Abstract
Scholars have argued that problem formulation is an important part of successfully initiating a Networked Improvement Community (NIC/s). Yet, few scholars have studied the problem formulation process at the beginning of a NIC. This study draws upon problem formulation literature to examine how district initiators in one NIC identify and make sense of a specific improvement problem. The study seeks to understand how the problem becomes (or does not become) central to the work of a NIC and thus supportive of the learning activities that ensue. Drawing upon qualitative data collected during a 12-month exploratory study, findings suggest that the absence of a clearly specified problem coupled limited consideration of the initiators’ dispositions both contributed to incoherence in the NIC. This incoherence limited learning opportunities for network participants and the ability of the NIC to widely influence practice in the school district. The findings reinforced the importance of a learning stance, engagement in disciplined inquiry, a systems perspective, a willingness to see others’ perspectives, and a willingness to persist beyond initial efforts are key to initiation. The study contributes to the improvement science literature by defining the importance of problem formulation as a leadership disposition and elevates it as a core action in network initiation. This has implications for educational improvement and change efforts within the United States and internationally, which have shown that problem specification is an important step in successful change activities.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Babichenko, M., Segal, A., & Asterhan, C. S. C. (2021). Associations between problem framing and teacher agency in school-based workgroup discussions of problems of practice. Teaching and Teacher Education. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2021.103417
Baer, M., Dirks, K. T., & Nickerson, J. A. (2013). Microfoundations of strategic problem formulation. Strategic Management Journal, 34(2), 197–214. https://doi.org/10.1002/smj.2004
Biag, M., & Sherer, D. (2021). Getting better at getting better: Improvement dispositions in education. Teachers College Record, 123(4), 1–42. https://doi.org/10.1177/016146812112300402
Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2006). Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 3(2), 77–101. https://doi.org/10.1191/1478088706qp063oa
Bryk, A. S., Gomez, L. M., Grunow, A., & LeMahieu, P. G. (2015). Learning to improve: How America’s schools can get better at getting better. Harvard Education Press.
Carspecken, P. F. (1996). Critical ethnography in educational research: A theoretical and practical guide. Psychology Press.
Deming, W. E. (1993). The new economics for industry, government, and education. Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Denzin, N. K. (1978). The research act: A theoretical introduction to sociological methods (2nd ed.). New York, NY: McGraw Hil
Engelbart, D. C. (1992). Toward high-performance organizations: A strategic role for groupware. Proceedings of the GroupWare, 92, 3–5.
Fullan, M. (2009). Large-scale reform comes of age. Journal of Educational Change, 10(2–3), 101–113. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10833-009-9108-z
Goldman, P., & Dunlap, D. M. (1990). Reform, restructuring, site-based management, and the new face of power in schools. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the university council for educational administration, Pittsburgh, PA, October 26–28, 1990. Retrieved from https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED325938.pdf.
Gralla, E., Goentzel, J., & Fine, C. (2016). Problem formulation and solution mechanisms: A behavioral study of humanitarian transportation planning. Production and Operations Management, 25(1), 22–35. https://doi.org/10.1111/poms.12496
Hacker, J. V., Bodendorf, F., & Lorenz, P. (2017). A framework to identify knowledge actor roles in enterprise social networks. Journal of Knowledge Management, 21(4), 817–838. https://doi.org/10.1108/JKM-10-2016-0443
Hansen, M. T. (1999). The search-transfer problem: The role of weak ties in sharing knowledge across organization subunits. Administrative Science Quarterly, 44(1), 82–111. https://doi.org/10.2307/2667032
Hopkins, D. (2003). “Understanding networks for innovation in policy and practice” in OECD (Ed.), Networks of innovation: Towards new models for managing schools and systems, (pp. 153–163). Paris, France, OECD Publication Services.
Joshi, E., Redding, C., & Cannata, M. (2021). In the NIC of time: How sustainable are networked improvement communities? American Journal of Education, 127(3), 369–397. https://doi.org/10.1086/713826
Kallio, J. M. (2022). The problem-identification process prior to the initiation of a networked improvement community. Designs for Learning, 14(1), 58–71.
Karnopp, J. R., and Lochmiller, C. R. (2023), From initiation to dissolution: Learning from the unsuccessful launch of Networked Improvement, in E. Anderson and S. D. Hayes (Eds.), Continuous Improvement: A Leadership Process for School Improvement (pp. 357-372). Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing.
LeMahieu, P. G., Grunow, A., Baker, L., Nordstrum, L. E., & Gomez, L. M. (2017). Networked improvement communities: The discipline of improvement science meets the power of networks. Quality Assurance in Education, 25(1), 5–25. https://doi.org/10.1108/QAE-12-2016-0084
Lucas, B., & Nacer, H. (2015). The habits of an improver: thinking about learning for improvement in healthcare. London, UK: The Health Foundation. Retrieved from https://cris.winchester.ac.uk/ws/portalfiles/portal/356150/59TheHabitsOfAnImprover.pdf.
