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  • A Preliminary Theory of Interorganizational Network Effectiveness: A Comparative Study of Four Community Mental Health Systems

    This paper presents the results of a comparative study of interorganizational networks, or systems, of mental health delivery in four U.S. cities, leading to a preliminary theory of network effectiveness. Extensive data were collected from surveys, interviews, documents, and observations. Network effectiveness was assessed by collecting and aggregating data on outcomes from samples of clients, their families, and their case managers at each site. Results of analyses of both quantitative and qualitative data collected at the individual, organizational, and network levels of analysis showed that network effectiveness could be explained by various structural and contextual factors, specifically, network integration, external control, system stability, and environmental resource munificence. Based on the findings, we develop testable propositions to guide theory development and future research on network effectiveness.

  • Do Networks Really Work? A Framework for Evaluating Public-Sector Organizational Networks

    Although cooperative, interorganizational networks have become a common mechanism for delivery of public services, evaluating their effectiveness is extremely complex and has generally been neglected. To help resolve this problem, we discuss the evaluation of networks of community-based, mostly publicly funded health, human service, and public welfare organizations. Consistent with pressures to perform effectively from a broad range of key stakeholders, we argue that networks must be evaluated at three levels of analysis: community, network, and organization/participant levels. While the three levels are related, each has its own set of effectiveness criteria that must be considered. The article offers a general discussion of network effectiveness, followed by arguments explaining effectiveness criteria and stakeholders at each level of analysis. Finally, the article examines how effectiveness at one level of network analysis may or may not match effectiveness criteria at another level and the extent to which integration across levels may be possible.

  • Networking Literature About Determinants of Network Effectiveness

    Since the early 1990s, public networks have been implemented in many countries to solve ‘wicked’ public problems, addressing such issues as health, social care, local development and education. While considerable research has been carried out into public networks, both managers and scholars are left with some doubts about network effectiveness. In fact literature on this topic has been highly fragmented, comprising a plurality of definitions, multiple theories, multiple methods and multiple explanations. This paper aims to review and classify previous theoretical and evidence-based studies on network effectiveness and its determinants. Our aim is to rearrange existing literature into a unitary framework in order to shed light on both hitherto unfilled gaps and established theoretical cornerstones.

  • Promoting and Assessing Value Creation in Communities and Networks: A Conceptual Framework

  • Understanding the Similarities and Distinctions Between Improvement Science and Evaluation

    In this chapter, we discuss the similarities and points of departure between improvement science and evaluation, according to use, valuing, and methods—three dimensions of evaluation theory to which all theorists attend (Christie & Alkin, ). Using these three dimensions as a framework for discussion, we show some of the ways in which improvement science and evaluation are similar and how they are different in terms of purposes, goals, and processes. By doing so we frame the illustrative cases of improvement science that follow in this issue.

  • Methods for Evaluation of Small Scale Quality Improvement Projects

    Evaluation is an integral component of quality improvement and there is much to be learned from the evaluation of small scale quality improvement initiatives at a local level. This type of evaluation is useful for a number of different reasons including monitoring the impact of local projects, identifying and dealing with issues as they arise within a project, comparing local projects to draw lessons, and collecting more detailed information as part of a bigger evaluation project. Focused audits and developmental studies can be used for evaluation within projects, while methods such as multiple case studies and process evaluations can be used to draw generalised lessons from local experiences and to provide examples of successful projects. Evaluations of small scale quality improvement projects help those involved in improvement initiatives to optimise their choice of interventions and use of resources. Important information to add to the knowledge base of quality improvement in health care can be derived by undertaking formal evaluation of local projects, particularly in relation to building theory around the processes of implementation and increasing understanding of the complex change processes involved.

