About The Center for Urban Education Leadership
The Center for Urban Education Leadership (CUEL) seeks to impact issues of equity for PK-12 students through research, development, and policy advocacy. We investigate and act upon both leadership-focused and multi-disciplinary, leadership-inclusive problems to generate knowledge. We design, test, and enact learning designs to develop leaders and their organizations. Our work occurs locally, nationally, and globally. We accomplish these outcomes by applying our expertise in the areas of educational leadership, organizational development, equity/social justice, and continuous improvement/improvement science as we collaborate with other researchers and practitioners. We are driven to use our expertise and passion to IMPACT the lives of PK-12 urban students locally and throughout the world. Independently and in collaboration with other research/development organizations, CUEL has secured over 17M to fuel a broad assortment of research and development projects. In collaboration with UIC’s Ed.D. program, CUEL has been recognized for its expertise with continuous improvement by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement in Teaching.
research and publication spotlight
CUEL Affiliates De Voto and Superfine Publish Findings in School Leadership and Management about Leader Responses During COVID-19
This mixed-methods study examines two CASPIR districts—Washington and Hamilton—and how their leaders have mitigated the unexpected challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic, including what local factors proved most influential. We conducted extensive interviews with leaders (n = 41) and teachers (n = 18), gathered responses to the Comprehensive Assessment of Leaders for Learning (CALL) survey (N = 111), and collected district emergency plans. Our analyses revealed that the district possessing a culture focused on instructional inquiry, more developed distributed leadership networks, and greater material resources was better positioned to respond to the COVID-19 crisis. In contrast, the district lacking such capacities experienced increased anxiety and stress. Together, these findings further demonstrate the importance organizational preparedness and resources play when limited expertise and technical solutions exist for a given crisis. Access the article here.
CUEL Affiliates and CUEL Director Cosner Examine the Identification of Local Problems within Research Practice Partnerships as a Part of NSF Project
This chapter reports findings from the CASPIR Math Project, an NSF-funded study in which UIC researchers and professional developers formed partnerships with several K-8 school districts to improve math teaching and learning. Specifically, we describe how two of these districts—Washington and Hamilton—(1) developed effective leadership teams, (2) learned to develop a vision for improving math teaching and learning, and (3) identified local problems of practice in relation to these goals. Our initial analyses highlight the important influence of district history, boundary spanners, and organizational readiness. Despite establishing a partnership with UIC simultaneously, the two districts took notably different paths in forming effective teams, crafting a vision for improving math teaching and learning, and pinpointing local problems of practice. While Washington’s problem was grounded in strongly articulated goals for math teaching/learning and primed for systematic data collection, Hamilton’s problem was largely anecdotal. This discrepancy left Washington better positioned to initiate an improvement cycle around its identified problem. These differences suggest that those establishing research-practice partnerships should identify these factors during the recruitment stage, including how to address them from the outset of implementation. View this chapter here.
CUEL Affiliates De Voto and Castro Superfine Publish Findings Related to District Math Leadership Teams from NSF Project
This book chapter analyzes early findings from the Collaborating around Systems, Processes, and Instructional Routines (CASPIR) project, an NSF-funded project in which researchers and professional developers from UIC have formed partnerships with several school districts to improve math teaching and learning. Focusing on two partnering districts, we outline several structures and routines that evidence suggests can be implemented as part of a scalable model for discipline-specific continuous improvement. Data sources include: a) meeting observations (N= 53); b) semi-structured interviews (N = 117); the Visions of High-Quality Math Instruction (VHQMI) instrument (N = 59); and social network surveys (N = 62). First, we find that creating a robust vision around discipline-specific teaching and learning is a necessary first step. Doing so provides an anchor for future district work focused on improvement through an inquiry-cycle routine. Second, university researchers need to be flexible but firm when collaboratively engaging districts in research-based continuous improvement. Discerning when partners’ differing areas of expertise are relevant and helpful must be part of the groundwork for founding a successful partnership. View this story here.
