1st Edition

Navigating Comprehensive School Change

By Robert Everhart, Thomas Chenoweth Copyright 2002
    286 Pages
    by Eye On Education

    286 Pages
    by Eye On Education

    This book, an accessible resource for busy practitioners, is a unique hybrid of two genres. As a "tourist guide", it shows you:
    - how to prepare for the journey
    - what to pay attention to upon arrival
    - how to deal with the unexpected.

    As a "consumer report", it helps you:
    - identify some of the best tools and sources about change
    - access useful information about the change process
    - find information about the strengths and challenges of various strategies.

    Thorough and comprehensive, it offers essential information about how to:
    - form leadership teams
    - identify high stakes problems
    - build commitment
    - create a school-wide vision and establish school-wide goals
    - handle setbacks
    - maintain the vision and sustain change.
    - evaluate and assess comprehensive school change.

    Also included is a section called "Ports of Call" which provides sources of information to help you implement comprehensive school reform at your site.
    From Michael Fullan's Foreword . . ."Chenoweth and Everhart take the big concepts of change and work them through operationally at the level of day-to-day practice. We learn how to form leadership teams, the importance of focusing on capacity-building and reculturing, how to build commitment while dealing with dissatisfaction, problem-solving during implementation, how to keep going, and how to go beyond standardized testing in developing a range of alternative assessment strategies.

    1. HOW ABOUT A SHORT COURSE ON NAVIGATION? ASSUMPTIONS AND KEY LESSONS ABOUT CHANGE
    • Focus on Student Learning
    • Comprehensive Change
    • School Leadership
    • Democratic Environment
    • Key Factors in the Change Process
    2. LAUNCHING THE SHIP: HOW DO WE PREPARE THIS THING TO FLOAT?
    • Forming Your Leadership Team
    • Buy-In Period: Deciding to Initiate Comprehensive School Change
    • Capacity Building: Managing the Content (the What) of School Change
    • Capacity Building: Managing the Process (the How) of Change
    3. IS EVERYBODY ON BOARD? BUILDING COMMITMENT
    • Building Dissatisfaction
    • Creating a School-Wide Vision
    • Focus on Teaching and Learning
    • Introducing an Enrichment Model of Teaching and Learning and Building on Strengths
    4. DID YOU SAY TO TURN PORT OR STARBOARD? IMPLEMENTATION
    • Follow a Systematic Approach for Problem Solving
    • Develop Strategies to "Jump-Start" Implementation (Early Stage)
    • Reculture by Aligning Practices with Beliefs (Mid Stage)
    • Monitor Progress and Maintain Momentum (Mature Stage)
    5. WAS THIS ROCK ON THE CHART? SUSTAINING CHANGE
    • Slipping Backward to the Way Things Were
    • Preparing for Project Fade-Out and Staff/Community Turnover
    • Refocus on Student Learning
    • Creating a Learning Organization for Continuous Improvement
    6. HOW DO YOU KNOW WHEN YOU'VE ARRIVED? EVALUATION AND ASSESSMENT
    • Understanding the Context of Standards and their Role in Classroom Practice
    • Valuing the Role of Assessment and the School's Ability to Shape It
    • Evaluate the Progress of the Design Model and Assess its Impact on Student Learning
    • De-emphasize Standardized Testing Through the Use of Alternative Strategies and Principles of Assessment
    7. CONCLUSIONS-AND (NEW) BEGINNINGS
    • Rethink the Way We Think About Schooling
    • Utilize a Design Model to Guide the Change Process
    • Build a Culture of Change that Celebrates Organizational Learning
    • Remember the "Keys" to the Future of Change in Your School
    PORTS OF CALL IN YOUR FUTURE NAVIGATIONS: RESOURCES FOR CHANGE
    • Organizations
    • Educational Laboratories and Research Centers
    • Comprehensive School Reform Models
    • Content- or Subject-Based Reforms and Associations
    • Printed Resources

    Biography

    Authored by Everhart, Robert; Chenoweth, Thomas