Week 5 R/D8

The two issues that struck me in Chapter 21 are the Ecological Systemic Change process and the idea of community forums to help implement changes in the school system.

The Ecological approach to educational reform was interesting to me because of the fact it recognizes that change doesn’t happen in a vacuum. A change in one area is going to affect other areas. It seems like this tries to anticipate the often unanticipated and negative changes which occur when change is put upon a school district. Had the designers of the No Child Left Behind Act or the Michigan Merritt Curriculum took a more ecological view in the planning stages, many problems could have been forecasted and fixed before they became the untenable burdens to districts they are becoming.

Community forums just make sense. After reading the chapter it now seems obvious to me that community forums need to happen every time significant change is considered. The text’s account of the Decature Township’s use of community forums (page 216) demonstrates a well thought out plan of change. All the excellent planning in the world is wasted if all stakeholders don’t feel ownership in the process. I thought it was particularly wise to have community members and the teacher union involved in the planning process from day one. Parents have the potential of being harsh critics of change and tenured teachers have the ability to torpedo the best laid plans because they are on the front-lines of change implementation. Having these two groups involved in the district change planning struck me as particularly wise. Being part of the planning makes these two important groups of stakeholders feel a sense of ownership which would make them more likely to be advocates of the change rather than adversaries to it.