Focus, Fiddle, and Friends: Experiences that Transform Knowledge for the Implementation of Innovations

Item

Title

Focus, Fiddle, and Friends: Experiences that Transform Knowledge for the Implementation of Innovations

Abstract/Description

Although knowledge has been linked to productivity within and between organizations, little is known about how knowledge flows into schools and then diffuses from teacher to teacher within schools. Here, the authors hypothesize that the value of different sources of knowledge depends on a teacher’s current level of implementation. The authors test their theory using longitudinal network data from 470 teachers in 13 schools. From models of change (i.e., first differences) in teachers’ use of computers over a one-year period, the authors infer that the more a teacher at the lowest initial levels of implementing an innovation is exposed to professional development focused on student learning, the more she increases her level of implementation (focus); the more a teacher at an intermediate initial level of implementation has opportunities to experiment and explore, the more she sustains her level of implementation (fiddle); and the more a teacher at a high initial level of implementation accesses the knowledge of others, the more she increases her level of implementation (friends). Concerning the potential for selection bias, the authors quantify how large the impacts (Frank 2000) of confounding variables must be to invalidate their inferences. In the discussion, the authors emphasize the changing nature of knowledge through the diffusion process.

Author/creator

Frank, Kenneth A.

Zhao, Yong

Penuel, William R.

Ellefson, Nicole

Porter, Susan

Date

2011

In publication

Sociology of Education

Volume

84

Issue

2

Pages

137-156

Resource type

en Research/Scholarly Media

Resource status/form

en Published Text

Scholarship genre

en Empirical

Language

en

Open access/full-text available

en Yes

Peer reviewed

en Yes

ISSN

0038-0407

DOI

10.1177/0038040711401812

URL

Official Publisher's Webpage (SAGE Journals)

Full-text PDF Shared by Author (ResearchGate)

Citation

Frank, K. A., Zhao, Y., Penuel, W. R., Ellefson, N., & Porter, S. (2011). Focus, Fiddle, and Friends: Experiences that Transform Knowledge for the Implementation of Innovations. Sociology of Education, 84(2), 137–156. https://doi.org/10.1177/0038040711401812

Cited in

Critical Social Network Analysis as a Method for Examining How Power Mediates Improvement Efforts

Abbreviation

Sociol Educ

Item sets

Handbook Chapter 17 Citations

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