Designing Collaborative Learning Within and Across Districts for Equity-Centered Systems Change

• In Event: Advancing The Teaching and Learning of Collaborative Continuous Improvement in Education

Abstract

Objectives: We explore the challenge of collaborative, cross-district learning for leadership teams using continuous improvement (CI) tools and processes within systems change efforts. On one hand, such learning spaces aim to support deep learning through sharing and joint problem-solving across contexts. On the other hand, districts face urgent needs to serve students, educators, and families—pressing leaders to act quickly in their unique contexts. We use the case of six months of collaborative learning between leadership teams from six urban districts engaged in equity-centered systems improvement. We describe how we designed for leaders to learn from and with each other while still generating actionable insights and tools relevant to their own settings. We then examine what district leaders were able to learn from/with each other through collaboration.

Theoretical framework: CI approaches emphasize engaging with systems tools for inquiry into “what works, for whom, and under what conditions” (Bryk et al., 2015). While the concept of local adaptation is usually applied to educational interventions, systems leaders must also adapt CI tools and processes (Diamond & Gomez, 2023). Leaders need opportunities to learn how to engage in the ongoing, improvisational, judgment-filled work to meaningfully adapt and use CI tools to support improvement in their contexts. We argue this requires learning designs that support leaders to (1) deprivatize the practice of leadership and systems design, (2) foster systems-thinking and improvement orientations, and (3) challenge the notion that there are magic recipes or tools for equity-centered systems change.

Method: We use the case of collaborative district learning within an equity-centered leadership pipeline initiative involving eight large, urban school districts across the country. We focus on a six-month cross-district learning series in which district teams participated in monthly, two-hour virtual sessions using process mapping to examine current systems for principal evaluation and support. To understand the learning that emerged, we conducted retrospective analysis of documentation from the collaborative learning sessions and planning meetings.

Substantiated conclusions: We describe how we navigated the tension between within-district and cross-district learning in how we (1) identified a shared focus of work, (2) strategically used time and facilitation, and (3) developed tools and routines to make practice visible and interpretable across contexts. We identify insights that emerged from district collaboration and explore how leaders navigated the tension between within-district and cross-district learning and design. Through this work, district leaders:
Developed a systems lens for principal evaluation and support structures.
Surfaced both intentional and unintentional variation within their systems.
Identified “black boxes” and potential sources of harm.
Used process mapping to understand different “horizons” of change work.
Created strategies to use process maps for communication and collaboration within their districts.

Significance: We argue that the process of engaging in both within-district and cross-district learning holds significant potential, not only for technical improvement of district systems or “sharing best practices”, but for fostering development of the ongoing, improvisational, judgment-filled work of meaningfully adapting CI tools to support improvement in particular contexts.

Authors

• Alison Fox Resnick, University of Colorado - Boulder

• Caitlin Farrell, University of Colorado - Boulder

• Kim Boddie Wright, Rice University

• Marc L. Stein, Improving Education

• Paula Arce-Trigatti, National Network of Education Research-Practice Partnerships

• Terrenda Corisa White, University of Colorado - Boulder