The Crucibles of School Improvement: When a Logic of Problem-Solving Meets a Logic of Implementation

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session 11
  In Roundtable Session: Navigating the Road to Improvement: Finding Comfort in an Ever-Changing Landscape

Abstract

The prevailing school improvement paradigm centers around training teachers to implement research-based “best practices,” but in recent years a more promising approach has emerged: improvement as problem solving. Shifting towards problem-driven development in districts, however, must contend with an ingrained logic of implementation. The proposed paper explores key tension points—what we call “crucibles”—when a logic of problem solving meets a logic of implementation, including: faster versus slower thinking, internal ownership over learning, basic team effectiveness, and dynamic capabilities. Drawing from over 500 hours of participant observation over five years in a design-based research-practice-partnership (RPP), the paper illustrates critical episodes of these crucibles across key initiatives with a district leadership team and five schools.

Authors

• Elizabeth A. Zumpe, University of Massachusetts - Lowell

• Corrine Aramburo, University of California - Berkeley

• Rick Mintrop, University of California - Berkeley