Trends and Issues in P-12 Educational Change

Ch.21 Trends and Issues in P-12 Educational Change

Change in education has been an ongoing topic ever since I can remember. Recently, as I have become more involved in attaining my teaching credential, I noticed that the pressure has been placed on teachers. I agree that teachers are a very important factor in change in education, however, were not the only ones responsible. Without the help and support from administrators, all faculty, students, and parents, the change will only be a quick fix.

The chapter described two types of change.
1. Piecemeal Change: this mean to adjust or change 1 or 2 parts of a system but leaving the basic structure of the system intact.
2. Systemic Change: this means redesigning or transforming the whole system.


Systemic Change was defined in four different ways.
1. Statewide policy systemic change-changes in tests, curricular guidelines, teacher certification requirements, textbook adoptions, and funding policies
2. Districtwide systemic change-any changes or programs applied throughout the district
3. Schoolwide systemic change-any changes or programs applied throughout the school
4. Ecological systemic change-change based on understanding of interrelationships within the system of interest and between the system of interest and its systemic environments.

*The ecological system approach to change is said to be the only one to achieve and hold on to systemwide change in school districts. The reason for this is because the process requires improvements in three key areas of a school system
a. the core and supporting network
b. the internal social architecture (which includes organization culture, communication, the reward system, and power and political environment.
c. the district’s relationship with its external environment.

Product vs. Process Approaches to Change
A product model of change describes a specific product in the end. For example, this model would explain the outcome and the change in the school in the end. Process approach on the other hand would explain the process of how to achieve change.

Two Types of Process Approach Models (Districtwide)
1. GSTE Guidance System for Transforming Education-
Phase 1- Initiate Systemic Change Effort
Phase 2- Develop Starter Team
Phase 3- Develop District-Wide Framework and Capacity for Change
Phase 4- Create Ideal Designs for a New Educational System


2. SUTE Step-Up-To-Excellence
Pre-Launch Preparation
Step 1- Redesign Entire School System
Step 2- Align Cluster Performance
Step 3- Align School-Site Performance
Step 4- Align Team and Individual Performance
Step 5- Evaluate Whole-System Performance

*There are several teams, informal learning networks and special leadership roles in SUTE. They include a strategic leadership team, cluster improvement teams, site improvement teams, organization learning networks, on track seminars, transformation coordinator role, and role of instructional design and technology specialist.

A Personal Reflection:
At the charter school where I work, there has been much effort to create change. This year everyone is feeling the pressure because API scores have been low. If the scores don’t go up by the end of this school year, the school will lose it’s charter and will be considered part of LAUSD. I had no idea that there were actual models that schools and districts can follow to create change. I think it would be very useful for my school to invest time and money to adopt one of these models and implement it as soon as possible. Apparently we are using schoolwide systemic change. We are constantly analyzing the mission and goals of the school.

So far, everyone has had ideas on how to bring about the change. Nobody wants to say no when someone has an idea for change, so we try everything. We have to test fluency, comprehension, word meanings, and so many other things on a weekly basis. This takes so much time that one does not know what to do with the results because before you know it, 3 or 4 days have passed and its time to retest. We have also tried building a community by creating school families. We have forced parents to volunteer 30 hours during the school year. Even thought these ideas sound great individually, they don’t do much for change in education as a whole.

How does your school bring about change if any?

Link:

http://www.nsba.org/sbot/toolkit/edsctls.html

Check this site out to find a more detailed, step by step outline to creating systemic change in your own school.

Reference:
Reiser, R. A. & Dempsey, J. V. (2007). Trends and Issues in Instructional Design and Technology. (2nd edition). New Jersey: Merrill Prentice Hall.