Preparing for change: an examination of an urban school\u27s extra-curricular activities and professional learning communities in creating a culture ready for change (original) (raw)
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2015
This autoethnographic study examined the transformational growth and development over a four-year period of professional learning communities (PLCs) at an urban elementary school in New Jersey. I sought to uncover the relationship between the principal's leadership behaviors, vision, and systemic planning and the development of transformational professional learning communities (PLCs) at the school. Ongoing surveys and questionnaires were distributed to teachers at the school, and my personal journal entries that maintained anecdotal notes of PLCs and interaction among staff during the four-year period along with PLC documents were analyzed. The findings from the study revealed that overall there is a strong relationship between principals' leadership practices and the transformational development of professional learning communities. Additionally, the results from this study suggest that the combination of all the leadership practices associated with this study can assist in informing school principals of the leadership practices associated with successful professional learning communities. Further, the results from this study can be used to help guide professional development programs for education leaders relative to the specific leadership practices that may help support a collaborative culture of professional learning communities in schools. vi
Public education in the United States is in crisis. Far too many children are failing to achieve minimal standards in reading, writing and mathematics. New federal legislation seeks to correct this situation by legislative fiat that is backed with severe sanctions for schools and districts that fail to improve. This situation offers a unique opportunity for adult educators to play a critical role in helping public schools meet this challenge. The strategy is to focus on the learning and professional development of the adults within the system—principals, teachers, staff, parents and community partners. This paper summarizes an action research/intervention project with several Milwaukee public schools that are attempting comprehensive school reform. The research strategy employs action science theory and tools of inquiry to document interpersonal dynamics at the individual, group and organizational level that either inhibit or promote the creation of a learning culture within the sch...
Powerful Learning: Creating Learning Communities in Urban School Reform
2003
This article uses qualitative data to describe how administrators and teachers in one urban middle school, Woodsedge, 1 shared leadership tasks to develop an authentic learning community. This middle school, which serves a multiethnic student population representing extremes of the economic spectrum, was one of 88 schools participating in a school-based reform initiative in a major city in the southwestern United States. The reform focused dollars on high-quality professional development for administrators and teachers. By engaging in their own powerful learning, teachers at
1972
The final report of a research effort, interracial and multidisciplinary in nature and designed to deal with the politics of change in professional systems, outlines a) a diagnosis of American high schools and consequent change strategies, b) its goals and objectives, c) program outcomes, and d) issues facing the Educational Change Team and others engaged in controversial aspects of school change. The Team conducted basic research to discover, document and illuminate the issues of racist and control of youth which appear as the major institutional conditions leading to educational failure and political crisis in schools. It also conducted a variety of developmental programs to generate alternative models of aspects of secondary education and to design new materials and resources helpful in the change process. A series of regional consultant teams were identified and trained to provide direct assistance to school systems in crisis (Network on Educational Unrest). Further, the ECT trained groups of students, teachers, administrators, and community members in new ways of dealing with school conflicts, and created and disseminated various materials pertinent to school crisis and change. Relevant publications available by or from the ECT, a bibliography of school conflict and change, and a list of Team staff members are included in the report.
Resources for School Change I: A Manual on Issues and Programs in Training Educational Change
1972
This manual provides guides to assist consultants discover, create, and maintain meaningful changes in secondary schools. Among the change issues discussed are the politics of educational racism, youth oppression, and professionalism; and patterns of conflict. To assist in the retraining cf consultants in the processes and strategies of change, the manual incorporates training episodes that focus on (1) values and goals of the change agent, (2) risk and commitment, (3) client making and contracting, (4) strategy development for school diagnosis, (5) team or cadre selection and training, and following activities. Related documents are EA 004 669 and EA 004 670. 4Author/JF) -0 o (; 4/9 ors
Guidelines for facilitating systemic change in school districts (89)
Systems Research and Behavioral Science, 1998
This paper opens by addressing the emerging need for systemic change in K-12 school systems, with consideration given to requirements for new mindsets on educational change. Given the history of less than successful attempts at educational change, the need exists for a guidance system which helps change facilitators to guide school districts and communities through a systemic change process. The paper describes the characteristics and elements of a systemic change guidance system which builds on the principles of process facilitation and systems design. It examines in detail the integral values or beliefs related to facilitation and systemic change, the types of events (sets of activities) typically needed, and the processes which form the guidance system. Also discussed is the process used to create the guidance system. Increasingly, educators are recognizing that the conditions and educational needs of their communities are becoming dramatically different from what they were in the 1950's and 1960's. Those changing conditions and educational needs include: • a society in which there is greater need for citizens who can understand and utilize the advancements of new technologies, sustain and advance a democratic way of life, accept the responsibility of protecting the environment, and ensure the future, • a workplace in which there is greater need for employees with initiative, cooperative skills, communication skills, problem-solving skills, life-long learning skills, and diverse perspectives,
Guidelines for facilitating systemic change in school districts
Systems Research and Behavioral Science, 1998
This paper opens by addressing the emerging need for systemic change in K-12 school systems, with consideration given to requirements for new mindsets on educational change. Given the history of less than successful attempts at educational change, the need exists for a guidance system which helps change facilitators to guide school districts and communities through a systemic change process. The paper describes the characteristics and elements of a systemic change guidance system which builds on the principles of process facilitation and systems design. It examines in detail the integral values or beliefs related to facilitation and systemic change, the types of events (sets of activities) typically needed, and the processes which form the guidance system. Also discussed is the process used to create the guidance system. Increasingly, educators are recognizing that the conditions and educational needs of their communities are becoming dramatically different from what they were in the 1950's and 1960's. Those changing conditions and educational needs include: • a society in which there is greater need for citizens who can understand and utilize the advancements of new technologies, sustain and advance a democratic way of life, accept the responsibility of protecting the environment, and ensure the future, • a workplace in which there is greater need for employees with initiative, cooperative skills, communication skills, problem-solving skills, life-long learning skills, and diverse perspectives,