Change+Leadership+Summary

6/30/11--OK...I'll post this as the class summary...you can still email me with changes and/or comments.

__**INTRODUCTION:**__ With a strong need for a more skilled and highly educated workforce, the current school format is not preparing students to be successful contributors to what is needed. Students now need to be college ready in order to avoid marginal employment and, as the Change Leadership authors describe it, //second-class citizenship//. With this change in direction, leaders will need to be able to make adaptive changes. As with many Second Order changes, the solution is not always clear-cut or evident. Reframing the problem, creating the knowledge to act on the change, and reflection and redirection may be required. In some cases, the leader and the team may not even be sure if the proposed solution will work. However,. armed with facts and research, the team will evaluate and assess progress and readjust when necessary. The goal for the new leader is to be aware of the organizational beliefs and behaviors as well as their individual beliefs and behaviors. They are no longer working toward just //Collaborative Learning//, but are also moving toward //Communities of Practice//. __**Chapters 2 & 3:**__ **Defining a New Framework for Effective Instruction** ¡ The 3 New R’s: Must have a clear understanding of expectations to approbriately evaluate teaching.
 * 7 Disciplines for Strengthening Improvement**
 * Urgency for instructional improvement using real data
 * Shared vision of good teaching
 * Meetings about the work
 * Shared vision of student results
 * Effective supervision
 * Professional development
 * Diagnostic data with accountable collaboration
 * Rigor – Mastering core competencies
 * Relevance – Connect curriculum through real-world applications
 * Respectful Relationships – Finding the key motivation

** Making the commitment to a shared vision **. Exercise 3.1 pg 52 “It is difficult for schools to change because they often exhibit three organizational tendencies – //reaction, compliance,// and //isolation//. By creating “communities of practice,” schools can counteract these tendencies and instead develop a clear focus, engagement, and collaboration – the conditions needed for true change.” (Change Leadership, Jossey-Bass, 2006) Communities of Practice are characterized by shared passion, commitment, and dedication with a purpose. Professionals are able to learn, grow, and become more effective which leads to job satisfaction and increased student learning. Understanding your behaviors and thoughts which are preventing change
 * __Chapter 4:__**
 * Generating Momentum for Change:**
 * Reaction Transforms to Purpose and Focus:**
 * **Reaction** || **Purpose and Focus** ||
 * Reacting to new situations with solutions that have worked in the past. || Prioritize and focus on improving instruction. ||
 * Compliance Transforms to Engagement:**
 * **Compliance** || **Engagement** ||
 * Presenting new ideas with the expectation that others will be accepting. || Creating a culture of working together at every level. ||
 * Isolation Transforms to Collaboration:**
 * **Isolation** || **Collaboration** ||
 * Most educators work alone. || Improving adult performance by utilizing teamwork and collaboration. ||
 * Communities of Practice:**
 * __Chapter 5:__**
 * Exploring Individual Immunities to Change:**
 * ** Looking Inward: Your Four Column Immunity Map ** ||
 * ** 1. Commitment ** || ** 2. Doing/Not Doing ** || ** 3. Hidden/Competing **** Commitment ** || ** 4. Big Assumption ** ||

__**Chapters 6 & 7:**__ Interdependency of the 4 C’s Immunity Maps can help us diagnose our personal immunities to change by understanding ourselves as complex systems. Four columns: Commitment, Doing/Not Doing, Hidden/Competing Commitments, and Big Assumptions. Going through this process should be emotionally difficult. If not, then perhaps you are not choosing the correct pieces. Your big assumption will show you a larger world in which theoretically you could live.
 * This chapter helps us understand and overcome common organizational and individual tendencies that inhibit adaptive change.
 * Practical knowledge and support where it is most needed.
 * How we can identify and name the tensions that hold us immune to change and growth.
 * Competencies: “the repertoire of skills and knowledge that influences student learning.”
 * Conditions: “the external architecture surrounding student learning, the tangible arrangements of time, space, and resources.”
 * Culture: “the shared values, beliefs, assumptions, expectations, and behaviors related to students and learning, teachers and teaching, instructional leadership, and the quality of relationships within and beyond the school.”
 * Context: “skill demands” all students must meet to succeed as providers, learners, and citizens and the particular aspirations, needs, and concerns of the families and community that the school or district serves.”

