School-University Collaboration Supporting School Improvement. Volume IV. Comparison and Synthesis of Three Cases.

Three case studies were made of collaborative networks involving one university and surrounding school districts. One involved a well established network developed by a private university, while two others were associated with state universities. Of these two, one involved bilateral relations between the college of education and each of five counties to establish a teacher center for which there would be shared governance and financial support; the other involved the creation of a federation of teacher centers, many associated with small state colleges, and loosely coordinated by an office at the state university. This report presents a comparison and synthesis of these three cases. Part one describes the design and functions of school-university collaboratives. The background and scope of the present study are described in part two, and the methodology of the study is explained in part three. In part four, a history of the development of the collaboratives is traced. Part five describes the initial operations of the collaboratives and notes their present configurations. Organizational relationships are presented in the sixth part. An analysis and summary of their outcomes is offered in part seven. A causal analysis of the work of the collaboratives is presented in part eight. The ninth part examines the conclusions reached in the study on the nature of interorganizational arrangements, and the tenth part lists implications from the study. It is concluded that productive school-university collaboratives can be established economically, yielding substantial benefits to both participants. (JD)