Leading in complex environments: the role of leadership in multi-school organization improvement

Abstract

ABSTRACT School improvement in chronically under-performing schools remains a formidable challenge for school leaders. Recent policies in the U.S. have created incentives for school leaders to attempt new strategies to improve outcomes, and increasingly, school leaders of charter management organizations and other multi-school organizations (MSOs) are taking on this work. Research suggests that the most successful school leaders of MSOs have established robust systems of instruction and professional development. This article is based on a longitudinal qualitative case study of a school leadership team at a new MSO and uses the framework of epistemic communities to consider how leaders can generate, manage, and transfer knowledge within and across school boundaries while operating within an accountability-focused school turnaround context. Given the diverse professional backgrounds of U.S. educators, creating the capacity for school leaders and teachers to develop a common theory of action and leverage common tools may both be necessary for improvement in student outcomes but also complex and resource-intensive work. Developing highly capable MSOs is an iterative process that requires significant time and resources in school leadership positions to build a shared curriculum, align on instructional design, and develop leadership capacity to support teaching and learning within and across schools.