The MAPLE Learning Network

 

The MAPLE Learning Network comprises six elementary schools in the York Region District School Board, in Ontario, Canada.

Purpose and goals of initiative

This initiative (and the associated research) focuses on a group of six schools in the Maple community of York Region. These schools are situated in a challenging community with similar needs and similar student achievement challenges. They came together in 2003 to form a learning network, in which they work together in a focused way on a common set of issues.

Strategies/actions taken

Our research unpacking this initiative draws on a particular theory of action for learning networks. According to the theory of action, learning networks work to cultivate the conditions necessary to support innovative knowledge communities within schools by forming focused learning communities across schools that foster professional knowledge creation and sharing. This professional knowledge creation and sharing is the precursor to deep and sustained changes in practices and structures in schools, which can have a significant impact on student achievement, engagement, and success.

The Maple learning network was formed on the basis of a common set of school needs around issues of community partnerships and literacy achievement. Their work was grounded in the Board’s vision of literacy and supported through the Literacy Collaborative, the Board’s chief vehicle to support literacy implementation in all schools. Network activities include regular meetings of the administrators to build focused leadership capacity, as well as regular meetings of the schools’ literacy teachers to build literacy and change management capacity on the basis of learning flowing from the Literacy Collaborative. 

In the theory of action, there are six enablers of knowledge creation and sharing (described below):

• purpose & focus
• relationships
• collaboration
• inquiry
• leadership
• capacity building & support.

In an attempt to learn what these features look like in the context of the Maple learning network, we undertook interviews with the supervisory officer and each of the six Maple principals, as well as focus groups with teachers from each of the schools.

Impact, evidence and results

Data from the interviews and focus groups suggest that working in the Maple learning network in a focused way has impacted each of the individual schools in both process and outcome terms. With respect to school processes and practices, there is evidence that each of the key enablers has played out at the school level:

• Purpose and focus. Establishing an explicit statement of purpose about classroom practice, school improvement and/or student learning moves a professional network towards clear and purposeful actions.

Participants in the study were quite confident that there is a sense of shared purpose amongst all the staff in the schools. They explained that “everyone is speaking the same language” and working toward the same goal, and that the explicit focus is displayed throughout the schools. As one teacher stated, “the focus on literacy is everywhere.”

• Relationships. Relationships that include trust, mutual accountability, and an agreed upon sharing of power contribute to the establishment, development, and maintenance of the professional culture.

For the most part the participants stated that the relationships within their schools are positive, and that the staff share with one another and support one another. However, it is clear that building professional trust takes time, and although this sense of trust is present in some of the schools, it is certainly not uniform.

• Collaboration. Collaboration within networks is intended to engage practitioners in opening up beliefs and practices in order to provide them with opportunities to participate actively in the development of their own practice and that of the profession.

Teachers are working together in all of the schools in the Maple learning network, though there is variability in the nature of this collaboration. While some teachers are sharing with one another, others are engaging in the kind of joint work in which they plan for instruction, practice teach and critique one another, create rubrics, compare student work, and develop long-range plans. As one teacher stated, ‘the old days of keeping your kids to yourself is no longer what we do’.

• Inquiry. Inquiry involves thinking about, reflecting on, and challenging individual and collective experiences, in order to come to a deepened understanding of beliefs and practices.

All of the principals stated that data is front and centre in their schools. When thinking about the issues surrounding student achievement, they are constantly asking, ‘how do we know?’ and ‘how are we going to measure that?’. In addition to the conventional ways of using data (for example, tracking walls, EQAO, DRA, PM benchmarks), some schools are using data to increasingly refine their understandings. For example, one school collects data on the languages that students use at home in order to create multilingual literacy resources. In addition, many of the schools are practicing inquiry by intentionally seeking out information. For example, some schools are engaged in structured job-embedded learning in which the staff practice new learning and then reflect on their practice in the context of a body of research.

• Leadership. Learning networks encourage a broad base of leadership in schools and across the network, with many people with and without formal positions of authority providing a range of leadership functions.

There is evidence that the teachers see their principals as strong leaders and role models. As one teacher said, ‘we’ve done so great in the Maple schools because of the great principals’. As well, the participants were very complimentary of the schools’ literacy teams, who they feel are highly skilled and respected by all staff. They also value the informal leadership roles taken on by other staff members, who volunteer to help new staff or to run workshops. As one teacher stated, “leadership has gone from one to many.” 

• Capacity building and support – Networking initiatives require planned strategies for building capacity for change and improvement within schools and between schools.

It is clear that the principals push the focus through capacity building, and are working hard to build a common language and a sense of continuity amongst their staff. Participants reported that shifting the focus of staff meetings from logistics to professional development has been a big advantage for building capacity. As well, the principals encourage their staff to take additional qualification courses or participate in workshops, and then create opportunities for them to share their learning with others in the school.

Our research suggests that through participating in the Maple learning network the schools have made impressive strides in the processes and practices that define innovative knowledge communities. Moreover, when it comes to ultimate outcomes, all of the Maple schools have also shown significant improvement in student achievement in literacy (2). The schools are all considered ‘improving schools’ (i.e. more than a 5% improvement in literacy scores per year over a five-year period). This can be interpreted by reference to the rest of the board, where about half the schools are designated ‘improving schools’.

Next steps and/or new questions

A next step for this learning network is to think about sustainability. The network is working on deepening their understanding of what it means to be a network of schools, rather than a network of people. Personnel turnover requires new learning about how to welcome new members and how to say goodbye to those who are moving on to other schools with a different set of needs. An additional next step is to focus on Inquiry as a driver for improvement. Some of the schools in the network have engaged in action research projects. Building a culture of collaborative inquiry is important if the networks are to continue to build their capacity and engage in serious joint work in support of improved student achievement.

Footnotes

1. Earl, L. & Katz, S. (2006). How networked learning communities work. ‘Centre for Strategic Education Seminar Series Paper No. 155’.
2. One school in the Maple learning network is a French Immersion school. It has not existed long enough to track whether it is an improving school. It is demonstrating high achievement on school-based assessments but, since YRDSB French Immersion schools do not participate in the grade 3 EQAO (and this year is its first for the grade 6 EQAO participation), we will have to wait to see whether provincial results mirror school-based data.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Dr Steven Katz is a director of the research and evaluation firm, Aporia Consulting Ltd. He is also senior lecturer in Human Development & Applied Psychology at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, at the University of Toronto, in Canada, where he is the coordinator of the Psychology of Learning and Development initial teacher education program component. He has received the Governor General’s medal for excellence in his field and maintains an active research and writing program in the areas of data-driven decision-making and networking learning communities for school improvement.

Ms Lisa Ain Dack is a doctoral candidate in Developmental Psychology and Education at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, at the University of Toronto. Her research focuses on social cognition in infants and preschoolers. She is also a research associate at Aporia Consulting Ltd., working in the areas of data-driven decision-making and networked learning communities. She has also been involved in a number of program evaluations at the primary and secondary levels.

Mr Robert Dunn is a Superintendent of Education with the York Region District School Board. The York Region District School Board has been working on supporting professional learning communities in schools networked together. Mr Dunn has been working as a leader in building learning networks to support the board’s going deeper in its quest to ensure enhanced student achievement in every school in the district school board.

 

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