Alice Huguet, Caitlin C. Farrell and Julie A. Marsh
The use of data for instructional improvement is prevalent in today’s educational landscape, yet policies calling for data use may result in significant variation at the school…
Abstract
Purpose
The use of data for instructional improvement is prevalent in today’s educational landscape, yet policies calling for data use may result in significant variation at the school level. The purpose of this paper is to focus on tools and routines as mechanisms of principal influence on data-use professional learning communities (PLCs).
Design/methodology/approach
Data were collected through a comparative case study of two low-income, low-performing schools in one district. The data set included interview and focus group transcripts, observation field notes and documents, and was iteratively coded.
Findings
The two principals in the study employed tools and routines differently to influence ways that teachers interacted with data in their PLCs. Teachers who were given leeway to co-construct data-use tools found them to be more beneficial to their work. Findings also suggest that teachers’ data use may benefit from more flexibility in their day-to-day PLC routines.
Research limitations/implications
Closer examination of how tools are designed and time is spent in data-use PLCs may help the authors further understand the influence of the principal’s role.
Originality/value
Previous research has demonstrated that data use can improve teacher instruction, yet the varied implementation of data-use PLCs in this district illustrates that not all students have an equal opportunity to learn from teachers who meaningfully engage with data.
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Taylor N. Allbright, Julie A. Marsh, Kate E. Kennedy, Heather J. Hough and Susan McKibben
There is a growing consensus in education that schools can and should attend to students’ social-emotional development. Emerging research and popular texts indicate that students’…
Abstract
Purpose
There is a growing consensus in education that schools can and should attend to students’ social-emotional development. Emerging research and popular texts indicate that students’ mindsets, beliefs, dispositions, emotions and behaviors can advance outcomes, such as college readiness, career success, mental health and relationships. Despite this growing awareness, many districts and schools are still struggling to implement strategies that develop students’ social-emotional skills. The purpose of this paper is to fill this gap by examining the social-emotional learning (SEL) practices in ten middle schools with strong student-reported data on SEL outcomes, particularly for African American and Latinx students.
Design/methodology/approach
Case study methods, including interviews, observations and document analysis, were employed.
Findings
The authors identify six categories of common SEL practices: strategies that promote positive school climate and relationships, supporting positive behavior, use of elective courses and extracurricular activities, SEL-specific classroom practices and curricula, personnel strategies and measurement and data use. Absence of a common definition of SEL and lack of alignment among SEL practices were two challenges cited by respondents.
Originality/value
This is the first study to analyze SEL practices in outlier schools, with a focus on successful practices with schools that have a majority of African American and/or Latinx students.
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Julie A. Marsh, Katharine O. Strunk and Susan Bush
Despite the popularity of school “turnaround” and “portfolio district” management as solutions to low performance, there has been limited research on these strategies. The purpose…
Abstract
Purpose
Despite the popularity of school “turnaround” and “portfolio district” management as solutions to low performance, there has been limited research on these strategies. The purpose of this paper is to address this gap by exploring the strategic case of Los Angeles Unified School District's Public School Choice Initiative (PSCI) which combined both of these reforms. It examines how core mechanisms of change played out in schools and communities during the first two years of implementation.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper draws on a mixed methods study, combining data from surveys, case studies, leader interviews, observations, and document review. It is guided by a conceptual framework grounded in research on school turnaround and portfolio districts, along with the district's implicit theory of change.
Findings
The paper finds early success in attracting diverse stakeholder participation, supporting plan development, and ensuring transparency. However, data also indicate difficulty establishing understanding and buy‐in, engaging parents and community, attracting sufficient supply of applicants, maintaining neutrality and the perception of fairness, and avoiding unintended consequences of competition – all of which weakened key mechanisms of change.
Research limitations/implications
Data from parent focus groups and school sites may not be representative of the entire population of parents and schools, and data come from a short period of time.
Practical implications
The paper finds that developing processes and procedures to support complex reform takes time and identifies roadblocks others may face when implementing school turnaround and portfolio management. The research suggests districts invest in ways to ensure neutrality and create a level playing field. It also indicates that leaders should anticipate challenges to engaging parents and community members, such as language and literacy barriers, and invest in the development of unbiased, high‐quality information and opportunities that include sufficient time and support to ensure understanding.
Originality/value
This paper begins to fill a gap in research on popular reform strategies for improving low‐performing schools.
