Improvement Science in the Field

Cases of Practitioners Leading Change in Schools

Edited by Edwin Nii Bonney; Sarah A. Capello and Maxwell Yurkofsky

While several texts provide pedagogical and theoretical insights on improvement science for faculty, graduate students, and educational leaders, practitioners’ voices are seldom heard. Improvement Science in the Field: Cases of Practitioners Leading Change in Schools fills this gap by presenting real-life cases of K-12 practitioners’ use of improvement science to lead change in their educational systems.

Improvement Science in the Field: Cases of Practitioners Leading Change in Schools contains two sections. Part I presents practitioners’ accounts of their use of improvement science to address actual problems of practice, such as closing discipline and achievement gaps, managing teacher stress and mental health, and improving school climate. Part II follows a tradition of case-based teaching in which authors provide part of their improvement journey and then invite readers to practice, discuss, brainstorm, and reflect on how they would address the problem presented using the tools of improvement science.

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

Pages: 244 • Trim: 7¼ x 10¼

978-1-5381-8016-7 • Hardback • February 2024 • $95.00 • (£73.00)

978-1-5381-8017-4 • Paperback • February 2024 • $35.00 • (£30.00)

Subjects: Education / Educational Policy & Reform / General, Education / Administration / General, Education / Leadership

Improvement Science in the Field

Cases of Practitioners Leading Change in Schools

Hardback

Paperback

Summary

While several texts provide pedagogical and theoretical insights on improvement science for faculty, graduate students, and educational leaders, practitioners’ voices are seldom heard. Improvement Science in the Field: Cases of Practitioners Leading Change in Schools fills this gap by presenting real-life cases of K-12 practitioners’ use of improvement science to lead change in their educational systems.
Improvement Science in the Field: Cases of Practitioners Leading Change in Schools contains two sections. Part I presents practitioners’ accounts of their use of improvement science to address actual problems of practice, such as closing discipline and achievement gaps, managing teacher stress and mental health, and improving school climate. Part II follows a tradition of case-based teaching in which authors provide part of their improvement journey and then invite readers to practice, discuss, brainstorm, and reflect on how they would address the problem presented using the tools of improvement science.

Details

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

Pages: 244 • Trim: 7¼ x 10¼

978-1-5381-8016-7 • Hardback • February 2024 • $95.00 • (£73.00)

978-1-5381-8017-4 • Paperback • February 2024 • $35.00 • (£30.00)

Subjects: Education / Educational Policy & Reform / General, Education / Administration / General, Education / Leadership

