School Districts as Learning Systems: Using Network Theory to Enact Knowledge on Systemic Change

• In Event: The Culture and Politics of Professional Learning Communities

Abstract

1. Objectives or Purposes
We report on distinct types of professional learning communities that arose in three school districts using resources provided through a major government initiative to improve learning in Alberta. We report on how districts’ strategies and emphases within the initiative offer windows into the systemic characters of their professional learning communities.

2. Perspective(s) or theoretical framework
The work is framed by a complexity science perspective – which, for the purposes of the paper, is defined in terms of the study of learning systems (Davis, Sumara, &Luce-Kapler, 2008). We draw heavily on network science, a branch of complexity research that focuses on the organizational structures of dynamic, adaptive systems (Watts, 2003).




3. Methods, techniques, or models of inquiry
Each school district was visited for several days, during which time stakeholders were interviewed, documentation was reviewed, and artifacts pertaining to the initiative were gathered. Evidence underwent a discourse analysis (Gee, 2005), looking to understand the character of the professional learning community that was manifested through ways of speaking, administrative structures, relational dynamics, and programmatic emphases. Findings were represented principally through “narrative portraits” – data-rich accounts of the culture of each district, focused by the matter of how the work of the district is understood. As well, network mappings of intra-district associations, as they pertain to the initiative, were developed (Davis & Sumara, 2006).

4. Data sources, evidence, objects, or materials
Data included transcripts of interviews (including accounts of district histories, personal involvements, and opinions on projects within the initiative) and documentation related to the initiative.

5. Results
PATHWAYS
Conception of the district's work is learning.
Conception of the learning/learners- supported risk-taking, emerging in collaboration, operating at different levels and in differenct time frames/scales.
Structure and roles of PLCs- decentralized networks with identified hubs, hierarchies articulated in terms of responsibility (not power/authority.
Perception of the Initiative- AISI is a spark/trigger/catalyst

Hearthstone
Conception of the district's work is service
Conception of the learning/learners- responsibility of the individual learner, product/performance oriented, measurable.
Structure and roles of PLCs- locally well conneccted, globally fragmented, centralized decision-making, coherence through a new service layer
Perception of the initiative- AISI has enabled a layer of support

Arrowhead
Conception of the district's work is management
Conception of the learners- responsibility of the individual teacher, strategies are selected for their efficiency, value, and accountability.
Structure and roles of PLCs- centralized authority, clearn hierarchies of power and communication, isolation within shared projects, both schools and within schools
Perception of the initiative- AISI is a resource to administer



6. Significance
The range of manifest characters of the professional learning communities, we argue, is a useful construct to inform policy, ensure the presence of necessary supports and structures, implement appropriate accountability measures, and set reasonable goals for large-scale initiatives in education.

Authors

• Dennis J. Sumara, University of Calgary

• Brent Davis, University of Calgary