** Chapter Eight “The Ecology of Change” (133-66) ** The three phases of change are **preparing** (creating a “shared vision”); envisioning the change; and **enacting** the change with the goal of improving instruction through collaboration ( Wagner et al., 2006, p.134). **II. Three change levers drive the whole system change.** C. **Relationships**, too, serve as a change lever and must be based on trust and respect. A dominant theme in the chapter is that teachers are isolated and autonomous (p. 141). A “whole system change” is a “Second Order” change that requires “adaptive work” ( p. 138). Adaptive work requires “changes in people’s heads, hearts, and actions” as opposed to” technical” changes, which can be classified as //orders from the top// (p. 138). Probably the single most important lesson from this section is that it is acceptable to start without having all of the answers to have a “tolerance for ambiguity” (p. 138). Change is constant (p.162); changing strategies gives evidence of flexibility and willingness to change with new opportunities or to make adjustments based on data (p. 163); phases are “cyclical” and may morph into new challenges (p. 163). Wagner recommends that districts de-emphasize test scores because they tend to become “the goal” (p. 164); “test prep” approach may improve scores for a few years, but not for the long term (p. 164); most districts score the lowest on “reasoning, analysis, problem solving, and application” (p. 164).
 * I. “Phases of Whole System Change”** //(similar to Second Order change)//
 * A. Data** can be quantitative (“numbers don’t lie” p. 134) and /or qualitative -- anecdotal ( p. 134) . Qualitative data “reminds us of the moral imperative behind our work and enables us to see the information as living in three dimensions instead of just one” (p. 135). The “living bar graph” supports (not diminishes) the importance of statistics, the “living bar graph” gives a human face to the problem (p. 146).
 * B. Accountability** can be vertical (top-down and not recommended for education) or horizontal (based on respect). Shared accountability institutes a “no fault” system that embraces a “no shame, no blame, no excuses” philosophy ( p. 141).Buzz words of horizontal accountability include “frame the challenge,” (p. 141), “transparent approach” (142), and “current state” (p.144).
 * III “Preparing for the Whole System Change”**
 * IV. “Putting the Pieces Together: The Ecology of Educational Transformation”**
 * V. “Measuring Success and the Challenge of High-Stakes Test Scores” (p.163)**

I.__**Chapter 9:**__ “Habits of the mind can be as intractable as habits of behavior, but it is possible to alter them” Offering a series of exercises designed to help individuals overturn their “IMMUNITIES” of change I. STEPS TOWARD INDIVIDUAL CHANGE II. Victories From Immunities in Two Ways (p. 170). III. Big Assumptions: lead us to attend systematically to certain data and to systematically avoid or ignore data (p.173). IV. Personal Inventory and a way to track your Big Assumptions (p. 174). V. Testing Your Big Assumptions (p. 178). VI. Taking the Temperature (p.179) **CONCLUSION...** Bringing the Outward and Inward Focus Together: With good leadership comes understanding and the focus of change. While we work together to make the outward changes we must work to ensure our students are prepared for tomorrow’s world; we must at the same time, make the inward changes in ourselves that are needed to continue the process of acheiving our goals. The inward changes in us may be the hardest part. Because of our Big Assumptions, we may find it hard to stay on the path of change or improvement we plan. When adults in the school “individually and collectively examine, question, reflect on their ideals, and develop new practices that lead toward those ideals, the school and its inhabitants are alive. When (the adults in the school) stop growing, so do their students.” (p.227)
 * Overturning Your Immunities to Change (167-90)**

Based on //Change// //Leadership A Practical Guide to Transforming Our Schools//, a “new kind of leader” is not the omnipotent/authoritative figure on a pedestal waiting to fall (or fail), but a person or team who openly seeks the best tools, information, and practices for the framed problem.

Wagner, T., Kegan, R., Lahey, L., Lemons, R.W., Garnier, J., Helsing, D., Howell, A., Rasmussen, H.T. (2006). Change Leadership: A practical guide to transforming our schools.
 * References:**