LEA Workshop February 9 and 16, 2005 presented by Kathi Cooper

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LEA WorkshopFebruary 9 and 16, 2005presented
by Kathi Cooper Sharon Ruiz Van VleckReading
First California Technical Assistance Center

• ChangeWhere Are We?
• Insights from Michael Fullans book, Change
  Forces with a Vengeance

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Are we where we want to be?
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What are some of the brutal facts?

• Variations from classroom to classrooms
• Resisters
• Tired of the initiative
• Disappointing student results
• Push back

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• Is where we are a failure of reform or a
  predictable pattern of change?

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• Michael Fullan, in Change Forces With A
  Vengeance, gives us food for thought about
  creating substantial change

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Our Purpose Today

• To foreshadow some ideas in Fullans book
• To stimulate our thinking about getting to the
  next phase in our work

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• Phase I reforms cited in the book center on
  reforms in literacy and numeracy

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Sound familiar?
It should!

• Literacy and numeracy are logical places for
  school districts to focus on reform. It is the
  first step in the big scheme of things

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Characteristics of the Work

• High standards at the level of the profession,
  including entry and leadership, set nationally
  and regulated by a strong professional body
• A body of knowledge about what works and why,
  with regular training and development
  opportunities so that members of the profession
  are always up to date
• Efficient organization and management of
  complementary staff to support best professional
  practice

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Characteristics of the Work, continued

• Effective use of leading edge technology to
  support best professional practice
• Incentives and rewards for excellence, including
  pay structure
• A relentless focus on what is in the best
  interest of those who use the service- in
  education, pupils and parents- backed by clear
  and effective arrangements for accountability and
  for measuring performance and outcomes
• Estelle Morris as quoted in Fullan, page 10

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ACTIVITY

• Think about these characteristics
• How are these characteristics exemplified in our
  work?
• What do we still need to get better at?
• Discuss with your table

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The Next Horizon

• For sustainability and real transformation,
  though, literacy and numeracy are not enough.
• Phase II is DEEP, TRANSFORMATIONAL reform.
• No one is there yet
• No one has seriously attempted it
• Some are poised to try

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• Moral purpose and passion are the missing forces

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Moral Purpose

• The highest form of moral purpose is not
  altruistic martyrdom, but a mixture of selfish
  and unselfish motivesthe need is to increase
  altruistic motives in a manner that does not
  lessen selfish satisfaction
• Fullan, pages 17 and 18

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Moral Purpose

• Moral purpose, defined as making a difference
  in the lives of students, is a critical motivator
  for addressing the sustained tasks of complex
  reform
• Fullan, page 18

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Moral Purpose

• Reducing the gap between high and low
  performers at al levels (classroom, school,
  district, state) is the key to system
  breakthroughs
• Fullan, page 18

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• Phase II educational reform requires that the
  vast majority of people in the system must end
  up owning the problem and be agents of its
  solution
• Fullan, page 23

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In Common Sense Terms

• Start with the notion of moral purpose, key
  problems, desirable directions, but dont lock in
• Create communities of interaction around these
  ideas
• Ensure that quality information infuses
  interaction and related deliberations
• Look for and extract promising patterns, i.e.,
  consolidate gains and build on them

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• How can we address large scale, sustainable
  reform?

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New Lessons for Complex Change

• Eight Complex, Change Lessons

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Lesson 1

• Give up the idea that the pace of change will
  slow down

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Lesson 1

• We need to
• Develop a more relaxed attitude toward
  uncertainty
• Let go of expectations that the system cant meet
• Work on forces that bring greater results over
  time

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Lesson 2

• Coherence making is a never ending proposition
  and is everyones responsibility

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Lesson 2

• The larger system has historically contributed to
  overload, fragmentation, and episodic initiatives
• Dont
• Attempt to achieve perfect coherence
• Confound the problem, by adding even greater
  incoherence through piecemeal reforms
• Think you can achieve coherence through policy
  alignment at the top- it is only the beginning
• Strive to change context by creating policy,
  strategies and mechanisms that enable people to
  generate greater ideas and put their work in a
  larger perspective

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Lesson 3

• Changing context is the focus

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Lesson 3

• Context is not a given- change it, even in small
  ways, to get new results
• If you want more sharing of knowledge-
• Name it as a value
• Create mechanisms that cause it to happen
• Develop a low tolerance for those who dont do it
• Recognize and reinforce what you want

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Lesson 4

• Premature clarity is a dangerous thing

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Lesson 4

• Off the shelf solutions are very seductive
• Solutions to fundamental transformation resulting
  in sustainable capacities have never yet been
  achieved
• No solution for sustainability leaves out people
  struggling through the anxieties of complex
  problem solving toward shared solutions
• In order to effect transformational change, we
  need to change peoples hearts and minds.
  Premature clarity can lead us down a wrong path

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Lesson 5

• The publics thirst for transparency is
  irreversible

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Lesson 5

• We have to become assessment literate
• We need the collective capacity to
• Gather/access student performance data
• Critically analyze data
• Develop action plans for improvement
• Publicly discuss and debate the meaning of data

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Lesson 6

• You cant get large scale reform through
  bottom-up strategies--
• but beware of the trap

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Lesson 6

• You can get away with top-down leadership under
  two conditions
• It turns out you had a good idea
• You invest in capacity building from day 1
• Once you start down the path of large scale
  reform, you discover that changing the system
  requires ownership and creativity at all levels
• We need a new generation of policy initiatives
  and grand experiments

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Lesson 7

• Mobilize the social attractors--moral purpose,
  quality relationships, quality knowledge

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Lesson 7

• People believe they are doing something
  worthwhile
• Quality relationships require us to draw on the
  valid critiques and skepticism of those who
  oppose us
• Content matters- there is no point in having
  moral purpose and quality relationships without
  great ideas

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Lesson 8

• Charismatic leadership is negatively associated
  with sustainability

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Lesson 8

• Level 5 leaders build enduring greatness in an
  organization
• They develop leaders at every level

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Greatness

• Is this a formula for greatness?

Hardly!
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Greatness Is Not Formulaic

• Instead,
• Fullan provides food for thought about getting
  to the next stage in our reform

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Take A Look

• Browse through the book
• Formulate some personal questions that you might
  consider when you have the chance to read the
  book yourself

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• As we attempt to learn these lessons and put them
  into practice, we have two choices

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GOOD TO GREAT

• The Doom Loop
• or
• The Fly Wheel

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Fly Wheel
What are we pushing?

• High quality instruction
• Standards aligned content
• Consistency and coherence between and among
  districts, schools and classrooms
• High levels of reading competence for all
  students
• Equity and achievement

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Fly Wheel

• How hard do we have to push?
• What efforts are needed to keep out of the doom
  loop?

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Getting Over the Top

• Be steadfast
• Work toward continuous improvement
• Trust your strategies

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Fullans Book Suggests

• The next step is to focus on the social
  attractors
• Moral Purpose
• Quality Relationships
• Quality Ideas

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So What Does This All Mean?

• Appreciate our gains
• Continue to refine and persevere
• Think long term. What capacities do we need to
  build?

Lets be the first to arrive at the next horizon,
Phase II Transformation