Dissertation Draft: TAKE 1- School Capacity Conceptual Framework

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Top circle: Coherent School Structures & Instructional Programs
Center-Right Circle: Individual Staff Member's Knowledge, Skills, Dispositions and Will
Bottom Circle: Organizational/Professional Community
Center-Left Circle: Material, Technical and External Human Resources
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Past research helps us to see that the concept school capacity is not uni-dimensional.  Instead, it should be viewed as a set of dimensions that are coherent and interactive (Century, 1999; Newman, King, and Young, 2000).  These theories of school capacity argue that the greater the alignment and coherence of all dimensions of school capacity (i.e. material/technical, structural, organizational and individual) the more overlap with each dimension would exist, as visually depicted in Figure 1. Alignment of the capacities could be shown in the diagram as overlapping circles.   This overlapping Venn would then cover up more and more of the yellow circle in the background.  Thus, as the principal and district work to align their programs and capacities around common goals for learning, the tighter the four circles representing each capacity would become, depicting alignment.  
     Figure 1 above is an example of a school that is theoretically in the early stages of alignment, but still not fully aligned.  Alternatively, a 100% aligned school would show no yellow and one large circle would appear, depicting that all four dimensions of capacity are interacting at all times with one another, aligned with one common purpose for learning.  Conversely, a school whose principal and/or district has not worked to align the capacities, such as can be the case when multiple school improvement initiatives occur simultaneously, would potentially have 0% alignment.  This school’s diagram would show no overlapping circles, but instead each circle would occupy it’s own space outside of the yellow circle, and even quite possibly appear outside of the arrows all together in a sporadic manner.  Thus, this framework graphically depicts that the greater the alignment/integration of all four dimensions of school capacity around a common  purpose, more concentric overlap/less yellow showing, the greater the instruction for all students and staff (Spillane and Thompson, 1997; Century, 1999; Newman, King and Young, 2000).

         Based upon this framework, the purpose of this study is to examine what the material, human, organizational and structural factors are that influence a school’s capacity to inclusively educate all students within their age appropriate general education, or other naturally occurring, environments. Specifically, I will be examining one school's inclusive education capacity development.  This school has spent the last three years shifting their service delivery model for special education.  They went from from educating all students with disabilities in isolated disability specific special education classrooms in trailers behind the school building to educating them all, including those with significant disabilities (i.e. autism, down syndrome, multiple disabilities), in age-appropriate general education classrooms along side their same age peers with and without disabilities.  Thus, they shifted from being a school with segregated special education to an inclusive school.  I will examine the following dimensions:

1.     Human/Staff Capacity- What shift in knowledge, skills, dispositions and will of the staff occur in a school that moves from segregated to inclusive education?

2.   Organizational Capacity- How is the school community organized both within it’s own building (professional community) and in terms of it’s connection to the district and greater community (external supports)?

3.  Structural Capacity- What school structures exists that foster/support inclusive education

4. Material, Technical and External Human Resources Capacity- What material, external human (i.e. outside trainers, university consultants) and financial resources are utilized within the inclusive education classrooms and school?