LearnHub

Hi Sony D,

I strongly feel that as school leaders to understand the change process we need to address a number of interrelated concepts—-What Motivates Others to Follow The Importance of Conflict Understanding Self Before We Understand Others Great question for discussion.

Niagara

Hi Sony D, I believe that for school imrpovement efforts to be successful, leaders must work in collaboration with a staff by building valuable relationships. School initiatives are successful when educators feel that they are a part of the decision- making process, and are going to actively be able to take responsibility and be a part of the change. I think that bringing about any kind of school improvement takes time, and leaders must work to ensure that they are conveying their vision in a clear fashion. The principal’s role is one of a mentor, who leads and guides a staff towards improvement. An effective leader is also one who listens and repsonds to the input of others, and who makes an effort to bring about change in a gradual way.

I believe for successful school improvement it is essential to have a well developed plan that has been created by a team (division heads, administrative teams, members of the school improvement team). The School Improvement Plan should include goals that are aligned with board and ministry initiatives. The use of data is important to drive instruction as well as school based decisions. Our school board has posters created to address the Four Critical Corollary Questions adapted from DuFour;

If We Believe All Kids Can Learn… 1. What is it we expect them to learn? 2. How will we know when they have learned it? 3. How will we respond when they don’t learn? 4. How will we respond when they do learn?

These posters can be a guide towards school improvement. School improvement must also include strong leadership including well refined communication skills. A school leader must be aware of what is going on within their school and facilitate the rate in which change progresses.

My Board is also trying to use data to direct change in our schools. It is, after all, the only way we can truly monitor student learning. The elementary schools have more tools and are ahead of the secondary schools on this, but secondary is working with what we have. The reason I’ve focussed so clearly on this in the big world of change is because I think this is where the principal has to be. Among everything else, the principal must be the instructional leader, and lead improvements in student learning.

The model we introduced three years ago was SMART goals: specific, measurable (data), attainable, realistic, and timely. This is where the principal must be in the lead with his/her staff. A clear and sensible focus is the right place to start.

I think for change to be successful there has to be an understanding as to why the change is happening. What is the purpose for the efforts that I am putting forward. There also has to be an understanding of the change process and this has to be communicated to staff. When the implementation dip is hit, and it will be hit, thee needs to be an understanding that this is to be expected and that the change is not doomed but that perseverance is to be expected and that we can move forward. Fullan says people with strong moral purpose will be uncomfortable when the “dip” happens, these people will need support. Others will need pressure to get on board. A leader that understands this process will be better able to see the change through to fruition.

Sonya, school improvement is such an exciting part of being an administrator. Part of the excitment stems from the fact that there is no formula and that the innate environment of the school plays a major role. The parents, students, physical building, history, community, and staff differ from school to school. From my perspective there are two vitally important things an administrator can do to work towards true school improvement. One is to create a shared vision where staff take ownership of the direction of the school. Wayne Hulley calls this commitment versus compliance. When a staff is intrinically motivated to act there is a snowball effect and a culture of collaboration is created. The second ingredient in my school improvement recipe is that the administrator should be able to inspire others to take the leadership role. My superintendent has the saying, “surround yourself with good people, give them the time and resources they need, and then get out of the way”. Administrators cannot be solely responsible for the change process so the more that staff lead the better for all involved.

Summary:

Like the rest of the world, schools are changing. “School improvement,” “education reform,” and similar themes of renewal have been an integral part of the public school conversation for the past 20 years and much longer if we consider earlier waves of reform. In short, the idea of change is not new to education.

School improvement is a vehicle for planned educational change that is concerned with raising student achievement. It involves a systematic, sustained effort aimed at change in learning conditions and other related internal conditions in schools, with the ultimate aim of accomplishing educational goals more effectively. It requires strategies for strengthening the school’s capacity for managing change and usually necessitates some form of external support. Learning how to successfully implement changes is particularly important now, in a time of a huge variety of initiatives and innovations and when there are competing reforms to promote in schools.

A school’s principal/leader, has the uphill task to manage the level of resistance to change and align the staff to work towards a common vision, amidst the turbulence. The importance of teachers’ perception of their leaders in the success of a school has been documented in various researches. Researchers (such as Bhella, 1992) suggested that teachers’ morale is related to student achievement; and in turn, the principal/leader has the strongest influence on teachers’ satisfaction in the workplace. (Vanderstoepe et al, 1994). From that perspective, the teachers’ satisfaction and perceptions of the principal in leading the change process would directly have an impact on the success rate of the new program of boosting students’ achievement.

I believe that in order for school improvement initiatives to be successful they should involve:

• Using the school as the centre of the change planning and managing improvement to take place over several years. • Changes focused not only on teaching/learning activities but also on procedures to support these teaching and learning processes. • The harnessing and synchronizing of the roles of teachers, parents, support staff and local authorities to the processes of school improvement. • Leading by example. • Empowering a vision.

After reading the responses given by my colleagues, and gaining much insight, I have come to the realization that success of leading a change program in schools is largely dependent on the leader’s ability to influence the perceptions of the teachers. Thus, trust, is an important ingredient that has to be built up by the principal/leader as the principal-teachers relationship will have an impact on other future initiatives. In closing, I would like to emphasize that in order to reap the full benefits, a change/improvement program should be nurtured and not enforced.

“Just as teachers ‘monitor and adjust’ their classroom practices based on how students are performing, leaders must learn to ‘monitor and adjust’ progress toward the vision based on what they see from the balcony.” (Heitetz & Laurie, 1997)