Internal Coherence

Michelle Forman & Richard F. ElmoreSERP Institute / HGSE

Internal Coherence

The leadership practices, efficacy beliefs, and organizational processes

associated with a faculty’s capacity to engage in deliberate improvements in

instructional practice and student learning across classrooms, over time

Research Base

IC weaves together constructs from the organizational behavior, school improvement and social cognitive

literatures into a general theory of how schools improve

School improvement requires ongoing organizational processes

Internal Coherence Assessment Protocol (ICAP)

1. Teacher Survey

2. Classroom Observation

* Non-evaluative, evidence-based, focused on task

* Nature of tasks and variability across classrooms

3. Interviews with teachers, principals, leadership team

* Contextualize, corroborate survey data

* Administrative perspective (no survey data)

Domain Scores in ContextLeadership Domain

-4

-3

-2

-1

0

1

2

3

Reference High Brae, Bonnie Reference LowProfile School

Individual Item Graphs

Almost Never 2-3 Times a Year About Once a Month

2-3 Times a Month Once a Week More Than Once a Week

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

1

4

5

3

5

2

How often have you worked with members of your team to evaluate curricular or assessment materials?

Developmental Theory

• Developmental theory, place schools on a continuum on each dimension

• Help school and district leaders carve out a sensible path to building this capacity in their organizations

Connection to WG

• Support for schools’ adoption of Word Generation, Boston Field Site, 2006

• An assessment to determine the existing level of readiness, and intervention strategy for increasing IC

• We don’t build organizational capacity for improvement in the abstract

• WG as platform for building IC, attention to IC as a means to support WG

Your thoughts on IC• Does the construct of IC, or the

notion of the “carrying capacity” of an organization, resonate?

• Any questions or feedback on the model?

• How would you describe your school’s current level of IC?

• What do you imagine happening when WG hits your organization? What do you think will happen post roll-out?