Building a Culture of Improvement in a Context of Accountability and Implementation

• In Event: 14.016 - Catalyzing a Social Structure for Educational Improvement: Initiating Networked Improvement Communities

Abstract

This paper examines the initiation of the Network to Transform Teaching (NT3), a consortium of states and districts leading the transformation of the teaching profession by strengthening systems to make board certification the norm and capitalize on the expertise of board-certified teachers.

Framework
NT3 was designed using the Networked Improvement Community model emerging from the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. The Carnegie Foundation launched and studied the development of networks, leading to the creation of a Network Initiation Framework. The NT3 hub uses the Framework’s five domains to develop network structures and routines.

Methods and Data Sources
NT3 was initiated in October 2014 to build social relationships among states and districts in support of improving systems that bear on board certification. NT3 partners bring varied contexts and experiences with board certification, a complex foundation for establishing common language and interventions. This paper presents an analysis of NT3’s development based on the Framework’s fifth domain, “culture, norms, and identity of improvement communities.” Analysis is based on qualitative data collected through surveys and interviews of partners, as well as observations and working documents from the NT3 network hub.

Results
Organized around elements of the Framework’s fifth domain, findings include both successes and challenges in developing culture, norms, and identity.

Base cultural conditions. NT3 partners come to improvement work with a strong initial identity around the work of board certification and teacher leadership. The focus of network initiation has been leveraging this identity and partners’ familiarity with inquiry in the context of teaching practice to influence systems change and work toward ambitious improvement aims.

Network identity and cultural norms. Because the network hub is a microcosm of the systems it supports, formation of network-wide identity and culture that embraces failure required that the hub model an improvement mindset. In doing so, the hub shares works-in-progress with the network for critical feedback and refinement.

Common network aim. Development of common language is rooted in repeated exploration of the problem, aims, and theory of practice improvement. Modeling use of improvement science tools, the NT3 hub engaged partners in multiple iterations of the same discussion to crystallize on important vocabulary and foci for the network.

Social relationships. To accelerate development of trust in the network, the hub convened a corps of site coordinators to manage improvement work in sites. Social cohesion among coordinators has created greater trust in the network overall, and has also blurred the boundary between the hub and sites. This blurred boundary will ultimately allow the hub to more authentically support the network.

Significance
Attention to culture, norms, and identity is essential to successful network initiation and ongoing development. The Framework provides a common language for sharing effective strategies to develop network culture. The Carnegie Foundation’s effort to develop a network of networks signals demand for shared learning through disciplined inquiry and promises continued refinement of the Framework.

Authors

• Joe Doctor, National Board for Professional Teaching Standards

• Emma Parkerson