  • Process Evaluation on Quality Improvement Interventions

    To design potentially successful quality improvement (QI) interventions, it is crucial to make use of detailed breakdowns of the implementation processes of successful and unsuccessful interventions. Process evaluation can throw light on the mechanisms responsible for the result obtained in the intervention group. It enables researchers and implementers to (1) describe the intervention in detail, (2) check actual exposure to the intervention, and (3) describe the experience of those exposed. This paper presents a framework containing features of QI interventions that might influence success. Attention is paid to features of the target group, the implementers or change agents, the frequency of intervention activities, and features of the information imparted. The framework can be used as a starting point to address all three aspects of process evaluation mentioned above. Process evaluation can be applied to small scale improvement projects, controlled QI studies, and large scale QI programmes; in each case it plays a different role.

  • Evaluation of Quality Improvement Programmes

    In response to increasing concerns about quality, many countries are carrying out large scale programmes which include national quality strategies, hospital programmes, and quality accreditation, assessment and review processes. Increasing amounts of resources are being devoted to these interventions, but do they ensure or improve quality of care? There is little research evidence as to their effectiveness or the conditions for maximum effectiveness. Reasons for the lack of evaluation research include the methodological challenges of measuring outcomes and attributing causality to these complex, changing, long term social interventions to organisations or health systems, which themselves are complex and changing. However, methods are available which can be used to evaluate these programmes and which can provide decision makers with research based guidance on how to plan and implement them. This paper describes the research challenges, the methods which can be used, and gives examples and guidance for future research. It emphasises the important contribution which such research can make to improving the effectiveness of these programmes and to developing the science of quality improvement.

  • Practical Recommendations for the Evaluation of Improvement Initiatives

    A lack of clear guidance for funders, evaluators and improvers on what to include in evaluation proposals can lead to evaluation designs that do not answer the questions stakeholders want to know. These evaluation designs may not match the iterative nature of improvement and may be imposed onto an initiative in a way that is impractical from the perspective of improvers and the communities with whom they work. Consequently, the results of evaluations are often controversial, and attribution remains poorly understood. Improvement initiatives are iterative, adaptive and context-specific. Evaluation approaches and designs must align with these features, specifically in their ability to consider complexity, to evolve as the initiative adapts over time and to understand the interaction with local context. Improvement initiatives often identify broadly defined change concepts and provide tools for care teams to tailor these in more detail to local conditions. Correspondingly, recommendations for evaluation are best provided as broad guidance, to be tailored to the specifics of the initiative. In this paper, we provide practical guidance and recommendations that funders and evaluators can use when developing an evaluation plan for improvement initiatives that seeks to: identify the questions stakeholders want to address; develop the initial program theory of the initiative; identify high-priority areas to measure progress over time; describe the context the initiative will be applied within; and identify experimental or observational designs that will address attribution.

  • Centrality and Network Flow

    Centrality measures, or at least popular interpretations of these measures, make implicit assumptions about the manner in which traffic flows through a network. For example, some measures count only geodesic paths, apparently assuming that whatever flows through the network only moves along the shortest possible paths. This paper lays out a typology of network flows based on two dimensions of variation, namely the kinds of trajectories that traffic may follow (geodesics, paths, trails, or walks) and the method of spread (broadcast, serial replication, or transfer). Measures of centrality are then matched to the kinds of flows that they are appropriate for. Simulations are used to examine the relationship between type of flow and the differential importance of nodes with respect to key measurements such as speed of reception of traffic and frequency of receiving traffic. It is shown that the off-the-shelf formulas for centrality measures are fully applicable only for the specific flow processes they are designed for, and that when they are applied to other flow processes they get the “wrong” answer. It is noted that the most commonly used centrality measures are not appropriate for most of the flows we are routinely interested in. A key claim made in this paper is that centrality measures can be regarded as generating expected values for certain kinds of node outcomes (such as speed and frequency of reception) given implicit models of how traffic flows, and that this provides a new and useful way of thinking about centrality.

