Creating Usable Innovations in Systemic Reform: Scaling Up Technology-Embedded Project-Based Science in Urban Schools

TLDR

The study examines scaling a middle‑school inquiry‑based, technology‑embedded science program within systemic urban school reform, highlighting the need for new evaluation approaches due to the challenges posed by systemic innovation. The authors propose a framework to assess the fit of instructional interventions with school capabilities, policies, and culture, and outline challenges for researchers to develop, adopt, and sustain usable innovations in school systems. They distinguish scaling from scaling within systemic reform, then present a framework that evaluates fit with school capabilities, policies, and culture, and discuss challenges to developing, adopting, and sustaining usable innovations.

Abstract

AbstractThis article describes work by a research group bringing a middle-school inquiry and technology science innovation to scale in a systemic urban school reform setting. We distinguish between scaling and scaling within systemic reform. We pose a framework for use by developers of instructional interventions to gauge their "fit" with existing school capabilities, policy and management structures, and organizational culture, and illustrate how the framework exemplifies our experiences. We present challenges for researchers to consider as they attempt to create usable innovations and facilitate their adoption, enactment, and maintenance by school systems. Finally, we call for new approaches to the study of these problems outlining how systemic innovation challenges traditional evaluation and experimental methods.