Fostering Equity: Improving Developmental Relationships With Students

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Friday 8:00 am Four Seasons Ballroom 1
  In Roundtable Session: Collaborative Improvement Networks: Strengthening University-Practitioner Partnerships to Advance Teacher and Student Outcomes (Table 8)

Abstract

Using an Improvement Science lens (Bryk et al, 2015), our research team partnered with three school districts to assess how contextual and cultural factors can influence Developmental Relationships (DRs). Each school underwent the same process of using data from their school to inform how they build a unique improvement plan for strengthening student-educator relationships. We interviewed school team members from three schools (n=29) to gain insight on the supports and barriers faced by educators in building DRs, especially those with differing identities and backgrounds. This multiple case study approach revealed these barriers that educators faced and how each school, in their own unique contexts, used data to develop and implement an improvement plan to strengthen their school’s relational culture.

Authors

• Skylar Radabaugh, Search Institute

• Dana M. Sox, University of Virginia

• Erica J. Van Steenis, Search Institute