Improvement Science and Community-Engaged Learning: A Model of Collaboration to Lead for Change

• In Event: Social Justice Leadership and Praxis in Contentious Times

Abstract

Purpose

This paper explores a collaboration and partnership between a non-profit organization serving youth who experience parental incarceration and a cohort of educational leadership doctoral students taking a course in improvement research. Students collected, organized, and analyzed data with and from the community organization and their stakeholders in order to deliver an empirically supported plan for system improvement that could be useful to improve and expand outreach and impact and also to future grant-seeking and fund-raising efforts. The non-profit organization seeks to:

amplify the voices of youth and families;

activate a community of support; and

advance policy and practice to drive equity and justice (Community Organization Website).

The collaboration aligned well with the educational leadership program whose mission emphasizes educational equity, social justice, and systems-level change. This model, sought to encourage educational leaders in a doctoral program to use improvement science through a community-engaged and social justice framework. During the session a collectively authored account of the learning that was generated throughout the semester’s collaboration and how the partnership has been continued since the course ended will be available.



Theoretical Framework

Russell and Penuel (2022) argue the various models of improvement research are treated as a family of approaches and capture family resemblances in four shared principles and the family differences in four design tensions.



The shared principles of improvement research include:

Takes a problem-solving focus that is nested in the local context.

Brings multiple stakeholders together on the shared problem.

Places evidence and inquiry at the center of the improvement process.

Acknowledges the dynamic and complex context and relationships in which the reform occurs. (Rutledge et al., 2022, p. 272)



The design tensions–competing goals that attend the design of innovations and system infrastructures (c.f., Tatar, 2007) include:

Improvement of Current System versus Transformation into a New System

Reliability of Outcomes versus Agency of Participant

Role Flexibility versus Role Clarity

Building Expansive Networks versus Redesigning Infrastructures



This framework guided the collaboration, from initial contact with the organization, the development of the improvement plan, and the development of guiding prompts for the focus group.



The Presentation

This presentation will display the preliminary findings of a focus group between the community partner, students enrolled in the course, and the instructor. This authentic conversation focused on the journey of the partnership and doing improvements science research together.

Findings will be mapped (see chart) to showcase the learning experiences of participants onto a two-dimensional space defined by the shared principles of improvement research in education and the design tensions that attend that research.

Mapping the learning from improvement research (and adding a third dimension of positionality) will lead to a collaborative publication that advances preparation and capacity of educational leaders to engage in improving the systems they lead while doing so alongside community members.

Author

• Rick R. McCown, Duquesne University
  Presenting Author