Aligning the Tuning Forks: Using the Intersections of Organizational Frames and Systems Disciplines: Facilitating Effective Collaboration between Schools Needing Improvement and Regional Improvement Agencies

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to align the needs and wants of schools in need of improvement and state, federal, and regional agencies charged with assisting them in their reform efforts by using spreadsheet thinking through two lenses, Bolman and Deal's four organizational paradigms and Peter Senge's five disciplines of a learning organization. Taken together, in a force-fitting Tuning Forks model approach, where analysts use the intersection of each framework insofar as they act on each other, enables school improvement collaborators to align new action perspectives.

This article is divided into three sections: The first part presents the context to the issues associated with collaboration between Regional Educational Improvement Agencies (REA) and Schools in Need of Improvement (SU). The second section provides descriptions of the two analytical dimensions. These are then synthesized into cross impact charts that demonstrate potential issues either driving or obstructing their collaborative efforts. A third section provides guidelines to minimize obstructions and promotes collaborative alignment between schools in need of reform and regional agencies charged with assisting their efforts.