30.024 - Under Scrutiny: Redesigning the Instructional Infrastructure of "Turnaround" Schools

Session Type: Symposium

Abstract

This symposium examines the dilemmas of designing and building infrastructure within schools and networks that can enable and sustain complex practices in challenging environments. The presenters spotlight efforts to redesign the social organization of teaching within schools in ways that will support equitable teaching practice, and so improve outcomes for students who are least well served in schools – most typically students of color living in economically distressed communities. Our objective is to contribute to the emerging knowledge base on school turnaround and systemic improvement by comparing different strategic approaches to building instructional capacity, and then engaging audience participants in a discussion of the implications for research, policy and practice raised by the outcomes.

Sub Unit

• Division A - Administration / Division A - Section 3: School Improvement

Chair

• Marcy Singer-Gabella, Vanderbilt University

Papers

• Teaching Practice: Quelque Chose est en Train de Changer - David K. Cohen, University of Michigan

• Charting the Course in Turnaround: Charter Schooling in the Tennessee Achievement School District - Joshua L. Glazer, The George Washington University; Diane Massell, Consortium for Policy Research in Education

• Building Infrastructure for Adaptive Leadership in Turnaround Schools - Marcy Singer-Gabella, Vanderbilt University; Daryl Ogden, Project GRAD USA

• Leveraging Teacher Leaders to Implement Ambitious Instructional Shifts in Turnaround Schools - Amy Hunter, LEAD Public Schools

Discussant

• James P. Spillane, Northwestern University