1.
"Critical Issue: Leading and Managing Change and Improvement",
a whitepaper which states: "Managing school change and improvement is one
of the most complex tasks of school leadership. As Fullan (1993), Sparks
(1993), and others point out, school leaders need to understand the change
process in order to lead and manage change and improvement efforts
effectively. They must learn to overcome barriers and cope with the chaos that
naturally exists during the complex process of change (Fullan & Miles,
1992). http://www.ncrel.org/sdrs/areas/issues/educatrs/leadrshp/le500.htm
2. Dynamics of the Change Process
http://www.ncrel.org/sdrs/areas/issues/educatrs/leadrshp/le5dynam.htm
Pathways Home: Fullan (1993) lists eight "basic lessons" that
can be learned about the process of change and improvement:
Lesson
One: You Can't Mandate What Matters (The more complex the change, the less
you can force it.)
Lesson
Two: Change is a Journey, not a Blueprint (Change is non-linear, loaded with
uncertainty and excitement and sometimes perverse.)
Lesson
Three: Problems are Our Friends (Problems are inevitable and you can't learn
without them.)
Lesson
Four: Vision and Strategic Planning Come Later (Premature visions and
planning blind)
Lesson
Five: Individualism and Collectivism Must Have Equal Power (There are no
one-sided solutions to isolation and group think.)
Lesson
Six: Neither Centralization Nor Decentralization Works (Both top-down and
bottom-up strategies are necessary.)
Lesson
Seven: Connection with the Wider Environment is Critical for Success (The
best organizations learn externally as well as internally.)
Lesson
Eight: Every Person is a Change Agent (Change is too important to leave to
the experts, personal mind set and mastery is the ultimate protection.) pp.
21-22
How
do these eight lessons fit together?
As
Fullan (1993) notes later: "There is a pattern underlying the eight
lessons of dynamic change and it concerns one's ability to work with polar
opposites: simultaneously pushing for change while allowing self-learning to
unfold; being prepared for a journey of uncertainty; seeing problems as
sources of creative resolution; having a vision,
but not being blinded by it; valuing the individual and the group;
incorporating centralizing and decentralizing forces; being internally
cohesive, but externally oriented; and valuing, personal change agentry as
the route to system change." (p. 40)
The
Concerns-Based Adoption Model
(Hall & Loucks, 1979)
describes the seven levels of concern that teachers experience as they adopt a
new practice. http://www.ncrel.org/sdrs/areas/issues/educatrs/profdevl/pd2stage.htm