Description
Book SynopsisThe Change Leadership Group at the Harvard School of Education has, through its work with educators, developed a thoughtful approach to the transformation of schools in the face of increasing demands for accountability. This book brings the work of the Change Leadership Group to a broader audience, providing a framework to analyze the work of school change and exercises that guide educators through the development of their practice as agents of change. It exemplifies a new and powerful approach to leadership in schools.
Table of ContentsForeword.
Preface.
Acknowledgments.
About the Authors.
ONE: Introduction: Reframing the Problem.
A Knowledge Economy Requires New Skills for All Students.
Greater Supports for Learning in a Changing Society.
Reform or Reinvention? Technical Challenges Versus Adaptive Challenges.
Organizational Beliefs and Behaviors.
Individual Beliefs and Behaviors.
Accepting the Challenge and the Risks:Moving Toward Communities of Practice via Collaborative Learning.
PART ONE: Improving Instruction.
TWO: Creating a Vision of Success.
Challenges to Improving Instruction.
Seven Disciplines for Strengthening Instruction.
Using the Seven Disciplines.
Launching an Instructional Improvement System: The Critical First Conversations.
Developing a Shared Vision.
Defining a New Framework for Effective Instruction.
Linking the New 3 R’s of Instruction.
THREE: Committing Ourselves to the Challenge.
Identifying Your Commitment.
Spotting Your Obstacles Through Self-Reflection.
Reflections.
PART TWO: Why Is This So Hard?
FOUR: Generating Momentum for Change.
Obstacles to Improvement Versus Momentum for Improvement.
Generating the Momentum for Systemic Change.
Communities of Practice as a Strategy.
FIVE: Exploring Individual Immunities to Change.
Attending to Countering Behaviors.
A Deeper Look.
Finding the Competing Commitment.
Taking the Next Step.
Reflections.
PART THREE: Thinking Systemically.
SIX Relating the Parts to the Whole.
Arenas of Change.
Toward Transformation: Using the 4 C’s.
Another Use for the 4 C’s.
SEVEN: The Individual as a Complex System.
Hidden Commitments and Personal Immunities.
Big Assumptions and Immunities.
Reflections.
PART FOUR: Working Strategically.
EIGHT: The Ecology of Change.
Phases of Whole-System Change.
Change Levers: Data, Accountability, and Relationships.
Strategic Change in Action.
Putting the Pieces Together: The Ecology of Educational Transformation.
Measuring Success and the Challenge of High-Stakes Test Scores.
NINE: Overturning Your Immunities to Change.
Steps Toward Individual Change.
Considering Steps for the Most Powerful Learning.
Phases in Overturning Your Immunities.
Becoming Fully Released from Immunities to Change.
Reflections.
TEN: Conclusion: Bringing the Outward and Inward Focus Together.
Hold High Expectations for All Our Students.
Involve Building and Central Office Administrators in Instruction.
Choose a Priority and Stay Relentlessly Focused on It.
Foster a Widespread Feeling of Urgency for Change.
Encourage a New Kind of Leader.
Develop a New Kind of Administrative Team.
Shining a Broader Light on Change.
Implications for the Change Leader: Toward Adaptive Work.
Concluding . . . or Commencing?
APPENDIXES.
A. Team Exercises.
B. Recommended Reading.
Index.
