Taking A Distributed Perspective: Framing, Methods, & Findings

1. Taking A Distributed Perspective: Framing, Methods, & Findings • James P. Spillane • Northwestern University The Distributed Leadership Study http://www.distributedleadership.org Funded by National Science Foundation, Spencer Foundation, Instituted for Education Sciences, Carnegie Foundation

2. Today’s Agenda • Conceptual Framework • Methodological Considerations • Some Empirical Findings

3. A Distributed Perspective: Framework

4. A Distributed Perspective • The Appeal and the Problem • Many Things for Many People - democratic leadership, shared leadership ... • Catch-all - everything and nothing at the same time • What Does it mean to take a distributed perspective?` • What are the key elements of the perspective? • What uses for research, development, and practice?

5. The “Heroics of Leadership” Genre • The lure of leaders and their gallant acts • The leader is center stage, while others play supporting roles • This is a leader-centric model

6. Acknowledging the Problem “ Initially I tried to do it all. I was trying to do it all and that was impossible. You cannot be all things to all people… I don't know everything about everything. Dr. Johnson, Kelly Elementary School ”

7. Leadership • [Leadership refers] to the interaction among members of a group that initiates and maintains improved expectations and the competence of the whole group to solve problems or attain goals. (Bass, 1990) • [Leadership refers] to people who bend the motivations and actions of others to achieve certain goals; it implies taking initiatives and risks. (Cuban, 1988)

8. Leadership Definitions • [Leadership refers] to those activities that are either understood by, or designed by, organizational members to influence the motivation, knowledge, affect, and practice of other organizational members in the service of changing the organization’s core work. (Spillane, 2006)

9. Management • Management is about maintenance; maintaining current organizational arrangements and ways of doing work (Burns, 1978; Cuban, 1988)

10. A Task • Think about the term distributed leadership. • Write a one sentence definition of distributed leadership.

11. A Distributed Perspective • The Leader-Plus Aspect (who) • Focuses on who is involved in leadership and management • Formally designated leaders and informal leaders • The Leadership Practice Aspect (how) • Addresses how leadership practice is enacted • Critical issue is not whether leadership is distributed but how it is distributed • Attention to interactions, not just actions

12. The Leader-Plus Aspect • The Leader-Plusaspect acknowledges that: • At times someone other than the principal performs key organizational functions. • The principal often works with other leaders to perform key organizational functions. • Formally designated leaders • ‘Informal’ leaders

13. The Practice Aspect Leaders Administrators, Specialists, Teachers Leadership Practice is in the interaction Situations Followers Teachers, Administrators, Specialists Tools, Routines, Structures

14. An Aspect of the Situation: Organizational Routines • The design and redesign of organizational routines figure prominently in school leaders’ responses to shifts in the institutional environment. • Reframing the school’s administrative structure by designing and redesigning organizational routines

15. Defining Organizational Routines • Organizational Routinesare “repetitive, recognizable patterns of interdependent actions carried out by multiple actors.” (Feldman & Pentland, 2003)

16. Organizational Routines • Advantages • Allow efficient coordinated action • Source of stability • Reduce conflict about how to do work • Disadvantages • Result in inappropriate responses • Inertia, mindlessness, de-skilling, and de-motivation

17. Organizational Routines & Practice • Ostensive Aspect • ideal form ... general idea or script of the routine • Performative Aspect • routine in practice in particular places, at particular times ... the practice aspect

18. Organizational Routines at Adams School

19. A Task • Watch the brief video clip. • How many times does the white team touch the ball?

20. A Distributed Perspective • Framework for thinking about leadership and management. • A diagnostic instrument that draws attention to particular dimensions of practice • A design framework for guiding leadership and management development efforts. leadership management

21. Putting the Distributed Perspective into Practice • Focusing on practice, the practice of leading and managing • Looking at the designed and lived organization in tandem • Attending to followers in order to understand leadership (and management) • Focusing on the situation of practice

22. Epistemological and Methodological Challenges

23. The Space

24. Instrument Development & Study Operations Instrument Development & Validation • School Staff Social Network Questionnaire • Logs • Experience Sampling Method (ESM) Log • End of Day (EOD) Log • Leadership Daily Practice (LDP) Log • Study Operations

25. Social Network Survey • Screen shot from SSSNQ Version 1 - Math Advice Questions

26. Social Network Instrument • Screen Screen Shot from SSSNQ Version 2 – Math Advice Questions Page 1

27. Social Network Instrument • Screen Screen Shot from SSSNQ Version 2 – Math Advice Questions Page 3

28. School Staff Social Network Questionnaire: Validity Work • SSSNQ picks up subject specific interactions • May under-report unsolicited advice • May under-report formal interactions • Some evidence that classroom observations not included by some teachers, even when these observations are influential on knowledge and practice.

