Since the first state takeover of local public schools in 1989, state intervention has expanded to also include school turnaround, a designation for rapid improvement for schools with persistent low performance. Prior research suggests the conceptual use of research evidence may help leaders better understand what challenges lead to longstanding, taken-for-granted, but ineffective practices in turnaround schools. The use of research epistemology, or the ‘how to’ methods behind research evidence, may help leaders better understand the process for developing meaningful solutions in their own contexts. Leveraging organizational research on field configuring events, Bridwell-Mitchell and team will examine whether an intentionally designed professional convening and consultancy intervention can catalyze conditions to improve turnaround leaders’ conceptual use of research evidence and epistemology. The multi-stage, multi-method pilot study will examine the experiences and turnaround practices of convening participants; it will also examine their use of research evidence and epistemology, making comparisons to similar leaders not attending the convening. Findings will provide evidence for the viability of an at-scale intervention to create a model for state education agencies and others to convene turnaround leaders as a lever for turnaround progress.
Does a professional convening intervention catalyze conditions to improve conceptual use of research evidence and research epistemology among turnaround school leaders?
