Anatomy of a Collaboration

This book is a case study of a partnership between a college of education and a large urban school system in a joint project to build and sustain a collaboration for an elementary school to be built on the university campus. It provides insights into the perceptions of each party and describes the basic problems of the collaborative process. The analysis critically examines the conditions that determine success or failure of reform: the personal and public elements that promote and deter collaboration and the paradigms and metaphors from organizational theory, change, and leadership applicable to public schools and colleges of education. After a careful analysis of basic paradigms in organizational development, the book provides a unique constructivist interpretation. Finally, an illuminating set of discussions are presented with critical analytic commentary on the nature of organizational collaboration.