29. Ways in Which Network Data is Susceptible to Bias: Question Order • How Many Alters are Named • Fatigue or Other Possibilities • Who is Named • Censoring or Priming • Why Those Names Were Chosen/Alter Attributes • Question Scope Redefinition

30. School Staff Network Survey Randomization R/M M/R math name generator RWLA name generator math nameinterpreter RWLA name interpreter RWLA name generator math name generator RLWA name interpreter math name interpreter

31. Average Number of Alters Listed By Subject and Treatment Group

32. Study Operations: Individual and Dyadic Level • In-degree centrality - the number of people who approach that actor for advice • Closenessextent to which an actor is close to the others in the network; includes both direct ties and indirect ties • Bridges/Cut Point • Out-degree - the number of people to whom that actor goes for advice

33. Centrality B C A Color corresponds to staff role Reading/Writing/ Language Arts Math Science Social Studies Special Education 6th Grade Special Subjects Administration

34. Centrality M2 M2 Math M2 Coordinator Color corresponds to staff role Reading/Writing/ Language Arts Math Science Social Studies Special Education 6th Grade Special Subjects Administration

35. Study Operations: Organizational Level • Density - the proportion of potential links between people that are actualized. • Concentration of influence - are a few actors giving most of the advise • Tie Strength • Tie Span • Percentage of ties involving formally designated/positional leaders.

36. Structure: The Distribution of Influence • In some schools, one or two key players provided practically all of the advice (a high network concentration). • In other schools, many teachers were involved (a lower network concentration). • Generally, math networks were more concentrated than RWLA networks. more concentrated less concentrated

37. Concentrated Influence? • In some schools, one or two key players provided practically all of the advice (a high network concentration). • In other schools, many teachers were involved (a lower network concentration). • Generally, math networks were more concentrated than RWLA networks. M2 Math teachers M2 Math teachers M2 Math teacher/coordinator Self-contained teacher Math teacher more concentrated less concentrated

38. Log Development and Validity • DLP • Shadow observation sample of loggers • Cognitive interviews with loggers • End of Day Log (EOD) • Compared estimates with ESM

39. Data Collection • Experienced Sampling Methodology (ESM) Principal Log • School principals beeped at random intervals • Completed brief survey on PDA when beeped • Questions - e.g., Where? What? Who? How? • Six-day period - Spring 2005 • 42 of 52 principals provide data for multiple days. • Response rate for 42 = 68%. • Total number of observations = 2066 • ESM Validity: • End of day (EOD) Log • Shadow data for five school principals • Percent agreement between ESM & Shadow Data ranged from 73% -100% (Camburn, Spillane, & Sebastian, 2006; Konstanstopolus, Spillane, & Lewis, 2006)

40. Some Findings

41. Overview • Arrangements for Leading and Managing in Elementary Schools • The (School) Subject Matters

42. Research Questions • Who has a formally designated leadership position in elementary schools and what are their responsibilities? • Who takes responsibility for leadership and management work? • To what extent does the practice of leading and managing involve co-performance? • Do patterns of distribution vary from one school to the next? • What types of leading and managing work are distributed across people and involve co-performance?

43. Research Methods • Sample • 23 of 30 Elementary Schools in one mid-sized urban school district. • Data Collection: • Mixed methods design - survey, observation, interviews & logs. • School Staff Questionnaire (SSQ) • School Principal Questionnaire (PQ) • ESM log

44. Research Methods

45. Research Methods • Response Rates • SSQ – Overall response rate for 23 schools was 89%, ranging from 78% to 100%. • ESM - Overall response rate for 23 principals was 64%, ranging from 25% to 93%. • PQ – All 23 Principals completed the Principal Questionnaire. • Data Analysis • Descriptive and correlational approaches by aggregating individual responses to school and sample levels. • Non-parametric tests.

46. Overview: Findings/Assertions/Hypotheses • Multiple formally designated leaders have responsibility for leadership and management. • Responsibilities of formally designated leaders often overlap suggesting co-performance or parallel performance. • Formally designated leaders not always prominent in who actually takes responsibility for leading and managing. • Co-performance (collaborated distribution) of leading and managing activities was relatively commonplace in the 23 elementary schools. • How responsibility for leadership and management is distributed and stretched over leaders depends on the type of activity. • There is considerable between-school variation in how responsibility for leadership and management is distributed.

47. Leading and Managing from the Perspective of the Lived or Informal Organization • The mean number of leaders was 3.7 for languages arts and 3.1 for mathematics. • Between school variation ranged from • one to 11 leaders for language arts • zero to 12 leaders for mathematics • Of those identified in language arts, 44% had formal position, 48% did not. • Only 43% (13) of the 30 with formal language arts position were identified. • Of those identified for mathematics, 45% had formal position, 49% did not. • Only 36% (10) of the 28 with formal math position were identified.

48. The Formal and Informal Compared

49. Formal and Informal Organizational Congruence: Between School Variance • Across the 23 schools, formally designated leaders account for between 0% and 82% of language arts advice relations. • Across the 23 schools, formally designated leaders account for between 0% and 77% of mathematics advice relations. • While formally designated leaders were responsible for none of the advice giving interactions about language arts in one school, they were responsible for 82% of these interactions at another school. • A measure of how leadership is distributed -- congruence of formal and informal arrangements.

50. Co-Performance of Leading and Managing: The Subject Matters • Principals reported co-performing 48% of activities. • Principals co-performed significantly more instruction and curriculum-related activities (56%) than administration-related activities (45%) (p<0.05) • Principals most frequently reported co-performing with regular classroom teachers (32%) and teacher leaders (25%). • For over 50% of co-performance situations, principals identified at least one individual with no formal leadership designation.