School-level organizational routines for learning: supporting data use
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to use an extreme case to identify and describe the nature of routines that might support processes and outcomes of data use, drawing from a framework developed by Coburn and Turner (2012a).
Design/methodology/approach
The author conducted a four-month case study (Stake, 1995) of an elementary school in a large urban school district that had implemented balanced score cards. The author identified a school that had strong qualities to support data use, including leadership and information systems.
Findings
Two school-level organizational routines facilitated teachers’ data use: collaborative teams and processes of inquiry. These routines stored knowledge about the types of data teachers ought to notice, and to a lesser extent, how they ought to interpret data and construct implications for practice. These routines also provided opportunities for single and double-loop learning (Argyris and Schön, 1996) and might contribute to improvements in student learning. This case provides an example of how a school negotiated external performance management pressures, and maintained their professional autonomy, focussing on internally initiated assessments.
Originality/value
Relatively little research has described what organizational routines support data use among practitioners. In addition to describing two routines, this case also demonstrated the need to frame these routines as organizational routines for learning. To further develop these routines, the author drew on the notion of the knowledge-creating company (Nonaka and Takeuchi, 1995) to explain how the school used their organizational routines to share tacit knowledge (socialization), and to convert tacit knowledge to explicit knowledge (externalization), which supported instructional innovations.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The author wants to thank the following individuals who provided insights throughout the analysis and representation of this case study: Nora Gannon, Tyza Ghanda, Amy Heineke, Kristin Davin, and the anonymous reviewers. Most importantly, the author wants to thank Dr Baccellieri and the staff members at Abbott for giving the opportunity to learn from them.
Citation
M. Kallemeyn, L. (2014), "School-level organizational routines for learning: supporting data use", Journal of Educational Administration, Vol. 52 No. 4, pp. 529-548. https://doi.org/10.1108/JEA-02-2013-0025
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2014, Emerald Group Publishing Limited