Yi-Hwa Liou

The Rise of Neurotics Social Networks, Leadership, and Efficacy in District Reform

Purpose: Increasing evidence suggests the importance of relationships between district and site leaders. However, there is limited empirical evidence regarding the social infrastructure between and among leaders especially as related to the exchange of advice related to reform. Moreover, we have limited understanding regarding the mechanisms that are associated with how certain leaders occupy influential social positions. Method: Using social network data from district and site leaders, we conducted social network analysis and regression models to examine the relationship between a leader’s network position measured by incoming, outgoing, and close ties; personality traits; and leader self-efficacy controlling for demographics. Findings: Findings indicate that leaders with more incoming advice relationships from other leaders were associated with more years of experience in the district, being self-identified as “neurotic,” reporting higher efficacy in leading reform, and less efficacy in management. Leaders with more outgoing advice ties also self-identified as “neurotic” and reported lower efficacy in management. Leaders who were readily sought in terms of advice were explained by the number of years in the district and the self-reported personality traits of “neurotic,” “extraverted,” and “conscientious.” Leaders who were able to more efficiently connect to other leaders for advice were explained by being “neurotic,” “extraverted,” and “conscientious” as well as reporting low efficacy for management. Implications: Results suggest the importance of considering both personality traits as well as perceptions of efficacy in terms of understanding how leaders come to occupy influential social position in an advice network related to reform.

Improving trust, improving schools: Findings from a social network analysis of 43 primary schools in England

Purpose – Many governments worldwide are now promoting the importance of research-informed efforts at improvement. At the same time research is yet to make sustained impact on the practices of teachers. Given the importance of the issue and the lack of progress in this area, the purpose of this paper is to examine what drives teachers’ perceptions that their school: first, encourages the use of research evidence to support improvements to teaching; and second, whether school improvement strategies are grounded in research on effective practice. Design/methodology/approach – Reviewing extant literature, the authors hypothesize that teachers’ perceptions of research use are related to their perceptions of: the presence of in-school organizational learning (OL) factors; whether they work in high-trust environments; and also to the frequency and quality of their “expertise-seeking” interactions. Using a survey instrument to measure OL, trust, and school research use climate, the authors gather data from 828 t...

School Crisis Management: A Model of Dynamic Responsiveness to Crisis Life Cycle

Purpose: This study aims to analyze a school’s crisis management and explore emerging aspects of its response to a school crisis. Traditional linear modes of analysis often fail to address complex crisis situations. The present study applied a dynamic crisis life cycle model that draws on chaos and complexity theory to a crisis management case, and further imbued the dynamic model with core aspects emerging from the school’s crisis response to understand crisis management. Method and Analysis: The study was conducted at one Midwestern PK-12 school. A combination of case study design to guide data collection in a systemic manner and grounded theory to guide data analysis was administered. Multiple data sources were collected through semistructured interviews, focus group discussion, and review of crisis plan from members of the crisis management team and selected non–team members. Open coding, axial coding, and selective coding strategies were employed to allow for emerging themes with which a constant comparative analysis was used to compare against existing theoretical frame. Strategies for enhancing trustworthiness were discussed. Findings: Findings suggest that (a) the dynamic crisis life cycle model is useful in perceiving and addressing the school crisis and its aftereffects but it also has potential constraints in the sequential design and (b) flexibility, collaboration, and self-correcting mechanism emerge as important aspects of crisis response in strengthening existing understanding of crisis management from which a dynamic responsiveness model is developed. Discussion of the findings, implications for research and practice, and limitations of the results are provided.

More than a master: developing, sharing, and using knowledge in school–university research networks

Postgraduate master’s programs for in-service teachers may be a promising new avenue in developing research partnership networks that link schools and university and enable collaborative development, sharing and use of knowledge of teacher research. This study explores the way these knowledge processes originating from master’s students’ research occurs in the school–university network of a master’s program embedded in the K–12 school environment of a Central Management Organization in the US. Questionnaires, interviews, and logs were used to collect quantitative and qualitative data at four time-points over a 10-month period. Data were analyzed at three network levels: school, dyad, and individual. Findings indicate that the school network context provided both master’s students and research advisors with a supportive context for collaboratively engaging in knowledge processes during research as well as after they graduated. However, the network context was not enough to build sustainable and productive relationships in the partnership network.

Leveraging the relationship: knowledge processes in school–university research networks of master’s programmes

This study investigated the way developing, sharing and using of research-based knowledge occurred in the school–university research network of a master’s programme for in-service teachers in the Netherlands. Over a 10-month period, a combination of quantitative and qualitative network data was collected. Data were analysed at three network levels: school, pairs of master’s students and research supervisors, and individuals. Overall, results indicate that building knowledge productive relationships in a master’s programme is a complex endeavour. Although individual master’s students and research supervisors aimed for continuing knowledge processes in school and university after student’s graduation, few actually did. The school context and the strategies of research supervisors provided students with too little support for sustaining the knowledge processes. This study shows from a network perspective the complexities, challenges and potential of developing partnership relationships in a master’s programme between schools and universities as well as between master’s students and research supervisors.