Center Affiliate Richard and Center Director Shelby Cosner Examine Equity-Oriented Principal Preparation Program Improvement
In this recently published book, Equity & Access: An Analysis of Educational Leadership Preparation, Policy and Practice, the chapter by Richard and Shelby Cosner examines equity-oriented principal preparation program improvement with attention to improvement of program curriculum. The chapter, “Using Cycles of Inquiry to Drive Equity-Oriented Curricular Improvement Within One Leadership Preparation Program,” shares insights into the establishment of an equity-oriented vision for school leadership. Such a vision identifies the key leadership practices to be cultivated through the program experience. Importantly, this vision serves to orient the program’s learning experiences. Their chapter also identifies areas of program improvement work and the kinds of capacities that will need to be cultivated to support such work. Access information on this chapter and book here.
CUEL’S Dr. Steve Tozer Co-authors New Study of the Chicago Public Schools as an Improvement Success Story
CUEL affiliate and UIC Professor Emeritus Dr. Steve Tozer has co-written a new study of the recent history of Chicago school reform, emphasizing the evolving capacity of CPS and its civic partners to sustain an improvement agenda through turbulent and contentious times. The co-authors include six partner-participants in the Chicago story, starting with lead author Anthony Bryk, past Carnegie president and former director of the Consortium on Chicago School Reform (CCSR). As such, the book offers a unique partner’s lens on Chicago’s success, and is the most comprehensive treatment to date of the forces that led from Chicago’s status as “worst school system in the nation” in 1987 to top 4% of the nation in student learning gains by 2017. Those forces included the mobilization of the civic community, including business, grass-roots neighborhood organizations, and foundations. Also influential was a new research and information infrastructure, led by the UC Consortium on School Research and investigated by Catalyst Magazine. These and related partner assets comprise what the authors call an “exoskeleton” supporting continuous school improvement in Chicago, a “new civic architecture” for collaborative reform. Further, the Chicago Public Schools played a dynamic and creative role in shaping this exoskeleton. UIC and its College of Education also is featured not only for its partnership with CPS in leadership development, but also for breaking new ground in teacher education. Overall, this new volume is likely to become a core resource for students of Chicago and national district improvement dynamics for years to come.
Case Study by CUEL Researchers Describes the Evolution of Long-Standing District-University Partnership Between UIC and the Chicago Public Schools
In a chapter contributed to a new edited volume devoted to how district-university partnerships can drive equity-focused school improvement, CUEL affiliates and their CPS colleagues describe the twenty-year evolution of their partnership to improve principal preparation for Chicago’s public schools. Access information on this book here.
CUEL Affiliate Craig De Voto Explores Leadership Responses During Pandemic in New Article in Education Administration Quarterly (EAQ)
In a new study published by the journal Educational Administration Quarterly, CUEL Affiliate Craig De Voto, with colleagues Benjamin Superfine and Marc DeWit of UIC, investigate how K-12 leaders have responded to the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic— especially the extensive federal/state policies governing their systems. The study focuses on two school districts over two years (2020– 2022), drawing on extensive interview and survey data. The data reveal that districts that possessed adequate expertise and organizational resources were better positioned to make sense of and respond to the crisis, whereas those lacking such capacities experienced increased anxiety/stress. The authors conclude by considering how how principal preparation programs and professional development efforts might prospectively address such crisis-related challenges faced by K-12 leader. The citation and link to the article follows. Access a link to this article here.
Recent Work Exploring Leadership Coaching By CUEL Director Shelby Cosner and CUEL Affiliate Craig De Voto Published in Educational Administration Quarterly (EAQ)
In a new study published by the journal Educational Administration Quarterly, Shelby Cosner and Craig DeVoto report findings on a study examining the deployment of leadership coaching as a developmental support to aspiring principals during the clinical portion of their preparation. Using theories of brokering and third party influencers, Shelby Cosner and Craig De Voto reveal a set of actions that coaches can take to impact the developmental opportunity of the clinical experience–the aspect of principal preparation that research identifies as vital to practice development and challenging to enact in a developmentally useful manner. Access article here.
CUEL’s Assessment Specialist Paul Zavitkovsky Posts New Research Brief on Large-Scale Interim Assessments and the Not-So-Common Sense of Standardized Testing
The UIC Center for Urban Education Leadership (CUEL) announces the publication of a research brief that adds new urgency to a quiet war about what standardized tests can and can’t do that’s been simmering for decades between independent assessment professionals and commercial testing organizations. In the marketplace, at least, testing organizations have been winning this war hands down. In this brief, Paul Zavitkovsky reviews the track record of large-scale “interim” tests, and wonders whether pandemic disruptions, a decade of dismal return on investment and growing demands for instructional equity might finally begin to turn the tide on their continuing popularity. Paul Zavitkovsky is an assessment specialist at the CUEL and is a former principal and leadership coach in the Chicago Public Schools.