  • Models of Core/Periphery Structures

    A common but informal notion in social network analysis and other fields is the concept of a core/periphery structure. The intuitive conception entails a dense, cohesive core and a sparse, unconnected periphery. This paper seeks to formalize the intuitive notion of a core/periphery structure and suggests algorithms for detecting this structure, along with statistical tests for testing a priori hypotheses. Different models are presented for different kinds of graphs (directed and undirected, valued and nonvalued). In addition, the close relation of the continuous models developed to certain centrality measures is discussed.

  • Misalignment and Perverse Incentives: Examining the Politics of District Leaders as Brokers in the Use of Research Evidence

    In the current accountability policy context, access to and use of research evidence are central to district and school improvement. Our study examines the network of relations between central office administrators and principals using a political lens to consider the ways in which the underlying politics in a district may call into question some of the assumptions around evidence use and change under accountability policy sanctions. Results indicate that relational ties regarding evidence use (data use in this case) are sparse in comparison with other work-related networks. Second, we find a misalignment between what one would expect based on district data use initiatives, formal lines of authority, and communication patterns and the underlying informal social interactions of the leaders around the use of data. We discuss the implications of this research for district improvement and the use of evidence in the current policy context.

  • Centrality in Social Networks Conceptual Clarification

    The intuitive background for measures of structural centrality in social networks is reviewed and existing measures are evaluated in terms of their consistency with intuitions and their interpretability. Three distinct intuitive conceptions of centrality are uncovered and existing measures are refined to embody these conceptions. Three measures are developed for each concept, one absolute and one relative measure of the centrality of positions in a network, and one reflecting the degree of centralization of the entire network. The implications of these measures for the experimental study of small groups is examined.

  • Structures of Mediation: A Formal Approach to Brokerage in Transaction Networks

    The concept of brokerage has gained considerable attention in recent years, but few researchers have attempted to specify what the phenomenon is. In this paper, we develop a theoretical conception of brokerage behavior in social systems characterized by the exchange or flow of resources. Building on the idea that any set of actors can be partitioned in a meaningful way into a set of mutually exclusive subgroups, we show that such a partition generates five formally, analytically, and intuitively distinct brokerage types or roles. We construct quantitative measures of each of these five types for actors in social networks and for whole systems, and show that statistical inference can be used to test whether occupancy of a brokerage position is the product of a random distribution of exchange relations or the product of underlying social structure.

  • The Search-Transfer Problem: The Role of Weak Ties in Sharing Knowledge across Organization Subunits

    This paper combines the concept of weak ties from social network research and the notion of complex knowledge to explain the role of weak ties in sharing knowledge across organization subunits in a multiunit organization. I use a network study of 120 new-product development projects undertaken by 41 divisions in a large electronics company to examine the task of developing new products in the least amount of time. Findings show that weak interunit ties help a project team search for useful knowledge in other subunits but impede the transfer of complex knowledge, which tends to require a strong tie between the two parties to a transfer. Having weak interunit ties speeds up projects when knowledge is not complex but slows them down when the knowledge to be transferred is highly complex. I discuss the implications of these findings for research on social networks and product innovation.

  • What Types of Brokerage Bridge the Research-Practice Gap? The Case of Public School Educators

    The presence of a research-practice gap is recognized across multiple fields including education, psychology, and public health. In this paper, we examine which of five structural types of brokerage are most and least effective in bridging this research-practice gap in the context of education. Using a small world survey design, we tracked how a statewide random sample of 247 K-12 principals and superintendents in Michigan seek information about social skills programs from brokering individuals and organizations. We find that some triadic brokerage structures are more effective than others in closing the communication gap between practitioners and researchers. Specifically, educators relying on itinerant brokerage, which circulates information between members of the same community, were five times less likely to obtain information from a researcher. In contrast, educators relying on representative or liaison brokerage, which facilitate information transfer between members of different communities, were more than twice as likely to obtain information from a researcher. We conclude by discussing implications for the development of interventions designed to facilitate information sharing between practitioners and researchers.

