The Critical Role of Brokers in the Access and Use of Evidence at the School and District Level

Abstract

With the push for data-driven decision making in the current accountability system, evidence use becomes vital to the improvement of low-performing schools. In this exploratory case study, we utilize social network theory and methods to examine how evidence is diffused and brokered by the educational leaders (central office, area superintendents, and school site administrators) across a large urban district, focusing particularly on whether evidence reaches leaders in low-performing schools. Our results suggest that very sparse data use ties exist across the entire district and that principals of underperforming schools, who are arguably in most need of evidence for improvement, are often disconnected from the overall data use structure. Furthermore, area superintendents, who are formally tasked with being the “source” of advice for data, are not always the most sought leaders within their areas. In addition, the communication patterns indicate a tendency to seek advice from outside the area for brokers in both formal and informal networks. Findings of this study give importance to the role of brokerage in districts’ evidence use for improving low-performing schools.