Nested Ecological Systems: An Examination of the District Role in School Improvement

• In Event: 31.084 - Innovative Approaches to Systems Thinking: Negotiating Power and Reform

Abstract

Although school improvement efforts are ultimately enacted at the school level, there is a growing awareness of the importance of the role of the school district in supporting such reforms. The district serves as a liaison between the school community and those setting reform targets as well as making resource allocation decisions to provide the support necessary for schools to enact improvement efforts. This qualitative study uses Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Systems Theory to examine the nested nature of school improvement efforts in three case study districts. Themes uncovered include the sense that reforms are unlikely to succeed without taking into account barriers imposed by the local context. We end by offering implications to increase the effectiveness of school improvement efforts.

Authors

• Joanna R. Smith, University of Oregon

• Alix Gallagher, Stanford University

• Taylor N. Allbright, University of Southern California

• Kate Kennedy, University of Southern California