SYSTEMIC CHANGE

Systemic Change Means Working with School Systems

• VERTICAL

• Must work with District Bureaucracies or State Departments of Education—to Effect Change: -

• must work from top to bottom

• all are true

Systemic Means Working with Every School in a System:

• VERTICAL

• Used in a horizontal sense and implies working with all the schools in a district or state to effect change

• BOTH

• NEITHER

Systemic Change Means Working with every aspect of the School System:

• This means that you must include every issue and aspect of the school system; anywhere from school finance to student assessment.

• Anything less than a systematic approach will find the fabric of change unraveling at one end even as it is being woven at the other. There must be a plan or approach in a school district if change is happening.

• both

• neither

Systemic Change Means Systematic:

• This means that you must include every issue and aspect of the school system; anywhere from school finance to student assessment.

• There must be a plan or approach in a school district if change is happening.

• both

• neither

Systemic Means Fundamental Change:

• Both

• This means that you must include every issue and aspect of the school system; anywhere from school finance to student assessment.

• Implies that improvements needed in education are so extensive that they cannot be done within the limits of the present system

• Neither

VISION IS

• The support of the public and of the political leadership at all levels of the system must grow.

• The idea/dream/desire that people have of an education system and what it should accomplish must change in order for the system to change.

• both

• neither

Public and political support

• Building networks that study, pilot, and support the new vision of the education system is essential in establishing lasting systemic change.

• As the vision develops and is translated into practice, the support of the public and of the political leadership at all levels of the system must grow.

• neither

• Broadening understanding of the vision

Networking

• Political gladhanding in order to curry favor for election purposes

• neither

• similar to gerrymandering

• Building networks that study, pilot, and support the new vision of the education system is essential in establishing lasting systemic change.

Teaching and Learning Changes:

• Making simultaneous changes in all six elements requires conscious planning.

• State and local policy need to be aligned around the beliefs and practices of the new system, particularly in areas related to curriculum frameworks, instructional methods and materials, student assessment practices, resource allocation, and the inclusion of all types of students.

• If changes do not occur in teaching and learning, all the other changes have little value.

• none of these

Administrative Roles and Responsibilities

• Making simultaneous changes in all six elements requires conscious planning. The process is akin to remodeling a building while people are still using it; redesign and reconfiguration need to be carefully staged to keep the building functional.

• State and local policy need to be aligned around the beliefs and practices of the new system, particularly in areas related to curriculum frameworks, instructional methods and materials, student assessment practices, resource allocation, and the inclusion of all types of students.

• none of these

• To achieve change in the classroom, admin roles and respons need to shift at the school, district, and state levels from a hierarchical structure of control to one of support and shared decision making.