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Laura S. Hamilton, Brian M. Stecher, Jennifer Lin Russell, Julie A. Marsh and Jeremy Miles
The design of the ISBA project was guided by an analysis of the SBA theory of action, its likely effect on educators’ work across levels of the educational hierarchy, and prior…
Abstract
The design of the ISBA project was guided by an analysis of the SBA theory of action, its likely effect on educators’ work across levels of the educational hierarchy, and prior research on the impact of SBA policies on teachers’ work. We begin placing our work in the context of theoretical accounts of school organizations and the occupational norms of teaching.
Soung Bae is a doctoral candidate in the Human Development and Education program at the University of California, Berkeley. Her work examines how teacher learning and development…
Abstract
Soung Bae is a doctoral candidate in the Human Development and Education program at the University of California, Berkeley. Her work examines how teacher learning and development is best cultivated and the relation between beliefs and practice.
Judith Franzak, Koomi Kim and Mary Fahrenbruck
Our purpose is to examine the outcomes of using video as a reflection tool in peer-to-peer coaching with rural teachers as part of a literacy coaching professional development…
Abstract
Purpose
Our purpose is to examine the outcomes of using video as a reflection tool in peer-to-peer coaching with rural teachers as part of a literacy coaching professional development project.
Methodology/approach
This qualitative case study presents findings from a professional development project serving rural educators interested in becoming literacy coaches. Using a peer coaching model, literacy coaching participants video recorded two literacy coaching cycles capturing pre-conferencing, lesson modeling, and post-conferencing. Reflection was facilitated through face-to-face discussion and online technologies (discussion forums and e-mail).
Findings
Face-to-face sessions were integral in fostering participant reflection. Technology challenges impacted the extent to which participants engaged in and valued video as a reflection tool. Participants repurposed video reflection for self-identified professional and pedagogical purposes.
Practical implications
Video reflection can be used as a part of multimodal set of tools to collaborate with teachers. Face-to-face interaction is important in supporting rural teachers’ use of video reflection. Teacher educators generally need more on-site authentic involvement to gain emic perspectives when working with the rural sites in order for the video tasks to be more effective and meaningful for the teachers. Repurposing video reflection can be an expression of agency in meeting teacher needs.
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Steven Barnes, Julie Prescott and Joseph Adams
This study aims to evaluate a novel mobile therapeutic videogame for adolescents with anxiety disorders (ADs), combining elements of cognitive-behavioural therapy and…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to evaluate a novel mobile therapeutic videogame for adolescents with anxiety disorders (ADs), combining elements of cognitive-behavioural therapy and attention-bias modification, in terms of both its therapeutic efficacy over a controlled intervention and two-month follow-up, as well as the extent and implications of self-directed play.
Design/methodology/approach
A within-groups design with two parallel conditions [clinical anxiety (N = 16) and subclinical/at-risk (N = 15)] were measured on both self-reported anxiety and threat-detection bias (TDB) across three timepoints (pre- and post-intervention and two-month follow-up).
Findings
Significant reductions were observed in both self-reported state and trait anxiety and TDB over the course of the two-week intervention, which were maintained at follow-up. Engagement in self-directed play during the follow-up period significantly predicted outcomes at two-month follow-up for clinical participants.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper represents the first of its kind to evaluate a mobile therapeutic game designed with and solely for adolescents with ADs. This study also represents the first of its kind to examine the extent and implications of self-directed play for outcomes.
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Mary F. Jones and Julie Dallavis
Research shows data-informed leadership matters for school improvement and student achievement, but less is known about what motivates leaders’ data use toward such outcomes…
Abstract
Purpose
Research shows data-informed leadership matters for school improvement and student achievement, but less is known about what motivates leaders’ data use toward such outcomes, particularly in the Catholic school context.
Design/methodology/approach
This qualitative interview study uses interview (n = 23) data from a sample of Catholic school leaders to unpack how they conceptualize data, the motivations encouraging their data use and the challenges inhibiting data routines.
Findings
Catholic school leaders largely shared a narrow definition of data as quantitative, standardized achievement data, were motivated by a moral imperative to meet students’ needs and faced several common challenges, including time constraints, uncertainty in measurement, limited capacity and resources and issues of turnover at the classroom and school levels.
Practical implications
School leaders can assuage tension around data by broadening the scope of measures and appealing to teachers’ sense of personal responsibility and commitment to students.
Originality/value
These findings extend the research in three ways. They bring to light an important tension between data-informed practice and a whole child approach to education, highlight the possibility of motivating data use through conscience rather than compliance and provide insight into data perceptions in private schools, an understudied context in the literature.