The Structure and Distribution of Leadership in the Hub Organizations of Improvement Networks

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Thursday 5:25 pm Four Seasons Ballroom 2-3
  In Roundtable Session: Improvement Network Development: Exploring the Promise of Collaboration Among Schools to Support Educational Improvement (Table 11)

Abstract

Purpose:
Improvement networks have garnered enthusiasm as a novel organizational form supporting local problem solving and innovation, with one distinguishing feature being their dependence on “hub organizations” responsible for network development, operations, and success. Moreover, the leadership of hub organizations is hypothesized to be a key driver of networks as “scientific-professional learning communities” that use rigorous methods to engage in iterative analysis, design, implementation, and evaluation (Author et al., 2025).

However, researchers have yet to discern and explain patterns in the construction of leadership roles within hub organizations or in the distribution of responsibilities among leadership roles. Where the central offices of public school districts are characterized by an institutionalized, bureaucratic role structure, the hub organizations of improvement networks have been characterized as “temporary adhocracies”: adaptive, organic, often-informal organizational arrangements in which multi-disciplinary teams mobilize and organize diverse sources of expertise for bounded periods of time to solve complex problems in uncertain environments (Authors et al., 2025).

Thus, the purpose of this study is to explore the structure and distribution of leadership in the hub organizations of improvement networks.

Perspective:
This study builds on a series of pilot studies conceptualizing the practical work of hub leaders (Author, 2024; Author et al., 2020; Author et al., 2025). These studies yielded a practical framework detailing six core domains of work:
● Developing and sustaining the hub as an organization.
● Building and managing the network.
● Supporting improvement activity within the network.
● Integrating equity into the network.
● Managing relationships external to the network.
● Analyzing and improving the network as a learning system.

Mode of Inquiry:
To identify the distribution of leadership responsibilities, we begin by examining the frequency with which individual hub leaders engage each of preceding domains of work. To identify the structure of leadership roles, we then work inductively to identify patterns in the distribution of responsibilities among hub leaders. Finally, we explore characteristics of hub organizations, improvement networks, and their environments that account for differences in the structure and distribution of hub leadership.

Data Sources:
This study draws on 225 responses from hub leaders to the 2023/2024 administration of the Improvement Network Health and Development Survey (Authors et al., 2025). These hub leaders represented 34 networks that participated in the Networks for School Improvement Initiative funded by the Gates Foundation.

Results:
Preliminary analysis provides limited evidence of stratification into purely executive, administrative, or technical leadership roles. Rather, the dominant pattern is one of hybrid leadership roles in which hub leaders engage all of the preceding categories of practical work, but to varying degrees. Our continuing analysis will focus on (a) developing a role typology by examining patterns in primary responsibilities among hybrid roles and (b) exploring variation in role structure and work distribution between networks.

Significance:
Our findings have potential to support the design of hub organizations, the professional development of hub leaders, and further research on the development of improvement networks as scientific-professional learning communities.

Authors

• Donald J. Peurach, University of Michigan

• Elizabeth Jones, University of Michigan

• Jennifer Zoltners Sherer, University of Pittsburgh

• Megan Duff, UNC Chapel Hill

• Chris Matthis, Partners for Network Improvement