Lyles, M. A. (2014). Organizational learning, knowledge creation, problem formulation and innovation in messy problems. European Management Journal, 32(1), 132–136. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.emj.2013.05.003
Lyles, M. A., & Thomas, H. (1988). Strategic problem formulation: Biases and assumptions embedded in alternative decision-making models. Journal of Management Studies, 25(2), 131–145. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-6486.1988.tb00028.x
Lochmiller, C. R., and Orr, M. T. (2023), Assessing leadership skills and organizational conditions for continuous improvement: Two approaches, in E. Anderson and S. D. Hayes (Eds.), Continuous Improvement: A Leadership Process for School Improvement. (pp. 225-254). Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing.
Marsh, D. D., & Bowman, G. A. (1989). State-initiated top-down versus bottom-up reform. Educational Policy, 3(3), 195–216. https://doi.org/10.1177/0895904889003003001
Martin, W. G., & Gobstein, H. (2015). Generating a networked improvement community to improve secondary mathematics teacher preparation: Network leadership, organization, and operation. Journal of Teacher Education, 66(5), 482–493. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022487115602312
McLaughlin, M., & Talbert, J. (2003). Reforming districts: How districts support school reform. University of Washington.
Park, V., Kennedy, K. E., Gallagher, H. A., Cottingham, B. W., & Gong, A. (2022). Weaving and stacking: How school districts craft coherence towards continuous improvement. Journal of Educational Change. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10833-022-09471-5
Peurach, D. J., & Gumus, E. (2011). Executive leadership in school improvement networks: A conceptual framework and agenda for research. Current Issues in Education, 14(3). Retrieved from https://cie.asu.edu/ojs/index.php/cieatasu/article/view/761.
Peurach, D. J., Cohen, D. K., Yurkofsky, M. M., & Spillane, J. P. (2019). From mass schooling to education systems: Changing patterns in the organization and management of instruction. Review of Research in Education, 43(1), 32–67.
Popp, J., MacKean, G. L., Casebeer, A., Milward, H. B., & Lindstrom, R. R. (2013). Interorganizational networks: A critical review of the literature to inform practice. Washington, DC: IBM Center for The Business of Government. Retrieved from https://www.businessofgovernment.org/report/inter-organizational-networks-review-literature-inform-practice.
Provan, K. G., & Lemaire, R. H. (2012). Core concepts and key ideas for understanding public sector organizational networks: Using research to inform scholarship and practice. Public Administration Review, 72(5), 638–648. https://doi.org/10.1111/puar.2012.72.issue-510.1111/j.1540-6210.2012.02595.x
Reinhardt, W., Schmidt, B., Sloep, P., & Drachsler, H. (2011). Knowledge worker roles and actions-results of two empirical studies. Knowledge and Process Management, 18(3), 150–174. https://doi.org/10.1002/kpm.378
Resnick, A. F. (2023). Attending to role identities within continuous improvement. In E. Anderson & S. D. Hayes (Eds.), Continuous improvement: A leadership process for school improvement. Information Age Publishing.
Rohanna, K. (2017) Breaking the “Adopt Attack Abandon” Cycle: A Case for Improvement Science in K–12. Education Abstract New Directions for Evaluation, 153, 65–77 https://doi.org/10.1002/ev.2017.2017.issue-153
Rowe, M., Fernandez, M., Angeletou, S., & Alani, H. (2013). Community analysis through semantic rules and role composition derivation. Web Semantics: Science, Services and Agents on the World Wide Web, 18(1), 31–47.
Russell, J. L., Bryk, A. S., Dolle, J., Gomez, L. M., LeMahieu, P., & Grunow, A. (2017). A framework for the initiation of networked improvement communities. Teachers College Record, 119(5), 1–36.
Sharratt, L., & Fullan, M. (2006). Accomplishing districtwide reform. Journal of School Leadership, 16(5), 583–595. https://doi.org/10.1177/105268460601600509
Spillane, J. P., & Thompson, C. L. (1997). Reconstructing conceptions of local capacity: The local education agency’s capacity for ambitious instructional reform. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 19(2), 185–203. https://doi.org/10.3102/01623737019002185
Supovitz, J. A. (2006). The case for district-based reform: Leading, building, and sustaining school improvement. Harvard Education Press.
Toussaint, J. S., & Ehrlich, S. P. (2017). Five changes great leaders make to develop an improvement culture. NEJM Catalyst, 3(4). https://doi.org/10.1056/CAT.17.0419
Volkema, R. J. (1983). Problem formulation in planning and design. Management Science, 29(6), 639–652.
von Hippel, E., & von Krogh, G. (2016). Identifying viable “need-solution pairs”: Problem solving without problem formulation. Organization Science, 27(1), 207–221. https://doi.org/10.1287/orsc.2015.1023
Funding
Data collection and analysis were not supported by external funding.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
On behalf of all authors, the corresponding author states that there is no conflict of interest.
Additional information
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
About this article
Cite this article
Lochmiller, C.R., Karnopp, J.R. Understanding initiators’ problem framing in the initiation of a networked improvement community. J Educ Change (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10833-023-09501-w
Accepted:
Published:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10833-023-09501-w