Principal Equity Teams Collaborate to Address Problems of Practice and Advance Equity and Excellence

• In Event: Improvement Science-Driven School Improvement: Successes, Challenges, and Promising Practices From the iLEAD Partnership

Abstract

Purpose

This case study is designed to understand and support how district leaders in the New York City Department of Education (NYC DOE) integrated the discipline of improvement science (IS) (Bryk, 2015) into the ongoing development of principals. Specifically, the district established principal equity teams to address three areas for improvement identified as important for advancing equity: strengthening culturally responsive-sustaining education (CR-SE), strengthening social emotional learning (SEL), and reducing chronic absenteeism. This work is part of an ongoing effort to improve racial equity, including strengthening CR-SE and reducing racial disproportionality in students’ educational opportunities and outcomes.

Theoretical Framework

Districts are working to redesign their central offices as “engines of educational equity” by focusing on support for principals’ development as equity-minded instructional leaders (Honig & Rainey, 2020, p. 54). Principals are second only to teachers in contributing to student learning and play a particularly important role in schools in challenging contexts (Grissom et al., 2021; Hitt & Tucker, 2016). Research suggests that districts can cultivate a more collaborative professional community, strengthen principals’ sense of efficacy, and, ultimately, their practice by establishing teams or networks of principals that focus on curriculum and instruction (Darling-Hammond et al., 2007). District leaders in this study shifted their work away from a focus on management and compliance and towards leadership development and learning. In doing so, districts can play a critical role in developing the capacity of leaders and advancing equity across schools (Author, 2020).

Data and Methods

The study uses a design-based implementation research approach to understand the connection between the work of principal equity teams and the impact on participating principals and their schools (Penuel et al., 2011). The study draws on interviews with district and school leaders, team observations, and document review to answer three research questions: 1.) How can district leaders use IS in principal equity teams to address equity-focused problems of practice? 2.) How do participants' experiences on principal equity teams support them in making improvements in the three focus areas (CR-SE, SEL, chronic absenteeism)? 3.) What changes can be made to the design of principal equity teams to better support principals in making improvements in the three focus areas?

Preliminary Results

Preliminary findings from the study of principal equity teams suggests that principals in all three principal equity teams took action in their schools to address the focus areas. In this way, the district was successful in using IS to encourage improvements in the schools. However, district and school leaders were likely to define problems as the absence of preferred solutions and collaboration in teams focused primarily on implementation planning rather than problem investigation. These results suggest that the district faced challenges in developing an improvement mindset among school and district leaders (Mintrop & Zumpe, 2019).

Significance
Integrating improvement science practices into principal development represents one promising approach for districts seeking to emphasize learning, problem-solving, and inquiry. However, this approach requires changes in both leadership mindset and practice.

Author

• Elizabeth Leisy Stosich, Fordham University