| Session Title: Contextual Variables in Elementary Schools Influencing Organizational Learning and Predicting Evaluative Inquiry |
| Expert Lecture Session 649 to be held in Schaefer Room on Friday, November 9, 3:35 PM to 4:20 PM |
| Sponsored by the Organizational Learning and Evaluation Capacity Building TIG and the Pre-K - 12 Educational Evaluation TIG |
| Chair(s): |
| Rebecca Gajda, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, rebecca.gajda@educ.umass.edu |
| Presenter(s): |
| Jeffrey Sheldon, Claremont Graduate University, jeffrey.sheldon@cgu.edu |
| Discussant(s): |
| Chris Koliba, University of Massachusetts, ckoliba@uvm.edu |
| Rebecca Gajda, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, rebecca.gajda@educ.umass.edu |
| Abstract: In June 2006 I conducted a two-part study that explored the internal context of a small sample (n = 9) of elementary schools to determine which, if any, organizational learning characteristics (e.g., culture, leadership, communications, structures and systems, and teamwork) were present and whether these schools could, by definition, be called learning organizations. If organizational learning was indicated, the second part of study predicted, using those characteristics present as independent variables, whether evaluative inquiry as a means to organizational knowledge production was likely to occur. Of further interest was determining the single best or best combination of predictors of evaluative inquiry. The Readiness for Organizational Learning and Evaluation Instrument (ROLE) (Preskill & Torres, 2000) was used to operationalize both organizational learning and evaluative inquiry. This presentation will focus on the study's findings which confirm the literature on organizational learning and support the connection between evaluative inquiry and organizational learning. |