BUILDING AN ENGAGED

EDUCATIONAL COMMUNITY

Catharine BiddleThe Pennsylvania State University

Presented at the Annual Meeting of the University Council on Educational Administration, November 2013

INTERMEDIARY ORGANIZATIONS Intermediary Organizational support conceptualized 2 ways (Mitra, 2009):

Spark = short-term support and fading into the background

Stability = long-term partnership for change

RESEARCH QUESTION

How does an intermediary organization create and support a network of schools working to create a culture of acceptance of student voice in school decision-making?

YOUTH AND ADULTS TRANSFORMING SCHOOLS TOGETHER (YATST)

Youth Adult Partnership

Action Research Cycle

Gather

Analyze

Share

Act+Increased Student Engagement

CASE STUDY METHODS

25 hour-long interviews 14 teachers 9 principals 2 VT AOE representatives

40 hours of observation

Analysis of <150 organizational documents

RETHINKING SCALE

I use Coburn (2003)’s measure of scale to think about how this program provides support to and builds a network between participating schools.

Depth Spread

Sustainability

Shift in Reform

Ownership

DEPTH

Depth means change in: Norms of social interactionTeacher beliefsUnderlying pedagogical principles

Depth Spread

Sustainability

Shift in Reform

Ownership

DEPTH: YATST FRAMING IDEAS

I think now teachers are really looking at their practice based on not only what they’ve learned from professional development, but [based on ]what the kids have raised about concerns, especially from the data that they had collected.

(YATST Teacher)

Rigor

Relevance

Relationships

Shared Responsibility

DEPTH: DIFFERENTIATED SUPPORT

It took me most of this year to understand how to leverage the YATST tools to perfect our school. As I floundered, so too did the students. The adult gatherings and the readings were where the puzzle pieces ever so slowly fell into place.

(YATST Teacher)

For TeachersGraduate level class/Professional Development credit

Listening skillsLeading while getting out of the way

DEPTH: DIFFERENTIATED SUPPORT

For students:Facilitation skillsGrounding in language of pedagogy

Introduction to key issues in ed reform

Multi-year growth

The ongoing training throughout the year that they do with the students and with the leaders corresponds with student development throughout the year, so that… by the end of the year, when they had the [school-wide] student meeting, they ran that meeting one hundred percent by themselves…The kids really understood how to organize a meeting by that time.

(YATST Teacher)

DEPTH: CHANGING STUDENT BELIEFS

[YATST] started off really slow because the kids were having a really hard time getting that if they did something, that it might actually have a positive impact. Slowly, we’re building that up.

(YATST Principal)

We came to a place where a lot of the [students] were like, “These kids just need to learn that school is important; you need to learn. You need to do what your teachers are telling you,” and we were like, “Whoa, how did we get here?”

(YATST Teacher)

SUSTAINABILITY

Sustainable means: Support at multiple levels

Knowledgeable leadership

Connections with other schools engaged in similar efforts

Depth Spread

Sustainability

Shift in Reform

Ownership

SUSTAINABILITY: NETWORK BUILDINGContact with our fellow YATST schools has been one of the highlights of the year. Meeting so many progressive and caring individuals has enriched our little YATST group. Our students keep in touch with friends from [other schools]. We are looking forward to the summer activities and fall conference.

(YATST Teacher)

My relationships with members of the PLC developed and flourished inside and outside of YATST work, deepening and broadening my connection to a network of innovative educators. (YATST Teacher)

SUSTAINABILITY: MULTI-LEVEL SUPPORT

“Meaningful student voice is essential, both in terms of the development of a personal learning plan, but also in the development of the school’s environment for learning. That’s why it’s so important to us that we make these kinds of opportunities available throughout the state.” (Vermont Agency of Education)

SHIFT IN REFORM OWNERSHIP

Shift in Ownership means:Movement from external to internal

Continued source of funding

On-going support for training

Depth Spread

Sustainability

Shift in Reform

Ownership

SHIFT IN REFORM OWNERSHIPWhen it came time to, you know, go about compressing [the data] and dealing with it and choosing what we’re going to focus on and everything, because it was those earlier years, we were fortunate enough to be able to access [the YATST Director] quite a lot. Actually quite a lot, so she really should be counted as an early on team member. Our success, our early on success I think is thanks to her because it wasn’t all established yet.

(YATST teacher)

LOOKING FORWARD

-Refine our understanding of long-term partnership:

-Focus on system building at multiple levels

-Tension between ownership and vision clarity

-Key partners

-Teachers, principals AND students