  • Network Structure and Knowledge Transfer: The Effects of Cohesion and Range

    This research considers how different features of informal networks affect knowledge transfer. As a complement to previous research that has emphasized the dyadic tie strength component of informal networks, we focus on how network structure influences the knowledge transfer process. We propose that social cohesion around a relationship affects the willingness and motivation of individuals to invest time, energy, and effort in sharing knowledge with others. We further argue that the network range, ties to different knowledge pools, increases a person's ability to convey complex ideas to heterogeneous audiences. We also examine explanations for knowledge transfer based on absorptive capacity, which emphasizes the role of common knowledge, and relational embeddedness, which stresses the importance of tie strength. We investigate the network effect on knowledge transfer using data from a contract R&D firm. The results indicate that both social cohesion and network range ease knowledge transfer, over and above the effect for the strength of the tie between two people. We discuss the implications of these findings for research on effective knowledge transfer, social capital, and information diffusion.

  • Operating Room: Relational Spaces and Microinstitutional Change in Surgery

    One of the great paradoxes of institutional change is that even when top managers in organizations provide support for change in response to new regulation, the employees whom new programs are designed to benefit often do not use them. This 15‐month ethnographic study of two hospitals responding to new regulation demonstrates that using these programs may require subordinate employees to challenge middle managers with opposing interests. The article argues that relational spaces—areas of isolation, interaction, and inclusion that allow middle‐manager reformers and subordinate employees to develop a cross‐position collective for change—are critical to the change process. These findings have implications for research on institutional change and social movements.

  • The Study of Identity As Cultural, Institutional, Organizational, and Personal Narratives: Theoretical and Empirical Integrations

    I argue that the study of narrative identity would benefit from more sustained and explicit attention to relationships among cultural, institutional, organizational, and personal narratives of identity. I review what is known about these different types of narrative identity and argue that these narratives are created for different purposes, do different types of work, and are evaluated by different criteria. After exploring the inherently reflexive relationships between and among these various narratives of identity, I conclude with demonstrating how examining these relationships would allow a more complete understanding of the mutual relevance of social problem construction and culture, of the work of social service organizations attempting to change clients' personal narratives, and the possibilities of social change. Exploring relationships between and among different types of narrative identity would yield a better understanding of how narratives work and the work narratives do.

  • Teachers’ Professional Community in Restructuring Schools

    Professional community among teachers, the subject of a number of recent major studies, is regarded as an ingredient that may contribute to the improvement of schools. The research reported in this article is grounded in the assumption that how teachers interact with each other outside of their classrooms may be critical to the effects of restructuring on students. The analysis focuses on the type of professional community that occurs within a school and investigates both the organizational factors that facilitate its development and its consequences for teachers? sense of responsibility for student learning. The findings suggest that wide variation in professional community exists between schools, much of which is attributable to both structural features and human resources characteristics, as well as school level. Implications for current school reform efforts are discussed.

  • Institutional Change in Toque Ville: Nouvelle Cuisine as an Identity Movement in French Gastronomy

    A challenge facing cultural‐frame institutionalism is to explain how existing institutional logics and role identities are replaced by new logics and role identities. This article depicts identity movements that strive to expand individual autonomy as motors of institutional change. It proposes that the sociopolitical legitimacy of activists, extent of theorization of new roles, prior defections by peers to the new logic, and gains to prior defectors act as identity‐discrepant cues that induce actors to abandon traditional logics and role identities for new logics and role identities. A study of how the nouvelle cuisine movement in France led elite chefs to abandon classical cuisine during the period starting from 1970 and ending in 1997 provides wide‐ranging support for these arguments. Implications for research on institutional change, social movements, and social identity are outlined.

  • Culture in Action: Symbols and Strategies

    Culture influences action not by providing the ultimate values toward which action is oriented, but by shaping a repertoire or "tool kit" of habits, skills, and styles from which people construct "strategies of action." Two models of cultural influence are developed, for settled and unsettled cultural periods. In settled periods, culture independently influences action, but only by providing resources from which people can construct diverse lines of action. In unsettled cultural periods, explicit ideologies directly govern action, but structural opportunities for action determine which among competing ideologies survive in the long run. This alternative view of culture offers new opportunities for systematic, differentiated arguments about culture's causal role in shaping action.

