by Karina Yuleisy Gonzalez-Vazquez, Alejandro Flores Suárez, Luis Eduardo Muñoz Guerrero, Jennifer Mejía-Ríos
ABSTRACT
Urban schools face persistent challenges in ensuring high-quality, equitable learning, especially in contexts marked by socio-economic vulnerability and institutional fragmentation. This article proposes and empirically illustrates an Administrative Integration Model (AIM) aimed at improving the quality of education in urban school environments through the coordinated action of leadership, organizational structures, school climate, and professional learning communities. The study follows a sequential explanatory and mixed-methods design applied in 18 urban public schools, with the participation of 18 principals, 54 middle leaders and 432 teachers. Quantitative data were collected using validated scales of school climate, distributed leadership, and organizational learning, along with standardized indicators of performance in language and mathematics. Qualitative data were obtained through semi-structured interviews and focus groups with school leaders and teachers. The results indicate that higher levels of administrative integration are significantly associated with a better perception of school climate and higher student academic performance, even when controlling for socioeconomic composition. The dimensions with the greatest predictive power are integrated leadership teams, data-informed decision-making, and institutionalized collaboration among faculty. Qualitative findings reveal that administrative integration functions as a “relational infrastructure” that aligns actors, processes, and resources around learning improvement. The article concludes that the IYM offers a viable framework for redesigning governance and management in urban schools and suggests implications for future policy, training and research.
