Our Approach
Using a range of methodological approaches and anchoring our work in appropriate conceptual tools, we engage in applied research that generates actionable and consequential findings for practitioners and policy makers.
Current Research
Examining School Leader Development in India
Funded by the Qatar Foundation, Cosner is currently leading one of five research teams that are examining leadership development programs/approaches in five countries (India, South Africa, Morocco, Kenya, & Lebanon) and making recommendations to inform international leadership development investments and policies. Members of this international research project convened in Paris in February 2019 to plan for this study.
Examining Aspiring and Practicing School Leader Coaching
Funded by the US Department of Education and the Fry Foundation and using tools and routines as anchoring conceptual frames, Cosner, Whalen, and team are examining the design and impact of leadership coach tools, data systems, and routines on clinical experiences and on leadership coaching practices and outcomes.
Investigating the Continuous Improvement Approaches of a “Big City” CEO
Funded by the Fry and Crown Foundations and using organizational learning theory, Whalen is currently leading an investigation into the leadership practices associated with, impacts of, and challenges encountered from a “big city” Chief Executive Officer’s continuous improvement approach to system-level leadership.
Examining Organizational Development, Leadership for Organizational Development in Urban School
Funded by the Fry Foundation, Whalen is currently leading an investigation into the distributed leadership capacity development work of school leaders.
Investigating Activist School Leadership in a “Big City” Context
Using activism and leadership for social justice as conceptual tools, Salisbury and team are examining the approaches of more activist oriented school leaders in a “big city” setting and the context factors that motivate and shape their action and approaches.
Key Past Research and Evaluation
Examining Affordances of Active Learning Leader Development Designs
Funded by the US Department of Education and using situated learning theory, Cosner and team examined the situational learning resources harnessed through an active learning leader development design and identified authentic leadership considerations and actions that are enabled.
Cosner, S., DeVoto*, C., & Andry Rah’man*, A. (2018). Harnessing the school context as a learning resource in school leader development. Journal of Research on Leadership Education, 13(3), 238-255.
Examining Aspiring and Practicing School Leader Coaching
Funded by the US Department of Education and the Fry Foundation and both situational learning and social network theories, Cosner and team examined the design and impact of leadership coach structuring on leadership coaching practices and outcomes.
Examining Collaborative Data Practices by Teacher Teams and Leadership for Collaborative Data Practices
Funded by Chicago Community Trust, Cosner in collaboration with Susan Goldman (subject matter learning, instruction, assessment) and Taffy Rafael (literacy), examined grade-level collaborative data use and the administrative and teacher leadership supports of data use in urban elementary schools.
Cosner, S. (2014). Advancing a phase-based model of school leadership for the support of collaborative data practices as a school-wide improvement strategy. Journal of School Leadership, 24, 692-724.
Cosner, S. (2012). Leading the on-going development of collaborative data practices: Advancing a schema for diagnosis and intervention. Leadership and Policy in Schools, 11(1), 26-65.
Cosner, S. (2011). Teacher learning, instructional considerations, and principal communication: Lessons from a longitudinal study of collaborative date use by teachers. Educational Management Administration & Leadership, 39(5), 568-589.
Cosner, S. (2011). Supporting the initiation and early development of evidence- based grade-level collaboration in urban elementary schools: Key roles and strategies of principals and literacy coordinators. Urban Education, 46(4), 786-827.
Research Dissemination
Center staff and faculty affiliates disseminate their work to peer-reviewed and scholarly outlets across a range of topics.