Matthew Shirrell

The Elephant in the Schoolhouse: The Role of Propinquity in School Staff Interactions about Teaching

Although the physical arrangement of workspaces can both constrain and enable interactions among organizational members, sociological research in education has not extensively examined the role of physical proximity in determining work-related social ties among school staff. Using social network analysis, this article explores the relationship between physical proximity and instructional advice seeking among school staff in all 14 elementary schools in one U.S. school district over four years. Results show that school staff whose workspaces are located closer to one another, and whose paths likely cross more frequently in their day-to-day work within the school building, are more likely to talk with one another about their work. Findings argue for more careful consideration when assigning school staff to workspaces, as the physical proximity of school staff appears to play a significant role in who talks to whom about instruction.

Breaking Up Isn’t Hard to Do: Exploring the Dissolution of Teachers’ and School Leaders’ Work-Related Ties:

Purpose: School leaders are central to the development of work-related ties among school staff. Although prior work has examined the predictors of the presence of work-related ties, little is known about the breakup or dissolution of ties among school staff. This study examines the extent of tie dissolution among school staff, as well as both the individual- and organizational-level predictors of the breakup of ties. Research Methods: This study uses social network analysis of 4 years of survey data from 14 elementary schools in one suburban U.S. district. Social network models predict the likelihood of the breakup of a tie between school staff in three types of networks: close colleague networks, and instructional advice networks in mathematics and language arts. Findings: Work-related ties between school staff dissolve at high rates from year to year, and ties that dissolve generally do not re-form. Aspects of the formal school organization—particularly changing grade levels and losing leadership positions—predict the breakup of ties, while individual-level factors such as commitment to the school, perceptions of school leadership, and beliefs about instruction generally do not predict tie dissolution. Implications for Research and Practice: School leaders should carefully consider grade reassignments and changes in leadership positions, as these changes strongly predict the breakup of ties between school staff. School leaders should also invest in the promotion and maintenance of cross-grade ties after changes to grade-level assignments.

New principals, accountability, and commitment in low-performing schools

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine first-year principals’ sense-making about two potentially conflicting demands as they take over low-performing urban schools: the demand to exert control over their teachers’ practice, and the need to build their teachers’ trust, collegiality, and commitment. Design/methodology/approach – This study draws on a series of surveys and interviews with 12 first-year principals that took over some of the lowest-performing public schools in one large urban district. Findings – Some principals begin their first year seeing their work to build accountability and commitment as complementary, while others see these two areas as in tension. Principals remain relatively consistent in these approaches over their first year on the job, although some principals change their views, generally coming to see these two areas as increasingly separate over time. Research limitations/implications – Future work should examine principals’ work to balance the demands of accountabili...

Educational infrastructure, professional learning, and changes in teachers’ instructional practices and beliefs

Abstract School systems around the world are adopting more intellectually ambitious academic content in the hopes of improving their educational productivity. In the United States, these efforts have required significant changes to teachers’ instructional practices, and increased attention to teachers’ formal and on-the-job professional learning opportunities. Focusing on the initial implementation of a reform-oriented approach to teaching mathematics in two local school systems in the United States, this paper examines whether – and under what circumstances – elementary teachers’ professional learning opportunities predict changes in their instructional practices and beliefs related to mathematics. Our findings reveal that teachers’ on-the-job interactions during the first year of reform predicted changes in their instructional practices; further, these changes were associated with the infrastructures that local school systems created to support teacher learning in mathematics. Teachers’ participation in formal professional development, in contrast, predicted changes in their instructional beliefs, but not their practices. These findings have implications for future efforts to design formal and on-the-job professional learning opportunities that support ambitious educational reforms.

Constructing “Experts” Among Peers: Educational Infrastructure, Test Data, and Teachers’ Interactions About Teaching

Teachers’ on-the-job interactions with colleagues impact their effectiveness, yet little research has explored whether and how teacher performance predicts these interactions. Drawing on 5 years of social network data from one school district, we explore the relationship between teacher performance and teachers’ instructional advice and information interactions. Results demonstrate that higher performing teachers are not more likely to be sought out for advice; instead, higher performing teachers are more likely to seek advice. Although school staff report they can identify the “best” teachers, they generally do not rely on student test scores, instead relying on more readily accessible indicators of performance. These findings have important implications for policy and practices that seek to promote desired interactions among teachers.

Who Is Here to Help Me? The Work-Related Social Networks of Staff of Color in Two Mid-Sized Districts

Despite the benefits of educators of color to various outcomes for students of color, large-scale research has not explored these educators’ on-the-job interactions with colleagues outside of large urban districts. Using social network analysis, this study examined the work-related social interactions of staff (teachers and administrators) of color in two mid-sized school districts. Where staff of color were likely the only faculty members of color—and where math professional development and curricular change were district-wide foci—staff of color were less likely to seek out colleagues for math advice. Staff of color were generally not sought for advice any more or less than White colleagues. Implications for policy and practice related to staff of color are discussed.

The Effects of Subgroup-Specific Accountability on Teacher Turnover and Attrition

The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 required states to set cutoffs to determine which schools were subject to accountability for their racial/ethnic subgroups. Using a regression discontinuity design and data from North Carolina, this study examines the effects of this policy on teacher turnover and attrition. Subgroup-specific accountability had no overall effects on teacher turnover or attrition, but the policy caused black teachers who taught in schools that were held accountable for the black student subgroup to leave teaching at significantly lower rates, compared with black teachers who taught in schools not accountable for the black subgroups performance. The policy also caused shifts in the students assigned to black teachers, with schools that were held accountable for the black subgroup less likely to assign black students to black teachers the following year. These findings demonstrate that subgroup-focused policies—particularly those that use cutoffs to determine subgroup accountability—can shape the composition of the teacher labor force in unintended ways, and have implications for the design of future accountability systems that aim to close racial/ethnic gaps in achievement.