  • A Toolkit for Analyzing Corporate Cultural Toolkits

    The cultural and discursive underpinning of industries and markets has received growing attention in recent years. I use Ann Swidler's conceptualization of culture as toolkit, and Pierre Bourdieu's concept of habitus as the starting point to further this enterprise. The article illustrates a strategy for measuring and comparing the cultural toolkits in use by different actors in a larger field. The strategy allows quantitative comparisons of similarity at the level of large comprehensive toolkits instead of selective elements or inferred deeper dimensions. It also takes into account the embeddedness of actors’ cultural toolkits in the structures of larger social fields and the specificity of toolkits to communication contexts. While this analytic strategy is potentially applicable to any actor's toolkit in a recurring communication context, I use as an illustration the repertoires that different corporations in the pharmaceutical industry employ to account for their activities in their annual reports.

  • Managing Knowledge in Organizations: An Integrative Framework and Review of Emerging Themes

    In this concluding article to the Management Science special issue on “Managing Knowledge in Organizations: Creating, Retaining, and Transferring Knowledge,” we provide an integrative framework for organizing the literature on knowledge management. The framework has two dimensions. The knowledge management outcomes of knowledge creation, retention, and transfer are represented along one dimension. Properties of the context within which knowledge management occurs are represented on the other dimension. These properties, which affect knowledge management outcomes, can be organized according to whether they are properties of a unit (e.g., individual, group, organization) involved in knowledge management, properties of relationships between units or properties of the knowledge itself. The framework is used to identify where research findings about knowledge management converge and where gaps in our understanding exist. The article discusses mechanisms of knowledge management and how those mechanisms affect a unit's ability to create, retain and transfer knowledge. Emerging themes in the literature on knowledge management are identified. Directions for future research are suggested.

  • Accessing, Documenting, and Communicating Practical Wisdom: The Phronesis of School Leadership Practice

    Successful school leaders rely on a complex blend of knowledge, skill, theory, disposition, and values in their work to improve student learning. Recent research has called for methods to access, represent, and communicate what successful school leaders know. Aristotle’s concept of “phronesis,” or practical wisdom, captures the scope of such knowledge but also points out the difficulties of representing practical knowledge apart from the context of exercise. This article argues that the artifacts, such as policies, programs, and procedures, that school leaders develop and use can serve as occasions to document the expression of phronesis in context. Developing phronetic narratives of how successful leaders use artifacts to establish the conditions for improving student learning provides a significant resource to guide the learning of aspiring school leaders.

  • Within and Beyond Communities of Practice: Making Sense of Learning Through Participation, Identity and Practice

    Situated learning theory offers a radical critique of cognitivist theories of learning, emphasizing the relational aspects of learning within communities of practice in contrast to the individualist assumptions of conventional theories. However, although many researchers have embraced the theoretical strength of situated learning theory, conceptual issues remain undeveloped in the literature. Roberts, for example, argues in this issue that the notion of ‘communities of practice’– a core concept in situated learning theory – is itself problematic. To complement her discussion, this paper explores the communities of practice concept from several perspectives. Firstly, we consider the perspective of the individual learner, and examine the processes which constitute ‘situated learning’. Secondly, we consider the broader socio-cultural context in which communities of practice are embedded. We argue that the cultural richness of this broader context generates a fluidity and heterogeneity within and beyond communities. Finally, we argue that it is sometimes difficult to distinguish conceptually between the terms ‘participation’ and ‘practice’ because of occasional duplication of meaning. We propose, instead, a refinement of the definition to allow for greater conceptual clarity.

