Strategic Education Research Partnership

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Strategic Education Research Partnership

• Internal Coherence
• Richard Elmore
• Michelle Forman
• June, 2009

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Overview of Presentation

• Internal Coherence (IC), definitions and research
  base
• Manner in which Word Generation (WG) and IC are
  designed to be mutually supporting
• Quick description of the IC work in Boston to
  date

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What will happen when an intervention like Word
Generation meets your organization?
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• Who will incorporate WG willingly? Who will push
  back?
• Will WG be implemented with fidelity across
  classrooms? Will it be implemented effectively?
  How will you know?
• What will teachers collaboration around a
  collective implementation look like in practice?
• How will teachers react if their colleagues fail
  to do their part?
• How will teachers react to the addition of
  another intervention?
• What other issues will arise?

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Top 5 Anticipated Challenges to Implementing the
WG Curriculum
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Internal Coherence Underlying Theory

• We must attend to the organizational capacity of
  a school to implement and sustain an
  instructional intervention if the intervention is
  to result in the improvement of achievement for
  all students, from one year to the next.

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Quick Definitions

• Internal Accountability / Internal Coherence
• The consistency among the beliefs and practices
  of individual teachers and the collective, and
  the processes by which people in schools account
  for what they do (Elmore Isaksen, 2007).
• Organizational Capacity
• The collective power of the full faculty to
  improve student achievement schoolwide (Newmann
  et al., 2000).

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• Collective Efficacy Beliefs
• The perceived collective efficacy of a faculty
  represents the beliefs of teachers that the
  faculty as a group can execute the courses of
  action required to successfully educate students
  (Goddard, 2001).
• A facultys perception of their collective
  ability to improve student outcomes sets
  expectations for action which influence how
  teachers pursue organizational goals and the
  effort they put forth to attain success (Bandura,
  1997 Goddard, Logerfo, Hoy, 2004).

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Contextual variable associated with collective
efficacy Teacher Ownership of School Processes

• Shared school goals teachers perceptions that
  the school has reached consensus about overall
  directions and the use of school priorities by
  teachers when making professional decisions
• School-wide collaboration teachers feelings
  that they are well prepared to participate in key
  school issues and have opportunities to
  deliberate with colleagues
• Fit of actions with school needs teachers
  belief that the actions taken by their school fit
  the current needs of students and staff
• Empowering school leadership teacher
  perceptions that the principal leads by
  developing the capacity of the organization and
  its members to adapt to the demands of a changing
  environment (Ross et al., 2004).

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WG is designed to serve as a platform for school
leaders in the work of building internal
coherence and collective efficacy
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WG as a platform for IC work

• Cross-curricular design surfaces inter-dependence
  among teachers, forces issue of lateral
  accountability
• Flexibility in local context addresses fit of
  actions with school needs, opportunity for
  collaboration and collective agency
• Discrete, common practice lends itself to
  inter-visitation, commitments to colleagues

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Thought Experiment

• What leadership moves would be necessary for you
  to capitalize on the potential of WG to foster
  capacity and collective efficacy beliefs in your
  organization?
• What types of supports would be useful to you in
  this endeavor?

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Critical leadership practices supports
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IC Support for School and District Leaders

• Diagnostic Provide data to school and district
  leaders, faculty
• Workshop School leaders and their supervisors
  jointly discuss data
• On-Site Instructional Leadership Teams, teacher
  teams, discuss data and make commitments
• Repeated Cycles Analysis of the results,
  subsequent round of commitments

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Assessing Internal Coherence in Your School IC
Survey

• Instructional Leadership
• Supports high quality instruction?
• Is knowledgeable about high quality instruction?
• Models good practice?
• Efficacy, Agency, Locus of Control
• What factors affect student success?
• Who makes instructionally relevant decisions?
• Structures, Processes, Decisions
• Where do important decisions get made?
• What processes and structures are in place?

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Diagnostic Process

• Teacher Survey Instructional leadership,
  efficacy, organizational processes
• Classroom Observation Level of instructional
  challenge, variability of tasks posed to students
• Interviews Context, programs, competing
  commitments

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Sample School Internal Coherence Profile
I
I

• Instructional Leadership
• Collective Efficacy
• Organizational Processes Teacher Influence
• Organizational Processes Resources and Support
• Perception of External Accountability System

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We welcome your feedback as we move forward with
this work in Boston.

• Michelle Forman
• mforman_at_serpinstitute.org