Responding to COVID-19 With the Aid of Mutually Beneficial Partnerships in Education

Manuelito Biag,Louis M Gomez,Ash Vasudeva,David G Imig

doi:10.3389/feduc.2020.621361

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has altered the structures and routines of K-12 education. Districts and school systems worldwide continue to adapt their ways of working to address a variety of challenges–many of whose dimensions are complex, dynamic, and not entirely known. Without cooperation and collaboration among stakeholders, institutions, and communities, we will be less able to address students’ social, emotional, and learning needs. In this paper, we present evidence that suggests mutually beneficial partnerships between local education agencies (LEAs) and institutions of higher education (IHEs), grounded in improvement science, can serve as an essential resource to address dilemmas brought about by the pandemic. We examine the work of four partnerships in the Improvement Leadership Education and Development (iLEAD) Network. Our analysis suggests that what matters in this period of uncertainty is that partnerships take a systems perspective, pay direct attention to the needs of critical users, avoid pre-determined programs and solutions, and engage in disciplined inquiry across institutional boundaries to affect positive and lasting change. A deeper understanding of how these partnerships operate–their principles, routines, methods, and tools–can help educational systems support students during the current global health crisis.

Highlights

Biological disasters are “natural scenarios involving disease, disability or death on a large scale among humans, animals and plants due to microorganisms like bacteria, or virus or toxins (Kumar, 2020, p. 6).” The COVID-19 pandemic qualifies as a biological disaster and it has spread worldwide
This paper explores how partnerships between school districts and geographically proximal universities may serve as a strategic resource that can be leveraged to help students learn during the COVID-19 pandemic
Examining Improvement Leadership Education and Development (iLEAD), we argue that shared commitment to continuous improvement principles, methods, and tools can form the basis for more productive and we-centered partnerships between local education agencies (LEAs) and IHEs

Summary

Introduction

Biological disasters are “natural scenarios involving disease, disability or death on a large scale among humans, animals and plants due to microorganisms like bacteria, or virus or toxins (Kumar, 2020, p. 6).” The COVID-19 pandemic qualifies as a biological disaster and it has spread worldwide. For nearly a dozen years, the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching has been promoting a new relationship between research and practice through the use of improvement science enacted through networked improvement communities or NICs (Bryk et al, 2015; Russell et al, 2017). Characterized as a scientific learning community, as well as a type of research-practice partnership (RPP) model (Coburn et al, 2013; Russell et al, 2017), NICs are made up of stakeholders from different backgrounds committed to solving common problems through shared theory and disciplined cycles of inquiry (Bryk et al, 2015; Khachatryan and Parkerson, 2020)

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Conclusion