  • Study Designs for PDSA Quality Improvement Research

    Objective:  The purpose of this article is to discuss strengths and weaknesses of quasi-experimental designs used in health care quality improvement research. The target groups for this article are investigators in plan-do-study-act (PDSA) quality improvement initiatives who wish to improve the rigor of their methodology and publish their work and reviewers who evaluate the quality of research proposals or published work. Summary:  A primary purpose of PDSA quality improvement research is to establish a functional relationship between process changes in systems of health care and variation in outcomes. The time series design is the fundamental paradigm for demonstrating such functional relationships. The rigor of a PDSA quality improvement study design is strengthened using replication schemes and research methodology to address extraneous factors that weaken validity of observational studies. Conclusion:  The design of PDSA quality improvement research should follow from the purpose and context of the project. Improving the rigor of the quality improvement literature will build a stronger foundation and more convincing justification for the study and practice of quality improvement in health care.

  • Learning and Practicing Continuous Improvement: Lessons from the CORE Districts

    The education sector is embracing the hope that continuous improvement will lead to more beneficial student outcomes than standards-based reform and other approaches to policies and practice in prior decades. This report examines attempts in California to realize the potential of continuous improvement in some of the state’s largest districts. Policy Analysis for California Education and the CORE Districts, a nonprofit collaborative of eight urban school districts, have been engaged in a research-practice partnership since 2015. This report presents lessons learned from their collaboration in 2018-19, and is accompanied by three case studies that provide a more in-depth discussion of exemplary practices in two districts and one school. The report opens by briefly defining continuous improvement and tracing the history of the CORE Districts. It then focuses on two questions that are central if California’s schools and districts are to realize the potential of continuous improvement. Through interviews, observations of professional learning events and team meetings, and analysis of artifacts created through learning events and improvement work, PACE gleaned six lessons: What do we know about how to support educators in learning continuous improvement? Lesson 1: Embedding continuous improvement processes into the existing norms of schools is complex work; approaches to teaching it need to include cycles of practice and feedback to help educators apply complicated ideas in their own local contexts. Lesson 2: Participating in a series of workshops rarely provides people the depth of knowledge necessary to lead or teach continuous improvement. Lesson 3: Improvement teams need access to content area expertise as well as continuous improvement expertise. What conditions support continuous improvement in districts and schools? Lesson 4: Leaders used four key leadership moves to build an organization in which continuous improvement can thrive. Lesson 5: Districts can take deliberate steps to build a culture conducive to continuous improvement. Lesson 6: Structures and processes to break down silos and share information across organizational units do not inherently create continuous improvement, but they are foundational components that can support or hinder its progress. The report and related policy brief explain these lessons and implications for broader continuous work in California and beyond. The three related cases provide more detail on two districts and one school within CORE: Leadership that Supports Continuous Improvement: The Case of Ayer Elementary Bridging the Knowing-Doing Gap for Continuous Improvement: The Case of Long Beach Unified School District A Student-Centered Culture of Improvement: The Case of Garden Grove Unified School District

  • Carnegie Math Pathways 2015-2016 Impact Report: A Five-Year Review

    This report provides a description of the findings from two studies examining 2015-16 outcomes for students enrolled in Statway and Quantway, the accelerated developmental math

  • The Critical Role of a Well-Articulated, Coherent Design in Professional Development: An Evaluation of a State-Wide Two-Week Program for Mathematics and Science Teachers

    This evaluation study examined a state-wide professional development program composed of two institutes, one for mathematics teachers and one for science teachers, each spanning two weeks. The program was designed to help teachers transform their practice to align with Common Core State Standards for Mathematics and Next Generation Science Standards. Data from this mixed-methods design consisted of observations, interviews, focus groups, institute documents and participant surveys. Participants experienced inquiry-based, content-specific, focused grade-band sessions, yet in some ways results indicated that the experiences fell short of having a potentially transformative effect on classroom teaching. The evaluation used a professional development framework to analyze how a seemingly well-designed program became disconnected from the participants’ classroom teaching experience. Recommendations focus on ways for policy-makers, school leaders and professional development facilitators to use the professional development framework to bridge gaps identified by the evaluation.

