Conceptualized in 2017 (and refined over time), the framework is meant to support network design and implementation.
The network health framework was designed to operationalize the networked improvement community concept and in so doing serve as a boundary object for communicating with research and practice audiences. In an emergent field where research is limited, a conceptual framework creates an opportunity to accumulate insights in a way that transfers to research and practice. Boundary objects provide structure for communicating complex ideas across communities with different expertise and goals (Akkerman & Bakker, 2011).
The framework identifies six domains of activity that we theorize are essential components of developing a networked improvement community (see Figure 1).
- Hub leadership is central to the design and implementation of healthy networks.
- Leaders create the social arrangement of network roles that engage all participants.
- They build strong network connections within local improvement teams and across teams.
- Participants work together to advance continuous improvement within the network.
- Executing on the above depends on a network culture that builds a shared vision of the work while integrating equitable, evidence-based practices.
- Networks also operate within larger institutional contexts for improvement that affect their likelihood of success. A productive improvement enterprise depends upon both supportive local school contexts and system alignment around improvement aims.
We posit that these dimensions are essential such that a material weakness in one or more areas is expected to limit the capacity of the network to act as a scientific professional learning community.
For more information, see Catalyzing scientific professional learning communities: A framework for assessing the health and development of improvement networks (Jennifer Russell, Anthony S. Bryk, Donald Peurach, David Sherer, Jennifer Zoltners Sherer, Megan Duff, and Chris Matthis), forthcoming in Peabody Journal of Education, January 2025.