Author

Edwin Nii Bonney earned his Ph.D. in educational leadership and policy analysis from the University of Missouri in 2021. His research centers on how educational leaders and educators disrupt and/or reinforce the marginalization of their minoritized, vulnerable, and racialized students’ languages, cultures, and histories. Dr. Bonney pays particular attention in his research to moments of disruption in and beyond educational spaces where students and community members are centering their own languages, cultures, and histories and are reshaping what is considered “normal” or standard. He has published several articles, book chapters, and policy briefs on decolonizing educational leadership, discourse analysis of educational policies and programs, refugee and immigrant education, school-community partnerships, and school-family engagement. Dr. Bonney teaches courses and advises students in the doctoral education program. He is interested in learning and working alongside educational leaders in tackling problems of practice so that their students can be equitably served.
Sarah Capello earned a Ph.D. in Administrative and Policy Studies in 2018 from the School of Education at the University of Pittsburgh and has nearly ten years of experience teaching in higher education at the undergraduate and graduate levels. One strand of Dr. Capello’s research focuses on transformative EdD education and supporting the growth and development of educational leaders who are scholarly practitioners through practitioner inquiry, doctoral assessments, and dissertation writing. A second strand of research focuses on instructional supervision for pre-service and in-service teachers. Dr. Capello has published articles in the Journal of Educational Supervision, Action in Teacher Education, College Teaching, Impacting Education, and has a forthcoming article in Teaching and Teacher Education. She currently teaches practitioner inquiry courses in the EdD program as well as chairs and serves on EdD dissertation committees.
Maxwell Yurkofsky obtained his Ed.D. in Educational Policy, Leadership, and Instructional Practice from the Harvard Graduate School of Education in 2020. He teaches in the Doctor of Education program and the Master’s in Educational Leadership program, and is committed to preparing school and system leaders to strategically utilize improvement science, organizational theory, evaluation, and design principles to inquire into and address high-leverage problems of practice. His research centers on understanding how school systems can organize for continuous improvement towards more ambitious and equitable visions of learning. Dr. Yurkofsky has been published in numerous peer-reviewed journals, including Educational Researcher, Educational Administration Quarterly, Review of Research in Education, The Harvard Educational Review, Teaching and Teacher Education, Computers & Education, Teachers College Record, Educational Policy, and the Peabody Journal of Education. His dissertation won the “Dissertation of the Year” award from the Leadership for School Improvement Special Interest Group of the American Educational Research Association in 2021.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgement
Foreword (by Brandi Hinnant-Crawford, Ph.D., Clemson University)
Introduction
Part 1 - Cases on Leading Change
Chapter 1 - Leading Change in Racial Disparities in Discipline
Chapter 2 - Leading Change in Enrollment of Black and Brown Students in Gifted Programs
Chapter 3 - Leading Change in Teacher Stress and Mental Health
Chapter 4 - Leading Change in the Overrepresentation of Students of Color in Special Education
Chapter 5 - Leading Change in Onboarding and Support of Novice Teachers
Part 2 - Cases for Practice & Discussion
Chapter 6 - Practice Case on EL Family Engagement
Chapter 7 - Practice Case on Discipline and In-School Suspensions
Chapter 8 - Practice Case on Middle to High School Transitions
Chapter 9 - Practice Case on Reading Achievement
Chapter 10 - Practice Case on Teacher Demoralization
Chapter 11 - Practice Case on Gifted Education
Conclusion
Afterword - (by Sandy Strayer, Wendy Durham, Matt Woods, Elizabeth Motley, Kenya Gravely, Henry County)
Appendix
References
Index
About the Authors

Reviews

"An “improvement movement” is afoot in education, in the United States and around the world. This movement empowers local teachers, leaders, family members, and community advocates to use rigorous approaches to local innovation to address local educational opportunities, needs, and problems. Improvement Science in the Field gives voice to these local change agents, makes their practice visible to others, and provides novel perspectives on the day-to-day work of advancing new ambitions for students’ learning and development. This volume is sure to inspire and guide others who are embracing the challenge of transformative educational change."

— Donald Peurach, professor, University of Michigan, School of Education

"Improvement Science in the Field offers definitive examples of EdD students who have implemented the tools of improvement science to address complex challenges found in their professional practice. Readers of this book will learn in two ways—first, by following the journey of six projects, readers will experience the improvement process alongside and through the eyes of the student investigator. Second, using learning cases readers will engage and grapple with the improvement process through discussions of real-world problems of practice playing out in educational systems."

— Jill Alexa Perry, Professor of Practice, University of Pittsburgh & Executive Director, Carnegie Project on the Education Doctorate (CPED)

"By amplifying the voices and experiences of educators and illuminating how practitioners sought to solve crucial issues (e.g., racial disparities in student discipline, teacher wellness in the Covid-era), the authors open up the black box of improvement science. For instance, the book makes concrete various steps of PDSA cycles and how to analyze and use data obtained via empathy interviews. Additionally, Improvement Science in the Field embeds tools and suggestions for routines that hold much potential for supporting the efforts--plus learning--of teams of practitioners. Ultimately, the testimonies and insights of this book will improve educational systems and practices."

— Sarah Woulfin, associate professor of education, University of Texas at Austin