Commentary: Are We Finally Ready to Attend to the Social Dimensions of Educational Reform?

• Author: Devin Vodicka
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/puar.12815
• Published date: 01 November 2017
• Date: 01 November 2017

902 Public Administration Review • November | December 2017

Public Administration Review,

Vol. 77, Iss. 6, pp. 902–903. © 2017 by

The American Society for Public Administration.

DOI: 10.1111/puar.12815.

Are We Finally Ready to Attend to the

Social Dimensions of Educational Reform?

Devin Vodicka is chief impact

officer for AltSchool, a public benefit

corporation supporting accessible and

effective education. Previously, he was

superintendent of the Vista Unified School

District in San Diego County, California.

E-mail: dvodicka@yahoo.com

Commentary

T he article “A Cognitive Perspective on

Policy Implementation: Reform Beliefs,

Sensemaking, and Social Networks” by

Michael D. Siciliano, Nienke M. Moolenaar,

Alan J. Daly, and Yi-Hwa Liou presents a fascinating

schema for making sense of the dynamism of

educational reform. While primarily centered on the

experience of teachers during a transitional phase, the

article offers significant implications for school leaders

and policy makers as well.

I first became convinced of the importance of

relational trust as a key predictor of numerous

positive outcomes for students while conducting

my doctoral research at Pepperdine University,

using social network analysis as a method to better

measure, analyze, and inform improvements in this

foundation for success. I was privileged to connect

with Drs. William R. Penuel and Margaret Riel,

who elegantly illustrated how social networks were

predictive of the diffusion of innovation within a

school site. Reflecting their influence, I continued

to emphasize trust and social networks as key

priorities, first as a school principal and then as

superintendent in the Vista Unified School District.

Sustained focus on relationships was a critical

element in the success of our students, which

resulted in national attention and major awards

for the district.

School systems and their leaders have traditionally

been oriented to conventional forms of capital

such as financial resources and school facilities.

More recently, many education professionals have

gravitated toward a human capital approach, with

greater emphasis on professional learning and

ongoing development of staff members. Very few

educators are aware of the potential benefits of

attention to social capital, available when resources

and expertise move across a network. Research in

the field overwhelmingly associates improvements in

social capital with similar improvements in desired

outcomes.

For me, it has been shocking that other leaders

have not had the same insights that seemed so clear

to me years ago: (1) relational trust is extremely

important; (2) relational trust is necessary to develop

social network connections; and (3) social network

connectedness equates to social capital, which is

associated with a host of positive outcomes. The

conclusion of these insights is that leaders should

attend to relational trust and social networks. In my

view, this attention should harness the potential of

analytics and then build on decades of knowledge that

has accumulated to inform a continuous improvement

model. By orienting an organization to social

network data and using a continuous improvement

approach, one can promote an increase in the level of

relational trust and improvements in social network

connectedness, thereby expanding social capital. This

expansion of social capital increases the likelihood of

success in terms of achieving desired outcomes.

Siciliano and colleagues offer evidence validating

the notion that “social networks play an important

role in policy implementation.” As new expectations

surfaced regarding the transition to new academic

standards, teachers “relied on preexisting formal and

informal relationships” and “policies [we]re filtered

by …worldview …these beliefs, however, [we]re not

formed by individuals in isolation.” In other words,

the new policies were filtered at both an individual

and a social level, with an interplay between those two

dimensions, ultimately impacting the likely success

of the change initiative. Additionally, the researchers

found that “educators likely rely on and turn to those

with whom they have an established connection

and mutual trust” in order to make sense of a novel

reform.

These findings reinforce my confidence that school

leaders should attend to the social networks of their

teams. The reality is that the shift to the Common

Core standards is just one of many reforms in

education. The rate of change in schools feels as if

it continues to increase because of acceleration in

Devin Vodicka

AltSchool