Getting Unstuck: Creating the Right Environment for Educational Change
“Change on the outside is moving so much faster than change within education. And if we don’t innovate, then we’re going to die – educationally speaking.”
Today on Getting Unstuck
Whether you’re a parent, an educator, or just a concerned citizen, you have a big stake in what happens in our classrooms – the incubators of our future. If you listen to education transformation advocates – Sir Ken Robinson, Ted Dintersmith, Tony Wagner, Richer Gerver – we need to change those incubators by recognizing that we’re in a post-industrial society and build an educational system that better prepares children for it.
What we see, however, is educational leaders and schools being barraged with suggestions and directives to do “this” and “that” to improve student performance and outcomes. At best these inputs result in “changes around the edges” and at worst, a bureaucracy that focuses on evaluating students instead of helping them become their best self for today’s world.
But the real problem is that we don’t have agreement on what we mean by “student performance and outcomes.” There is a critical need to define the kind of school and educational experiences kids really need given the world we live in today – and not for the world that existed more than 100 years ago. This special series seeks to turn up the volume on that much needed discussion.
To support that discussion, we welcome four school administrators from the Mesa, Arizona Public Schools: Dr. Randy Mahlerwein, an area superintendent; Greg Mendez, principal of Riverview HS; Chris Gilmore, principal of Westwood HS; and Mike Oliver, principal of Zaharis Elementary School.
Our thanks to Mesa Public Schools for allowing us to share this incredible interview.
“Would you want to be a learner in your own classroom?”
L-R: Chris Gilmore, Carrie Seather, Dr. Mahlerwein, Greg Mendez. Photo by Mike Oliver
The group’s transformation ideas
Create an environment where instruction and learning can evolve – one that isn’t static – one that encourages innovation.
Focus on the social and emotional well-being of your faculty. If they are happy, their kids will be happy.
“We need to think of new ways to help children become critical thinkers where they're creative, and where they're problem solvers – and problem identifiers.”
School leaders need to model the behaviors they want to see in kids: innovators, collaborators, community contributors, ethical and resilient.
Bring the real-world into the school.
“School leaders need to give teachers and students the permission to be constructively and positively crazy, and get out there and do good work and try new things and not worry about being judged and ridiculed. And then create these environments where we celebrate that.”
Immerse students in answering big questions, and then identify the standards that are covered as a post-script to the actual learning. “Uncover the standards through agency, through relevancy, or through complexity and collaboration.”
Identify alternate metrics besides standardized test scores.
Provide professional development that gives teachers the comfort and ability to shift to a more inquiry, problem-based model of instruction.
As a leader, be vulnerable enough to say “I don’t know,” and then surround yourself with people who can help you figure “it” out.
“90% of the variation on a student’s success on a standardized test is not teacher or school influenced. Only 10% of that test is teacher or school influenced, yet we double down on that metric. 90% of the variation on the standardized test score is attributed to the state of the state, the state of the neighborhood, the state of the family, and the overall quality of the lived experience outside of a place called school.”
Could a book on how to effectively lead change in schools be more timely?
We’re pleased to announce …
…that our book Shifting: How School Leaders Can Create a Culture of Change is now available from Corwin Press or Amazon, and you can preview it in the short video below. Thank you!
From our publisher:
In Shifting, educators and leadership experts Kirsten Richert, Jeff Ikler and Margaret Zacchei empower educational change leaders to proactively and coherently navigate complex change in schools to achieve the desired outcomes. Using a three-part framework—Assess, Ready, Change—this book leads educators to examine a school’s imperatives and readiness for change, identity the tools and abilities required to manifest change, and take action by defining the roles and processes necessary to effectively implement both sweeping change and smaller day-to-day adjustments.