Shurin Lee

• Pavithra Nagarajan, Teachers College, Columbia University