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This review examines the concept of organizational routines and its potential for investigating educational initiatives in practice. The studies in our review revealed three different approaches to routines: (1) examining organizational routines as entities, (2) (also) examining conversational routines, and (3) examining the internal structure of organizational routines. Current definitions, operationalizations, and examinations can lack clarity and validity. At present, the concept of organizational routines not only holds potential but is also ambiguous. To bolster the potential of the concept, two working definitions of organizational routines are formalized that best allow researchers to investigate initiatives in practice. These working definitions are needed to create clarity regarding the concept and for it to be able to deliver on its promise for providing meaningful and relevant information on how new initiatives actually work and unfold in practice.

Science and technology education has become increasingly important. However, for most teachers, it is challenging to provide this content. Therefore, professional development programmes are used to support teachers in this regard. In this qualitative study, effective characteristics that should be present in such programmes were identified. Moreover, four particular professional development programmes were investigated to see whether they included these characteristics. Eleven review studies and meta-analyses were analysed to identify the effective characteristics of professional development programmes for science and technology education. Five content characteristics were distinguished: focus, activities, collaboration, coherence of content, and duration. In addition, three contextual characteristics were distinguished: coherence with context, individual factors, and organisational factors. The materials from four professional development programmes for science and technology education were collected and analysed and interviews were held with principal investigators who were involved in the design of these programmes and with educators who worked with these programmes. The characteristics duration and coherence with context appeared to be fully addressed in respectively two and one programmes. The other characteristics were incorporated to a limited extent or not at all. Overall, the present study illustrated the apparent challenges in designing professional development programmes.

The data team intervention was designed to support Dutch secondary schools in using data while developing a solution to an educational problem. A data team can build school-wide capacity for data use through knowledge sharing among data team members, and knowledge brokerage between the team and other colleagues. The goal of this mixed-methods study is to understand how knowledge sharing and brokerage regarding data use and an educational problem changed over time. Social network data were collected twice at eight schools. These data were used to analyse (1) how well team members were connected with each other (density), (2) whether team members' relationships were mutual (reciprocity) and (3) whether all team members were equally important for the data team network (centralisation). Moreover, different types of knowledge brokering (inward, outward and forward) were examined to further understand knowledge exchange between data team members and their colleagues. Qualitative data were analysed to triangulate these findings for four particular cases. Among other things, findings illustrated that while knowledge sharing and knowledge brokerage both changed over time, there were considerable differences between teams in the extent and direction of change. It appeared that the dissemination of knowledge within the organisation requires more explicit attention.

Organizational tasks and processes are preconditions for organizing professional learning teams but are often neglected in research. In nine schools, we examined which organizational tasks and processes were set up for lesson study, a form of a professional learning team, and in what way. Schools set up three organizational tasks and processes: recruiting participants, giving credit for time-investment, and scheduling meetings. Recruitment of participants was sometimes difficult when potential participants worked autonomously within their departments or teams. Credit for time-investment was often constrained as schools gave credit in a way that made lesson study an additional workload. Scheduling meetings was very challenging. The scheduled meetings were considered satisfactory in only one school. Here, the school leader collaborated and communicated with her teachers to plan useful and uninterrupted meetings in the timetable. Our results show that organizational work is not mundane and simple but complex and vital for embedding professional development in schools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Data-based decision-making (DBDM) and research-informed teaching practice (RITP) are key to teacher and school improvement. Currently, however, DBDM and RITP represent two distinct approaches to developing evidence-informed practice (EIP) and do not correspond to the all-encompassing notion of EIP envisaged by many academics and commentators. Purpose: DBDM and RITP are usually employed independently of each other. Each is associated with its own theoretical perspectives and research base, and each has its own pitfalls and strengths. Yet the approaches employed appear to be complementary, suggesting that there might be value in combining DBDM and RITP into one overarching process for achieving EIP. This paper presents the conceptual analysis and arguments for this proposal. Sources of evidence: Drawing from literature and previous research in the fields of DBDM, RITP and EIP, we describe both DBDM and RITP, before comparing and contrasting the integral aspects of each. Main argument: Our analysis leads us to suggest that not only is there overlap between these two approaches, but the strengths of each appear to mirror and compensate for the weaknesses of the other. As such, we argue that it is important that decisions in education are based on a combination of personal judgement, research evidence and local school data. This is because such a combination is likely to lead to equitable, effective and efficient decisions that are informed by values and preferences, grounded in context and steeped in practices that have been shown to be effective elsewhere. Conclusions: We suggest that an effective strategy for EIP might be to achieve "the best of two worlds" by integrating DBDM and RITP. In line with evidence-informed practices in medicine and management, this means EIP in education can finally be engaged in as a holistic approach to educational decision-making that critically appraises different forms of evidence before key improvement decisions are made. Our proposed approach, "Evidence Informed School and Teacher Improvement," is thus designed with the aim of enhancing the quality of educational provision by employing these evidence types as part of a systematic cycle of inquiry, focused on continuously improving the quality of learning in schools.

