The Role of School Support Structures: Building the Capacity of Schools As Learning Organizations

The national education landscape has seen a rise in the use of public, nonprofit, and for-profit school support structures (SSS) that operate under the aegis of or alongside traditional school districts. Few analyses have examined the relative functioning of different forms of SSS. Our knowledge gaps are especially pronounced with respect to how different SSS facilitate organizational learning within schools, and the ways they leverage institutional capacities to improve teaching and school performance. This study will examine the approaches of SSS to organizational learning in the context of the implementation of Common Core standards in New York City. The Common Core standards challenge traditional approaches to teaching and student learning, and require a substantial rethinking of school work at every level of the system. New York City represents a site where major actors are in the midst of an overhaul of how such supports will be delivered. School networks (Children’s First Networks) created under the previous administration have been dissolved, shifting the balance of power to the central Department of Education and local superintendents. Some decentralized legacy support structures remain, as do alternative charter management organizations. This study will examine how these three forms work to develop school capacity--to recalibrate practice, access new resources and expertise, and facilitate learning around the Common Core standards. Theoretically, the research contributes to organizational learning theory by examining influences across diverse settings.,