Building District Capacity for Organizational Learning: Nurturing a Culture of Learning and Continuous Improvement

Purpose: Research indicates that building schools and districts capable of problem solving and continuous improvement requires focused effort to develop internal capacity for organizational learning. As a field, however, we lack substantial evidence regarding the ways that this capacity manifests within education organizations and how it can be nurtured, sustained, and leveraged within the complex world of public schooling. This study explores how one team of school district leaders set out to build and nurture a culture of learning and improvement throughout their district. Methods: This study investigates an instrumental case of school district leaders building such a culture in their district. Through analysis of interviews with leadership team members, focus groups of improvement teams, and observations of key learning routines, we examine the values, beliefs, and norms of practice that frame a culture of organizational learning and improvement, and the practices leaders enacted to build it. Findings: Our analysis indicates that the culture of learning and improvement district leaders endeavored to create in their district rested on three elements: distributed leadership and shared authority, relational trust and collective efficacy, and an improvement mindset . Implications: Our findings support existing research indicating that the complex work of improvement rests on shared beliefs, values, and norms held by leaders and educators – and extend our understanding of how those elements of culture are both defined and operate interdependently. The findings also illuminate everyday practices and ways of work enacted by leaders as they supported the culture of improvement in their school district.