Conference Agenda

Problem of Practice

Schools and school systems do not effectively provide students labeled with disabilities equitable opportunities to learn in mainstream classrooms (Ainscow et al., 2019). Moreover, the marginalization of these students is compounded by other dimensions of identity (e.g., race, ethnicity, home language) (AUTHOR, 2020).

Research Focus

This project addresses this problem of practice by focusing on the core question: How can a school system engage in a research practice partnership with a university to support systemic transformation that advances effective, accessible, and inclusive education?

Theoretical Framework

The theoretical framework grounding this research practice partnership (RPP) is the sociocultural learning theory of communities of practice (AUTHOR 2023; Wenger, 1998). Educational leaders - from individual schools to networks of schools - can promote organizational transformation by productively and innovatively leveraging communities of practice (AUTHOR 2013; 2016).

Modes of Inquiry

Research-practice partnerships (RPPs) offer a promising approach to structuring resources to support these educational leaders by helping them navigate sociocultural and organizational differences (Penuel & Gallagher, 2017). This project describes an emergent RPP between one public school district in the United States and a university.

Evidence

This paper analyzes (a) historical documentation to explore correlations amongst district-level special education policies, school-level service delivery models, and school-level student learning outcomes, and (b) interviews, observations, and documentation to show how the shift in special education policy at the district-level is affecting school-level service delivery models.

Findings

We are finding that district-level policy efforts to advance equitable opportunities to learn failed to lead to effective service delivery models within schools to provide effective, accessible, and inclusive education for students labeled with disabilities as well as across other dimensions of identity. We developed a working theory of action to confront this longstanding problem in a novel manner. Over the first year this RPP seeded a constellation of three communities of practice:

- An RPP Design Team, comprising five individuals (three from the district (central office administrators) and two from the university (one core faculty, one core research assistant), serves as the hub.

- School-based Inclusion Planning Teams are empowered to implement the theory of action in an adaptive manner in their local context.

- A cadre of regional inclusion coaches act as brokers between the Design Team and the Inclusion Planning Teams.

Significance

We are learning lessons about shaping the architecture of these communities of practice in manners that optimize organizational transformation. This project illustrates ways to productively leverage networking amongst actors who are positioned in disparate organizations. A desire to collaborate and a recognition of a common problem are not enough. A clear theory of action coupled with flexible structures to implement this iteratively are needed.

Connections to Conference Theme

Supporting systemic transformation to advance effective, accessible, and inclusive education, this RPP connects directly to the conference focus on professional learning that improves school effectiveness. Further, it aligns with the subthemes of (a) improvement efforts that are collaborative and sustainable and (b) promoting equity, inclusion, belonging, diversity, and social justice.

Well-being or positive mental health is important during all stages of a person’s growth and development, but especially during childhood and adolescence (Hargreaves & Shirley, 2021). Despite this, it is not always evident what well-being might mean in an educational context or how educators can best support well-being or mental health in an environment predominantly focused on cognitive development and achievement. Hargreaves and Shirley (2021) suggest that educators are more “likely to grasp the value of well-being when it’s not there, when we witness all the signs of being ill instead” (p. 28). The moral imperative belongs within the school system to create conditions that address mental health promotion for all students and minimize conditions that contribute to or exacerbate mental illness in children and youth.

In this project, we build upon recommendations from the Alberta Child and Youth Well-being Action Plan (2022) and the Government of Alberta's Mental Health in Schools Pilot initiative to develop a mental health evaluation framework that will engage and support school leaders, classroom teachers, and school-support staff in the implementation of school-based mental health initiatives. This framework is also intended to be utilized by school authority leaders as part of their ongoing quality assurance and continuous improvement of mental health supports and services.

A convergent mixed methods design was used to create the mental health evaluation framework through examining the current landscape of mental health supports and services in schools in Alberta. Data was collected through a review of 60 government-funded mental health pilot project proposals, an environmental scan of relevant organizational websites and documents to describe current mental health supports and services and their evaluation, and a review of scholarly and grey literature to identify indicators of effective practice for a robust mental health continuum of supports and services. In addition, as members of the research team we worked in collaboration with representatives from the community which formed the Community Partner Engagement Committee, consisting of: (a) members of Indigenous communities, (b) school superintendents, (c) principals, (d) teachers and other school staff involved in supporting and promoting mental health (e.g., school counsellors), and (e) families and individuals with lived experience in mental health conditions. We drew on the extensive research on enabling conditions (Rickinson et al., 2022), implementation drivers (Sims & Melcher, 2017), and impacts (CASEL, 2020), as well as stories gathered through dialogue with our community partner advisory (Figure 1).

Figure 1

Analytic Framework for the MHSP Proposals

Previous research on the effectiveness of school-based mental health promotion has recognized that there is a tendency towards individualized, short-term, discrete approaches that focus on symptom change rather than reworking problematic relationship patterns or confronting structural inequalities (O’Toole, 2017). This study offers a unique perspective on improving school effectiveness through purposeful dialogue between government, policymakers, academic researchers, educators, and the wider school community resulting in the development of a mental health evaluation framework that will support school leaders and educators in the implementation of mental health initiatives through a systemic approach.

This paper offers a model to support the scaling of Special Assistance Schools, that are increasingly popular in a post-covid world, through targeted coaching and a professional development framework with clear aspirational expectations. Whilst research into these schools has increased in the last few years, the focus tends to be on the impact on students rather than the leadership structures that enable the work (Brunker & Lombardo, 2021; Corry et al., 2022) . We will present how a School Principal of an Independent, fee free, inner-city Melbourne Special Assistance School (sometime referred to as a flexi school), worked in an intentional way to identify and rapidly build capacity in her middle and senior leadership team.

Doing education differently, has become the rally cry of 21st century educational leaders. Human centred, Innovative, Enterprising and Entrepreneurial are key words are scattered through glossy prospectuses and across school websites. The reality is for most educational institutions, despite two years of enforced experimentation in pedagogy and learning environment, business as usual with little real change in how schools operate beyond some specialised programs (Watterston & Zhao, 2023).

The flexi-school context is a high-pressured environment, with numerous critical incidents, teaching, educational intervention and wellbeing staff work together; as part of a multi-disciplinary team to create learning opportunities for young people who are disengaged from the traditional system of education. The Principal was keen to develop an organisational focus through a lens of aspirational futures for the students, often a challenging task in a space that attracts staff who focus on care and acceptance, rather than growth and learning. She knew there would need to be change the culture and expectations of both staff and the students in order to make the necessary shift. As an experienced school leader, the Principal knew she couldn’t implement and sustain change alone.

Using a dialogical and reflective process, we collaborated to combine bespoke leadership training and individual coaching, enabling the Principal to identify, recruit and build a middle and executive leadership team able to support a distributed leadership model and her change agenda. Through moving away from a flat, almost non-existent leadership structure, to one with clear and tiered responsibilities, the school was able to develop a culture based on clear expectations of learning, grow and care, offering a robust and relevant curriculum for students. Succession planning was actioned and opportunities for shadowing and learning from the internal school experts exists for professionals from a myriad of professional backgrounds – education, social and youth work and allied health.

The process of an intentional leadership development process, that includes targeted coaching and tailored leadership awareness offers significant benefits for school leaders with a strong improvement, high expectations and master plan for growth and expansion.

Working in partnership with external expertise in educational leadership and coaching supports change, enables rapid pace setting and benefits the career trajectories of aspiring and emerging, middle and senior leaders which furthers the improvement agenda of the school and offers a model for other similar settings.