Developing Learning-Focused Leaders Through Design-Based School Improvement: Lessons Learned Across Germany and the United States

Zumpe E, Aramburo C, Reubke N, Winter J, Bremm N (2026)

Publication Language: English

Publication Type: Book chapter / Article in edited volumes

Publication year: 2026

Publisher: Myers Education Press

Edited Volumes: Teaching and Learning for Collaborative Continuous Improvement in Education – Challenges and Possibilities Across the Educational System

City/Town: Gorham, ME

URI: https://myersedpress.presswarehouse.com/browse/book/9781975508210/Teaching-and-Learning-for-Collaborative-Continuous-Improvement-in-Education

Abstract

This chapter compares how two research-practice partnerships—in California, United States, and Berlin, Germany—sought to develop two sets of learners through a Design-Based School Improvement (DBSI) model. DBSI is a collaborative, iterative problem-solving approach grounded in practitioner agency and intrinsic motivation. Both projects emphasized capacity-building for learning-focused leaders in a position to guide DBSI in schools and districts: district leaders in California and school development coaches in Berlin. Both cases also involved university partners as learners in design-based research-practice partnerships. Comparing these cases, two shared learning challenges emerged: (1) navigating tensions between internal needs and external demands, and (2) reshaping professional roles to become learning-focused leaders who foster collaborative inquiry. Findings underscore the importance of multi-functional partnerships that enable skilled facilitation and sustained engagement in context-adapted learning to develop context-sensitive communities of practice that develop practitioner leaders and university partners for collaborative continuous improvement across varied educational systems.

Authors with CRIS profile

Nils Reubke Lehrstuhl für Schulpädagogik mit Schwerpunkt Educational Governance and Educational Change Julia Winter Lehrstuhl für Schulpädagogik mit Schwerpunkt Educational Governance and Educational Change Nina Bremm Lehrstuhl für Schulpädagogik mit Schwerpunkt Educational Governance and Educational Change

Involved external institutions

University of Oklahoma US United States (USA) (US) University of New Mexico (UNM) / Universidad de Nuevo México US United States (USA) (US)

How to cite

APA:

Zumpe, E., Aramburo, C., Reubke, N., Winter, J., & Bremm, N. (2026). Developing Learning-Focused Leaders Through Design-Based School Improvement: Lessons Learned Across Germany and the United States. In Kristen Wilcox, Elizabeth Zumpe and David H. Eddy-Spicer (Eds.), Teaching and Learning for Collaborative Continuous Improvement in Education – Challenges and Possibilities Across the Educational System. Gorham, ME: Myers Education Press.

MLA:

Zumpe, Elizabeth, et al. "Developing Learning-Focused Leaders Through Design-Based School Improvement: Lessons Learned Across Germany and the United States." Teaching and Learning for Collaborative Continuous Improvement in Education – Challenges and Possibilities Across the Educational System. Ed. Kristen Wilcox, Elizabeth Zumpe and David H. Eddy-Spicer, Gorham, ME: Myers Education Press, 2026.

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