Decoteau Irby Considers Race-conscious Preparation and Support Approaches for Asian, Black, Latinx, and Native K-12 Leaders in this Spencer-funded Publication
This white paper examines what we already know and what more educational scholars, policy-makers, and practitioners should know to strengthen the principal preparation and support pipeline for would-be, aspiring, and practicing Asian, Black, Latinx, and Indigenous K-12 leaders. Although researchers increasingly recognize the importance of race and race-gender conscious frames for understanding leader practice, these considerations remain novel in K-12 leadership preparation and support research. This white paper sets forth three key findings. First, despite social justice scholars’ increased attention to race and racism in leadership preparation, most research studies examine pedagogical and curricular interventions aimed at fostering White leaders’ racial consciousness and social justice practice. Second, despite increased calls for preparing more leaders of color, there remains a paucity of accounts that note the leadership preparation and support approaches that directly benefit Asian, Black, Latinx, or Native leaders. Third, leadership preparation and support studies, including those framed by a demographic imperative to increase the number of leaders of color, largely exclude insights from research that documents Asian, Black, Latinx, and Native leadership approaches and challenges.
CUEL’s Steve Tozer is a Contributor on a New Report on Developing Effective Principals
CUEL Faculty Affiliate Steve Tozer is a contributor on a new report on the development of effective principals published by the Learning Policy Institute. This report examines the literature on effective leadership development and provides the most up to date knowledge about entailments of consequential learning experiences for school leaders.
CUEL’s Lionel Allen Considers School Reform in Chicago Under the Renaissance 2010 Policy
In this provocative essay, CUEL’s Lionel Allen, who was tapped by then CPS CEO Arne Duncan and the founders of the Excellence Schools Academy to lead one of the first No Child Left Behind turnaround schools in 2006, both reflects back on this experience and advances potential unsettling implications from this work on schools and communities in the years that have followed.
New CUEL Brief Suggests That Chronic Absence, A Thorny Challenge in “High Churn” Schools, Necesitates the Adoption of an Evidence-Based Stance
The UIC Center for Urban Education Leadership (CUEL) announces the publication of a new brief that builds from recent CUEL analysis of schools that have proven most challenging to improve in Chicago Public Schools (CPS). In this research brief, CUEL Researchers Steve Tozer and Lisa Walker make the case for “high churn” schools to adopt an evidence-based stance as they seek to address the issue of chronic student absence, one of the key factors that shape the learning experiences of a portion of students in “high churn” schools.
CUEL Identifies “High Churn” as a School Type That has Proven Most Challenging to Improve
The UIC Center for Urban Education Leadership (CUEL) announces the publication of new analysis that examines schools that have historically struggled to improve within the context of the Chicago Public Schools SQRP Accountability System. In this research brief, CUEL Researchers Lisa Walker and Steve Tozer advance the term ‘high churn” to describe a school type that has proven particularly challenging to improve. These schools exhibit comparatively high instability in student enrollment and attendance evidenced in rates of student mobility, chronic absence, and student homelessness. Teacher instability is also common in these schools. Lisa Walker and Steve Tozer make the case for envisioning new improvement foci and approaches in these sorts of schools.
Working for Impact
Research and Evaluation
We investigate both leadership-focused and multi-disciplinary, leadership-inclusive problems to generate critical and relevant knowledge that matters and will impact practice and policy.
Continuous Improvement, Organizational Development
We are sought by both PK-12 districts/schools and higher education institutions to help them strengthen their approaches and cultures for continuous improvement. In this work, we design and provide both in-person and remote learning designs as well as ongoing support and guidance for continuous improvement and organizational development work. Both in-person and remotely, we also consult with and speak to international, national, state, and regional educational organizations, educational philanthropic organizations, universities and school districts about continuous improvement/
Leadership Development
We are hired by international/national
Dissemination and Policy Advocacy
We actively communicate to practitioners and the policy/political community through policy briefs, webinars, zoom convenings, videos, and podcasts to ensure that the impact of our research and work is extended and expanded.
