Network, school, and student demographic level effects of a networked improvement community on student reading outcomes

Abstract

Networked Improvement Communities, or NICs, are a type of research-practice partnership that have become a popular approach to large-scale educational change. Despite the growing prevalence of NICs in education, however, there is little research on their effects on student outcomes, particularly with attention to their multi-level complexity and whether they lead to more equitable outcomes. In this study, we test an approach for evaluating the effects of network participation on the growth of student reading outcomes in a large NIC relative to a set of matched non-network schools. Overall, schools participating in the NIC showed growth in reading outcomes that outpaced matched schools in the state by an additional 5 %. Benefits varied by school, which could be explained by levels of teacher participation and depth of implementation. In addition, historically disadvantaged students especially benefited from NIC participation.