Align. Activate. Agitate: Designing a Professional Learning Network for Community and Systems Transformation

Abstract

“Change happens when a vast number of people come together and defend a vision of the future they’d like to see.” -Angela Davis, Civil Rights Leader— The Community Schools strategy is a national reform model with proven results. Yet still, its expansion and sustainability has been hindered for a myriad of reasons, including: lack of awareness, systemic capacity gaps, fragmented implementation, and the lack of supportive legislation and funding. As the United Way of Massachusetts Bay (UWMB), a credible intermediary with a 90-year track record of social impact, joined the movement to expand the Community Schools strategy locally while mobilizing Massachusetts Coalition for Community Schools, the central question was: What role might they play in supporting learning to ground this school improvement reform strategy across the state? . This capstone proposes three strategic dispositions for intermediaries — Align, Activate, Agitate — and explores the catalytic power at the intersection of professional learning and networks to transform local practice while creating systems change. Grounded in research on effective networks, professional development, intermediary organizations, Mark Moore’s strategic triangle, and my experience as a principal and school district administrator, I designed the Aligned Regional Competencies (ARC) of Learning and Leadership for Community Schools Professionals, a conceptual blueprint for building a Professional Learning Network (PLN) infrastructure. Aligning with the three stages of Community Schools development the ARC guided the PLN’s sequence, coherence, and learning design. This capstone examines these efforts, including the launch and learning from a PLN pilot, and concludes with implications for my own leadership, UWMB’s role as an intermediary, and the sector at large. Keywords: Professional Learning Network, intermediary, Community Schools strategy, liberatory leadership