  • Strengthening Developmental Education Reforms: Evidence on Implementation Efforts From the Scaling Innovation Project

    Edgecombe, N., Cormier, M. S., Bickerstaff, S., & Barragan, M. (2013). Strengthening Developmental Education Reforms: Evidence on Implementation Efforts From the Scaling Innovation Project (Working Paper No. 6; pp. 1–48). Community College Research Center.

  • Lesson Study: A Japanese Approach To Improving Mathematics Teaching and Learning

    Fernandez, C., & Yoshida, M. (2004). Lesson Study: A Japanese Approach To Improving Mathematics Teaching and Learning. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781410610867

  • Using Design-Based Research to Improve the Lesson Study Approach to Professional Development in Camden (London)

    Brown, C., Taylor, C., & Ponambalum, L. (2016). Using Design-Based Research to Improve the Lesson Study Approach to Professional Development in Camden (London). London Review of Education. https://doi.org/10.18546/LRE.14.2.02

  • Japanese Lesson Study: Teacher Professional Development through Communities of Inquiry

    Doig, B., & Groves, S. (2011). Japanese Lesson Study: Teacher Professional Development through Communities of Inquiry. Mathematics Teacher Education and Development, 13(1), Article 1.

  • Implementing Japanese Lesson Study in Foreign Countries: Misconceptions Revealed

    Fujii, T. (2014). Implementing Japanese Lesson Study in Foreign Countries: Misconceptions Revealed. Mathematics Teacher Education and Development, 16(1), Article 1.

  • Reassessing the Principal's Role in School Effectiveness: A Review of Empirical Research, 1980-1995

    Hallinger, P., & Heck, R. H. (1996). Reassessing the Principal’s Role in School Effectiveness: A Review of Empirical Research, 1980-1995. Educational Administration Quarterly, 32(1), 5–44. https://doi.org/10.1177/0013161X96032001002

  • Teaching Versus Teachers as a Lever for Change: Comparing a Japanese and a U.S. Perspective on Improving Instruction

    Hiebert, J., & Stigler, J. W. (2017). Teaching Versus Teachers as a Lever for Change: Comparing a Japanese and a U.S. Perspective on Improving Instruction. Educational Researcher, 46(4), 169–176. https://doi.org/10.3102/0013189X17711899

  • System Learning in an Urban School District: A Case Study of Intra-District Learning

    Redding, C., Cannata, M., & Miller, J. M. (2018). System Learning in an Urban School District: A Case Study of Intra-District Learning. Journal of Educational Change, 19(1), 77–101. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10833-017-9310-3

  • Poco a Poco: Leadership Practices Supporting Productive Communities of Practice in Schools Serving the New Mainstream

    Scanlan, M., Kim, M., Burns, M. B., & Vuilleumier, C. (2016). Poco a Poco: Leadership Practices Supporting Productive Communities of Practice in Schools Serving the New Mainstream. Educational Administration Quarterly, 52(1), 3–44. https://doi.org/10.1177/0013161X15615390

  • Examining Capacity for “Cross-Pollination” in a Rural School District: A Social Network Analysis Case Study

    Woodland, R. H., & Mazur, R. (2019). Examining Capacity for “Cross-Pollination” in a Rural School District: A Social Network Analysis Case Study. Educational Management Administration & Leadership, 47(5), 815–836. https://doi.org/10.1177/1741143217751077

  • Using Research to Improve College Readiness: A Research Partnership Between the Los Angeles Unified School District and the Los Angeles Education Research Institute

    Phillips, M., Yamashiro, K., Farrukh, A., Lim, C., Hayes, K., Wagner, N., White, J., & Chen, H. (2015). Using Research to Improve College Readiness: A Research Partnership Between the Los Angeles Unified School District and the Los Angeles Education Research Institute. Journal of Education for Students Placed at Risk (JESPAR), 20(1–2), 141–168. https://doi.org/10.1080/10824669.2014.990562