Foregrounding the role of relationships in reform: A social network perspective on leadership and change

– The role of relationships in the process of leadership and change is central, yet the social aspect of the work of reform is often background in favor of more technical approaches to improvement. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to argue that social network theory and analysis provides a useful theory and set of tools to unpack the complex social work of leadership. , – In this paper the authors begin by reviewing social network theory in education to date. The authors identify strengths and gap areas and use findings and data from existing social network studies of educational leadership to highlight major concepts. , – Along with empirical examples, the paper proposes four important strands of social network analysis for future research in educational leadership: multiplex networks; multi-mode networks; longitudinal networks; and real time networks. , – This paper builds on recent scholarship using social network analysis in educational leadership and suggests that social network theory and methods provides unique and important analytic purchase in the study of educational leadership.

Social Red Bull: Exploring Energy Relationships in a School District Leadership Team

In this article, Alan J. Daly, Yi-Hwa Liou, and Chris Brown explore the idea of positive affective arousal through “energy exchange relationships” within a district leadership team. Education leaders have long been expected to be not only effective leaders but also motivators who can move change efforts forward. Although there has been attention paid to the role of effective leaders, much less work has contributed to the affective relations among education leaders. “Energizers” in social systems have been associated with positive individual and organizational outcomes but are rarely studied in education. Drawing on theories of social networks and using multilevel network modeling, the authors find evidence to suggest that job satisfaction and innovative climate help explain the likelihood of sending and receiving energy relationship nominations. Further, leader efficacy and similarity in work level and gender help explain the likelihood of forming energy relationships.

Teacher Education’s Challenge of Changing Research Relationships With Schools

Globally, teacher education (TE) is challenged to change relationships with schools and teachers and become more collaborative in teaching and research. This study examined the way knowledge is developed, shared, and used when school and institution of higher education (IHE) partners create research networks in the context of master’s programs for in-service teachers. These knowledge processes were studied from a social network perspective and compared in two different TE contexts. During 10 months, this mixed method study obtained two school networks and 36 personal networks and 124 critical incidents from 36 individual logs and interviews. Cross-case analyses provide insight in the social network structures, interpersonal relationships, and knowledge processes among IHE’s and school’s partners as well as the challenges in developing closer research relationships in a TE context.

Investigating Leader Self-Efficacy Through Policy Engagement and Social Network Position:

Leaders’ self-efficacy has recently been identified as a critical component in the success of educational reform. In educational policy and leadership, little attention has been paid to leaders’ self-efficacy beliefs as they go about the implementation of Common Core State Standards (CCSS). This study seeks to understand leaders’ CCSS self-efficacy by examining the level of CCSS-focused engagement and the degree of leaders’ network connectedness from a social learning perspective. Findings suggest leaders who report higher levels of CCSS-focused engagement tend to be more efficacious about implementing CCSS. Such a relationship is mediated by leaders’ social network position in providing CCSS advice and work effort recognition to their fellow administrators.

Pay, Position, and Partnership: Exploring Capital Resources Among a School District Leadership Team

Social science literature suggests that social networks play an important role in developing human and social capital, particularly in the education space. Human capital refers to the knowledge, training, experience, and perceptions that reside within an individual, and social capital reflects the resources that are generated from the social interactions of individual actors. While most studies in education focus on either human or social capital of educators in schools, very little attention has been paid to the idea of “intellectual capital,” which includes the interactions between human and social capital. Further, even less attention has been paid to the intellectual capital among school leaders, particularly in social settings that involve a high degree of human interaction. In addition to intellectual capital, we explore a more traditional form of capital, that of financial capital in the form of salary. This chapter attempts to fill this gap by exploring intellectual capital in the form of human (demographics and perceptions) and social capital and its relationship with actors’ salary, gender, and the level of organizational commitment. The study takes place in one large urban fringe school district with 29 schools serving diverse student populations in southern California. We collected data from all 29 principals, including social network data, demographics, perceptions of organizational commitment, and publicly available salary information. Key findings suggest that principals’ network positions vary by salary and by gender. Specifically, those principals with higher salaries are less likely to be connected with their principal colleagues. Male principals are more likely to have more mutual ties than female principals. For male principals, regardless of salary, their level of mutual ties was much greater when they also reported more organizational commitment. This chapter adds to the existing knowledge base around organizational network studies and sheds new light on educational leadership.