School as a loosely coupled organization? An empirical examination using national SASS 2003–04 data

The notion of schools as ‘loosely coupled’ organizations has been widely discussed in the research literature. Many argue it is either a protective mechanism for schools to buffer external pressure or a barrier for implementing new reforms. Against the backdrop of systemic change and accountability, we applied a two-level hierarchical linear model to nationally representative data in the US, testing the ‘loosely coupled’ theory through examining the association between data-informed improvement efforts at the school level and data-informed instruction at the classroom level. Statistically significant associations were identified but with a small proportion of variance explained, indicating that the top-down systemic change strategy failed to tighten the system as intended. Alternatively, bottom-up strategies, such as professional learning communities, which operate under the assumption of working with loose coupling, should be considered.