  • Creating a Culture of Data Use for Continuous Improvement: A Case Study of an Edison Project School

    Sutherland, S. (2004). Creating a Culture of Data Use for Continuous Improvement: A Case Study of an Edison Project School. The American Journal of Evaluation, 25(3), 277–293. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ameval.2004.05.009

  • The Impact of Enhancing Students’ Social and Emotional Learning: A Meta-Analysis of School-Based Universal Interventions

    Durlak, J. A., Weissberg, R. P., Dymnicki, A. B., Taylor, R. D., & Schellinger, K. B. (2011). The Impact of Enhancing Students’ Social and Emotional Learning: A Meta-Analysis of School-Based Universal Interventions. Child Development, 82(1), 405–432. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8624.2010.01564.x

  • Engaging Families in the High School Transition: Initial Findings From a Continuous Improvement Initiative

    Iver, M. A. M., Sheldon, S., Epstein, J., Rice, E., Iver, D. M., & Simmons, A. (2018). Engaging Families in the High School Transition: Initial Findings From a Continuous Improvement Initiative. School Community Journal, 28(1), 37–66.

  • Wise Feedback as a Timely Intervention for At-Risk Students Transitioning Into High School

    Thayer, A. J., Cook, C. R., Fiat, A. E., Bartlett-Chase, M. N., & Kember, J. M. (2018). Wise Feedback as a Timely Intervention for At-Risk Students Transitioning Into High School. School Psychology Review, 47(3), 275–290. https://doi.org/10.17105/SPR-2017-0021.V47-3

  • Lesson Study: An Approach to Increase the Competency of Out-of-Field Mathematics Teacher in Building the Students Conceptual Understanding in Learning Mathematics

    Amirullah, A. H. (2018). Lesson Study: An Approach to Increase the Competency of Out-of-Field Mathematics Teacher in Building the Students Conceptual Understanding in Learning Mathematics. Journal of Educational Sciences, 2(2), Article 2. https://doi.org/10.31258/jes.2.2.p.1-13

  • University Support of Secondary STEM Teachers Through Professional Development.

    Beaudoin, C. R., Johnston, P. C., Jones, L. B., & Waggett, R. J. (2013). University Support of Secondary STEM Teachers Through Professional Development. Education, 133(3), 330–340.

  • Lesson Study to Scale Up Research-Based Knowledge: A Randomized, Controlled Trial of Fractions Learning

    Lewis, C., & Perry, R. (2017). Lesson Study to Scale Up Research-Based Knowledge: A Randomized, Controlled Trial of Fractions Learning. Journal for Research in Mathematics Education, 48(3), 261–299. https://doi.org/10.5951/jresematheduc.48.3.0261

  • Learning in Practice: Exploring the Use of Plan-Do-Study-Act Cycles to Support Professional Learning

    Lozano, M. (2017). Learning in Practice: Exploring the Use of Plan-Do-Study-Act Cycles to Support Professional Learning [Ph.D., UCLA]. https://escholarship.org/uc/item/3mn1j51b

  • Lesson Study in Mathematics: Three Cases from Singapore

    This chapter reports mainly the mathematics research lessons component of a two-year intervention project (2006 and 2007) funded by the Centre for Research in Pedagogy and Practice (CRPP). The project team worked closely with a government school to implement Lesson Study as a teacher-directed form of instructional improvement. The chapter introduces the conceptual framework of cultural-historic activity theory and Wenger's community of practice and how they guide our intervention. It then examines the continuous improvement processes and teacher learning through three cases of mathematics research lessons conducted in three Lesson Study cycles. The topics cover long division, area and perimeter, and equivalent fractions in Primary 3 and 4. As the cases highlight, Lesson Study has become not only a powerful tool to bring together knowledge from diverse communities but also a rich site for the induction and mentoring of novice teachers. Researchers' learning from the implementation is equally powerful.