Change at the Micro, Meso, and Macro Levels: Connecting Across Research in US Public Education

Abstract

The last several decades of research and practice in US public education have become increasingly focused on the design and implementation of reform efforts that seek to address inequities in academic performance observed in school organizations across the country. Central to these efforts is an interest in organizational change as new programs and interventions alter the ways and means schools go about their work. While a plethora of approaches to change in education exist, less attention has been paid to drawing connections across varying efforts in the field. One way to address this challenge is to cast a lens on change-oriented programs in education from the vantage point of multiple levels of analysis. Given that the theoretical and methodological traditions of micro, meso, and macro level empirical work varies, our understanding of whether organizational change in education is most effective when focusing on individual, group, or system level outcomes is limited. In this symposium, three works of empirical research in public education will be presented, each situated at a different level of analysis. The presentations highlight a range of change relevant outcomes such as individual work-related non-cognitive perceptions, group stereotypes, and organizational ambidexterity. By putting work at multiple levels in conversation with each other, a clearer understanding of the advantages and challenges of doing work at each respective level of analysis can be made clearer, thereby enhancing our understanding of how and when to use certain organizational change approaches. Career-related Non-cognitive Outcomes: A Network Analysis of a Higher Education Intervention Presenter: Cortney Evans; Harvard U. Presenter: Monica Higgins; Harvard U. Presenter: David Sherer; Harvard U. The Paradox of Stereotypes in Education Reform Presenter: Renee M. Rinehart; Harvard Graduate School of Education The Ambidextrous School System: Case Studies of Process Management Programs in Education Presenter: Maxwell Yurkosfsky; Harvard U. Presenter: Amelia Peterson; Harvard U. Presenter: Kim Furmin; Harvard U. Presenter: Andrew Volkert; Harvard U. Presenter: Jal Mehta; Harvard U.