Seeing System Change: Social Network Analysis as a Formative Tool for Equity-Centered Implementation

• In Event: Equity by Design: Redesigning Principal Pathways for Systemic Change

Abstract

Large-scale educational reforms often hinge on the quality of the relationships that carry ideas, resources, and practices across organizational boundaries (Coburn, 2003; Daly & Finnigan, 2016; Honig, 2006; Liou et al., 2024). Equity-centered principal pathways are no exception. Their seven interlocking domains—standards, preparation, hiring, support, supervision, data systems, and sustainability (Anderson et al., 2023)—calls for planned coordination among central-office teams, university partners, state agencies, and community organizations.

Research in educational leadership and reform demonstrate that such coordination is rarely achieved by accident; rather, it is intentionally shaped by building professional relationships through which information flows and collaboration unfolds (Borgatti & Foster, 2003; Daly, 2010; Liou & Daly, 2023; Penuel et al., 2012). Yet districts often lack tools to examine these relational dynamics as they go about their work. This study uses social network analysis (SNA) to support a formative, system-level process engages districts in structured reflection on the coherence and coordination of their efforts to promote equity-centered leadership.

Research process. Since 2021, the CALL-ECL research team has administered an annual roster-based social network survey to all members of each district’s ECPI participants, including central-office directors, principal supervisors, university faculty, state liaisons, and community partners. The survey asked respondents to identify colleagues with whom they had worked in each aspect of the ECPI work. These responses were used to create sociograms that visualized evolving patterns of interaction within and across districts. The sociograms were then used to guide 30-minute feedback sessions with district partnership teams, organized around two core questions:

Does this picture reflect the collaboration you believe you have?

How can these kinds of representations inform your ongoing work?

Each year’s session included both current and prior network maps (see Figure 1). This cumulative perspective enabled the district teams to observe and analyze how their networks had evolved–where connections had strengthened, faded, or remained static. The sessions provided leaders with a structured opportunity to assess alignment between their intended design and actual patterns of collaboration. Over time, this process helped teams identify underconnected areas, adjust strategies to build cross-sector relationships, and ensure that emerging initiatives were supported by the relational infrastructure necessary to sustain equity-centered leadership work.

We found that SNA, when used in combination with structured reflection routines, offered district leaders a mirror that reflects the living infrastructure of reform—not just whether new policies exist, but whether the relational channels required to enact them are taking shape. By embedding network huddles as a formative routine, we helped ECPI districts to identify bottlenecks before crises erupt, to see how equity expertise could be distributed (rather than concentrated), and to verify that each new policy domain is backed by the collaborations it demands. We argue that SNA can help transform the intangible work of “building coherence” (Fullan & Quinn, 2016) into something leaders can see, discuss, and redesign in real-time—an essential capability for any system pursuing ambitious, equity-centered change.

Authors

• Yi-Hwa Liou, National Taipei University of Education

• Daniella Molle, University of Wisconsin - Madison