Leadership and Sustainability: Building Initiative, Vision, Values, and Longevity for Implementation

1. Leadership and Sustainability:Building Initiative, Vision, Values, and Longevity for Implementation CIIDL Summer InstituteJune 18, 2008, 4pm Toyah Robey Kentucky Department of Education

2. The Big PictureThe World Is Flat • Macro • Micro A quiet crisis in America…

3. Greatness is not in where we stand, but in what direction we are moving. We must sail sometimes with the wind and sometimes against it--but sail we must and not drift, nor lie at anchor.” Oliver Wendell Holmes

4. Leadership Leadership, not “leaders”, is key to building for sustainability

5. Mission and Vision The most important question in any organization has to be “What is the business of our business?” Answering this question is the first step in setting priorities. -Judith Barwick

6. Systems Thinking It’s not about the initiatives but on the system itself!

7. Foundations Improvement Cycle Review Implement Prioritize Adopt Revise Foundations, Sprick

8. Staff Development Research and experience have taught us that widespread, sustained implementation of new practices in classrooms, principal’s offices, and central offices requires a new form of professional development. This staff development not only must affect the knowledge, attitudes, and practices of individual teachers, administrators, and other school employees, but it also must alter the cultures and structures of the organization. -Sparks and Hirsh Professional Learning Communities at Work, DuFour and Eaker

9. Understanding Change Progress brings about change but change does not necessarily bring about progress.

10. Understanding Change Change cannot be “managed”. It can be understood, and perhaps led, but it cannot be fully controlled.

11. Understanding the Change Process • The goal is not to innovate the most. • It is not enough to have the best ideas. • Appreciate the implementation dip. • Redefine resistance. • Reculturing is the name of the game. • Never a checklist, always complexity.

12. Change is Complex What is Change? • New Materials • New Behavior/Practices • New Beliefs/Understanding Implementation Dip -Fullan 2003

13. Sustainability The capacity of a system to engage in the complexities of continuous improvement consistent with deep values of human purpose

14. Sustainability Sustainability does not simply mean whether something will last. It addresses how particular initiatives can be developed without compromising the development of others in the surrounding environment now and in the future (Hargreaves & Fink, 2000)

15. Where Do We Go From Here?

16. Resources Leadership & Sustainability: System Thinkers in Action by Michael Fullan, Corwin Press Leading in a Culture of Change by Michael Fullan, Jossey-Bass Professional Learning Communities at Work: Best Practices for Enhancing Student Achievement by Richard DuFour and Robert Eaker, ASCD Getting Started: Reculturing Schools to Become Professional Learning Communities by Robert Eaker, Richard DuFour, and Rebecca DuFour, ASCD Assistive Technology: Access for ALL Students by Linda Johnson, Lawrence Beard, Laura Bowden Carpenter, Pearson/Merrill Prentice Hall Student Achievement Through Staff Development by Bruce Joyce and Beverly Showers, ASCD