Chapter 14 Transforming the School

1. Chapter 14 Transforming the School • Many organizations are bound by constraints that are more imagined than real (like training elephants) – limitations that restrict creativity and change. • A majority of public schools have been among them. • The goal of school reform and the process of change are intertwined.

2. I. Organizational Change • Unless the basic values and beliefs of teachers, principals and other employees are reshaped, they tend to revert to the routine behaviors once the pressure to change has subsided. • (i.e. the person who gets in an accident, changes ways temporarily, the reverts to before – behavior not altered at all)

3. A. Defining Change –Change is a process, Change is a medium for adaption. Change is an essential element of organizational development. Changes that occur in schools are often not perceptible to the general public.

4. B. Change in Education Institutions – Many education innovations have been “adopted, tried out, and subsequently rejected—only to cycle around and be readopted some years later in a ‘new and improved’ form”, (Hall & Hord, 2001, p.20) • Change often fails not because of the substance of the ideas, but because of the context in which it is pursued. • Schools are caught in a web of enduring internal and external dilemmas that serve to derail change initiatives.

5. Detrimental internal issues: • 1. Goals – tension between purposes of schools and the individual needs • 2. Task structure – tension between the formal organization and the informal organization • 3. Hierarchy – tension between centralization and decentralization control • 4. Professionalism – tension between bureaucracy and professionalism (learning communities)

6. Detrimental external issues – • 1. Persistence – tension between protecting the status quo and making adaptations • 2. Boundaries – tension between protecting the integrity of the organization and dealing with the uncertainty of changing conditions • 3. Compliance – tension between technical compliance (enhancing efficiency) and institutional compliance (gaining social legitimacy)

7. Principals must choose between being change agents and being protectors of the status quo. • Schools and other educational organizations must confront not merely change but rather the integration of stability and change. (Owens, 2001)

8. Another look at change using • change source (internal – within the organization, or external – out of the organization), • change type (evolutionary – gradual, or revolutionary - sudden), or • time orientation (short term – less than two years, or long term – usually three or more years)

9. II. Resistance to Change • Resistance to change is described as “any attempt to maintain the status quo when there is pressure to change”, (Zaltman & Duncan, 1977, p. 63) • After years and years of education upheaval – the basic structure of schools – the organizational patterns, the distribution of power, and the divisions of curriculum – remain much as they were decades ago.

10. A. General Resistance – School organizations have been preoccupied with maintaining peaceful environments, and consider change as disruptive and counterproductive. • Signs of organization’s character (level of each defines the strength or weakness): • 1. Vision “who are we?” • 2. Fairness “do we trust each other?” • 3. Ability “do the bosses know what they are doing?” • 4. Distinctive skills “can we do it?” • When people inside the school organization have little or no understanding of the purposes of change, they almost always develop high level of anxiety and resistance. (Fullan & Stieglebauer, 1990)

11. B. Specific Barriers – • 1. Barriers to understanding (information deficiencies) • 2. Barriers to acceptance (philosophical or professional incongruity) • 3. Barriers to acting (human or material resource deficiencies)

12. Other barriers to change agendas: • Lack of involvement in setting the agenda • Lack of information about the agenda • Lack of conviction • Disenchantment and alienation • Discontinuity of leadership • Insufficient time and resources • Inadequate preparation to deal with the complexity of change • Ineffective or insufficient use of the professional knowledge base

13. III. Change Strategies • Common strategies that have been used to pursue change (Chin & Benne, 1985): • Empirical-rational strategies (when change is shown to e in their best interest, employees will implement it) • Normative-reeducative strategies (exposing employees to new knowledge and skills that hopefully will affect values and beliefs) • Power-coercive strategies (economic or political force must be used)

14. IV. Culture Change • More often then not educators contributed to reform largely by reacting to initiatives authored by others • A. Complexity of Culture Change – organizational development concentrates on the unfolding, refining, and strengthening of behaviors, roles, attitudes, motives, beliefs and values… • …organizational transformation focuses on totally recreating these characteristics.

15. B. Basic Values and Beliefs – three layers of organizational culture exist: artifacts, tacit values and beliefs, and underlying values and beliefs. • Underlying values and beliefs are the most important and may fall in one of more of the following categories: • 1. Decision-making norms (…who should participate in making decisions) • 2. Ideas about research and scientific inquiry (…importance of theory to effective practice) • 3. Views of students and learning (…belief about the ability of all students to learn and succeed in school) • 4. Relationships (…one big happy family, group hug time)

16. C. Time Dimension – Changing culture is a long-term process. Persistence is necessary for success. • …revolutionary transformations are rarely successful • An effective alternative (Smith & Slesinski, 1991) Get employees (1) doing old things better, (2) doing new things, and (3) building a flexible, adaptable, always-improving organization

17. D. Culture and Restructuring – Culture is the primary determinant of a school’s character and quality, but the other three elements of organizational climate (ecology and milieu and organization) are also important. • The depth of the nexus of the connection between school culture and school effectiveness is the most telling element for cultural change. Purkey & Smith cite the following as characteristics of effective schools: • …a sense of community • …collaborative planning • …acceptance of common goals • …belief that the school is capable of identifying and solving problems • …a linkage to the community • …democratic decision based on consensus • …a greater degree of responsibility placed on the professionals

18. V. Implications for Practice • Change is a process rather than a specific goal.