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

Today’s Agenda Conceptual Framework Methodological Considerations Some Empirical Findings

A Distributed Perspective: Framework

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?

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

“ 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 Acknowledging the Problem ”

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)

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)

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

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

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

The Leader-Plus Aspect The Leader-Plus aspect 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

The Practice Aspect Leaders SituationsFollowers Administrators, Specialists, Teachers Tools, Routines, Structures Teachers, Administrators, Specialists Leadership Practice is in the interaction

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

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

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

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

Organizational Routines at Adams School RoutineFunctionsMacro ProcessesPeople Five Week Assessment-Human Development -Setting Direction - Sense-making - Knowledge creation - Decision-making -Language Arts Coordinator -Assistant Principal -Principal -Teachers Breakfast Club-Human Development -Organizational Development - Knowledge creation/diffusion - Sense-making -Teachers -Language Arts Coordinator -Principal School Improvement Planning (SIP) -Setting Direction- Decision-making-Principal -Administration -Teachers (approved LSC) Classroom Observations-Human Development- Knowledge Creation-Principal -Assistant Principal Real Men Read- Human Development- Sense-making/sense giving-Language Arts Coordinator -Assistant Principal -Principal -Community Members

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

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 A Distributed Perspective

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 Putting the Distributed Perspective into Practice

Epistemological and Methodological Challenges

Designed Organization Lived Organization Top-Down Survey/Interview/ Organizational charts Observation, Ethnography, Logs Bottom-Up Survey staff about their leadership positions Observation, Ethnography, Logs, Survey The Space

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

Average Number of Alters Listed By Subject and Treatment Group Subject area R/M (n = 126) M/R (n = 138)Difference RWLA * Math Total *

Study Operations: Individual and Dyadic Level In-degree centrality - the number of people who approach that actor for advice Closeness extent 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

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

Color corresponds to staff role Reading/Writing/ Language Arts Math Science Social Studies Special Education 6th Grade Special Subjects Administration Centrality M2M2 Math Coordinator M2M2 M2M2

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.

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. Structure: The Distribution of Influence more concentrated less concentrated

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. Concentrated Influence? more concentrated less concentrated M 2 Math teachers Self-contained teacher Math teacher M 2 Math teacher/coordinator

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

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 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) Data Collection

Some Findings

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

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?

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

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.

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.

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.

The Formal and Informal Compared

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.

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.

The Activity Type Matters

Co-Performance: Between School Variance

So … Attending to both the formal and informal organization and relations among the two. Schools differ in how leading and managing is stretched over people The activity type matters.

Related Work … Standardized scores on the 20 variables were used and hierarchical cluster analysis was performed using Ward’s minimum variance method to form initial partition of data Squared Euclidean distance used as measure of dissimilarity Dendogram revealed that after three cluster solution, next grouping combined clusters with much greater dissimilarity than previous grouping Pseudo-T-squared values, presented with the Duda & Hart Je(2)/Je(1) index, also indicated three cluster solution in that smaller values indicate more distinct clustering Three cluster solution obtained with Ward’s method then used to perform iterative partitioning of data using k-means passes

The Subject Matters School subjects structure the practice of leading and managing instruction. Formal Structure Relational Structure Normative Structure

Teacher Interactions and Curricular Domain “I don’t think anybody talks about math… With reading we’re sharing books and we’re sharing ideas… [with] math we’re not….” (Wayne, first grade teacher) “I don’t really go to anyone else to help me strategize or plan for my math.” (Wayne second grade teacher) “We [the literacy team] do a long term range plan. What we’re going to teach from day one on. We’re always talking – I have a great team. We’re always talking to each other… as to where – ‘OK, where are you,’ for example, ‘what section are you doing right now and how are you doing it?’” (fifth grade teacher, Costen). “Oh gosh, no. There wasn’t time. We just stood and said, ‘Here’s what I’m gonna do, this, this, and this, and I’m gonna get this, this, and this done.’” (4th/5th grade gifted teacher describing grade level team meeting’s attention to mathematics, Kosten School).

Work-related Ties at Public School Self-contained classroom teacher Specialist teacher Administrator/Other staff

Reading Advice Network: K School Self-contained classroom teacher Specialist teacher General work-related communication network only Reading advice network only Reading advice network and general work-related communication networkAdministrator/Other staff

Math network at K School Self-contained classroom teacher Specialist teacher General work-related communication network only Math advice network only Math advice network and general work-related communication networkAdministrator/Other staff

Science network at Kelly Self-contained classroom teacher Specialist teacher General work-related communication network only Science advice network only Science advice network and general work-related communication networkAdministrator/Other staff

Catholic elementary school (K-8), general advice about teaching Self-contained classroom teacher Specialist teacher Administrator

Catholic elementary school (K-8), general advice about teaching Self-contained classroom teacher Specialist teacher Administrator

58% of general advice ties are also friendship ties Self-contained classroom teacher Specialist teacher Administrator General advice network only Friendship network only General advice and friendship networks

37% of ties are activated in the literacy advice network Self-contained classroom teacher Specialist teacher Administrator General advice network or personal friend network Literacy advice network only Literacy advice network and general advice network or personal friend network

Only 16% of ties are activated in the math advice network Self-contained classroom teacher Specialist teacher Administrator General advice network or personal friend network Math advice network only Math advice network and general advice network or personal friend network

Moving Forward … More (empirically based) theory building with respect to how the work of leading and managing is arranged. Developing research instruments and study operations/measures. Examining predictors of leading and managing arrangements and outcomes of these different arrangements.