This study examined adolescent personality and problem behaviours as predictors of two types of social status: social preference and popularity. Academic track (college preparatory and vocational) and gender were expected to moderate these associations. The sample included 693 students (49.0% female; M = 15.46 years) attending classrooms in two academic tracks (vocational and college preparatory). Participants completed self-report measures of personality and problem behaviours and peer-reports of preference and popularity. Results of structural path analyses indicated that academic track and gender moderated several associations. Specifically, externalising problems were associated with more popularity for males and less preference for females in college preparatory classrooms. Internalising problems were associated with popularity and preference for adolescents in vocational classrooms. The findings illustrate the complexities associated with predicting the social status of male and female adolescents attending different academic tracks. The salience of status norms and implications for intervention programmes are discussed.

Background/Context: The data team intervention was designed to support schools in using data while developing a solution to an educational problem. The participating data team members are responsible for building collective capacity within their school for using data and implementing actions related to the improvement plan. This can be challenging, because although they have gained knowledge and experience with data use and the educational problem, their colleagues who were not on the data team have not. As a result, there is a heightened risk for discontinuity between the behaviors of such colleagues and of the data team members: Colleagues will not automatically use data nor implement the actions for improvement. These discontinuities are referred to as boundaries. To establish common ground with their colleagues, data team members need to act as boundary crossers by brokering their knowledge. Purpose: The present study used a process view to determine how data team members acted as boundary crossers by studying what content they had brokered, the level at which they had addressed that content, and what activities they had used to cross boundaries. Intervention: Data teams consist of six to eight educators who collaboratively learn how to use data to analyze and address an educational problem at their school. They work following a cyclical procedure. Research Design: A longitudinal qualitative case study was conducted in four Dutch schools that implemented the data team intervention. Data Collection and Analysis: Artifacts were collected and all team members were interviewed twice. Log files, minutes of the meetings, and progress reports were used to obtain a complete picture of boundary crossing and to provide background information. A coding scheme was used in order to determine what content was brokered, the level at which the content was addressed, and the activities used to broker the content. Findings/Results: Findings illustrated that team members mainly brokered knowledge about the educational problem and data use as applied to the educational problem, but rarely about data use in general. Overall, content was almost exclusively addressed at the level of awareness, indicating that only basic information was brokered. Conclusions/Recommendations: Successful boundary crossing cannot be taken for granted: Team members brokered their knowledge in ways less likely to be effective. When they receive additional support for this, they are likely to increase their team's effectiveness in building school-wide capacity for both data use and the implementation of actions related to the improvement plan.

The article focuses on study conducted to analyse the professional development programmes developed to support teachers in science and technology education. Topics discussed include changes in the educational practice by programmes developed to aid teachers' professional development; struggles that Dutch primary & secondary school teachers are facing in implementing science and technology education in their daily practice; and effect of organisational factors on the effectiveness of programmes.

This review examines the concept of organizational routines and its potential for investigating educational initiatives in practice. The studies in our review revealed three different approaches to routines: (1) examining organizational routines as entities, (2) (also) examining conversational routines, and (3) examining the internal structure of organizational routines. Current definitions, operationalizations, and examinations can lack clarity and validity. At present, the concept of organizational routines not only holds potential but is also ambiguous. To bolster the potential of the concept, two working definitions of organizational routines are formalized that best allow researchers to investigate initiatives in practice. These working definitions are needed to create clarity regarding the concept and for it to be able to deliver on its promise for providing meaningful and relevant information on how new initiatives actually work and unfold in practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined adolescent personality and problem behaviours as predictors of two types of social status: social preference and popularity. Academic track (college preparatory and vocational) and gender were expected to moderate these associations. The sample included 693 students (49.0% female;M = 15.46 years) attending classrooms in two academic tracks (vocational and college preparatory). Participants completed self-report measures of personality and problem behaviours and peer-reports of preference and popularity. Results of structural path analyses indicated that academic track and gender moderated several associations. Specifically, externalising problems were associated with more popularity for males and less preference for females in college preparatory classrooms. Internalising problems were associated with popularity and preference for adolescents in vocational classrooms. The findings illustrate the complexities associated with predicting the social status of male and female adolescents attending different academic tracks. The salience of status norms and implications for intervention programmes are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]