{"id":497,"date":"2010-01-18T17:04:48","date_gmt":"2010-01-18T21:04:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sabusense.com\/?p=497"},"modified":"2010-01-22T15:35:20","modified_gmt":"2010-01-22T19:35:20","slug":"in-the-tangled-jungle-of-school-reform","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.sabusense.com\/?p=497","title":{"rendered":"In the Tangled Jungle of School Reform"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/em><\/strong><\/h2>\n

HARVARD\u2026 AND SABU<\/em>
\nFind a \u201cClassroom\u201d Teaching DIFFERENT<\/em> Lessons<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n

Several months ago I was asked by AASA\u2019s journal The School Administrator<\/span> to review a new Harvard Business School publication — \u201cLeading for Equity: The Pursuit of Excellence in Montgomery County Public Schools\u201d<\/em> by Stacey Childress, Denis Doyle, and David Thomas. This presented an interesting challenge because AASA wanted a short<\/em>, and an objective <\/em>review.<\/p>\n

As readers of this site know, the book is about the same school system that serves as the reality check for the way-of-thinking<\/em> this site attempts to capture. For the past 10 years I\u2019ve been an embedded learner in, and thinking partner with, that district. Some initial learnings were offered in a 2003 School Administrator <\/span>article \u2013 \u201c<\/a>Systemic Learning & Acting: A close-up observer finds a school district behaving as if it were a system<\/a><\/em>.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

While this relationship might seem to make an objective review difficult, I found it offered a dimension of understanding enabling me to better gauge the relevance of both the book\u2019s content\u2026 and the context from which it emerged.<\/p>\n

\u2022\tWhy, for example, was this a product of Harvard\u2019s school of business<\/span>, not education?
\n\u2022\tAnd how does this large complex school district\u2019s experience relate to President Obama\u2019s, Bill Gates\u2019 and Secretary of Education Arne Duncan\u2019s \u201drace-to-the-top\u201d<\/em>?<\/p>\n

AASA\u2019s format also required a short review, not a long article. But if I took seriously their boilerplate instructions to reviewers\u2026<\/p>\n

\u201cConsider the review of the book to be a consumer service. Provide an honest critique which means if the book in your view would fail to meet the needs or interests of the typical superintendent, you ought to say so and explain why\u2026..Critical or balanced reviews are actually more valuable than raves given the limitations of time for book reading among most superintendents.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u2026I wasn\u2019t sure that within the 350-word limit I could meet their underlying requirements for “an honest critique” that would \u201cmeet the needs or interests of the typical superintendent. \u2026who has \u201climitations of time for book reading.\u201d<\/p>\n

In this case, I believed “honesty” required saying why I thought it does<\/span> address “needs and interests” of all<\/em> <\/span>Superintendents who are in the \u201cbusiness\u201d of schooling to make a difference for all<\/span><\/em> the kids and teachers in their districts. And whose difference-making<\/em>, like other CEO\u2019s, requires continually juggling all of the system\u2019s parts and processes, even while losing hope that it’s possible to have the time and support to do it.<\/p>\n

But the space limits were a reality and my challenge was to work within them to act on my belief that this book differed from the many excellent publications today dealing with knowledge superintendents should<\/em>, and someday must<\/em>, know. But which many times don’t seem to touch a superintendent’s core concern of \u201cwhat can I do on Monday\u201d<\/em> with this knowledge that will influence what happens to children today in my district?<\/p>\n

So in the soon-to-be-published review, below, I chose to use the allotted space to raise questions more than preview the answers they’ll find. My intention: to engage the reader’ interest enough to want to find out more. And then to use this website to begin to tell the rest of the story, and its important implications for the critical agendas of those trying to effectively use their resources to facilitate a national race-to-the-top.<\/p>\n

For those interested in that \u201crest of story\u201d and its implications for their own leadership and for current national reform, you also will\u00a0 find the longer review I would have liked to have published, followed by mini-reviews of two articles by same authors published since the book came out —<\/p>\n

\u2022\tAn Education Week<\/span> Commentary, \u201cMoving Beyond the Conventional Wisdom of Whole District Reform,<\/em>\u201d
\n\u2022\tA November \u201809 KAPPAN<\/span> article, \u201cSix Lessons for Pursuing Excellence and Equity at Scale: Efforts in Montgomery County, Maryland, to \u2018raise the bar and close the gap\u2019 depended on deep changes.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

These homed in on the their concluding \u201cSix Lessons\u201d which they had seen as a \u201cCall to Action\u201d for the rest of the country\u2019s urban schools.<\/p>\n

In future Sabusense postings I\u2019ll begin to explore both the content and context of the MCPS story — The Lesson<\/em> of the Lessons\u2026 and its Deeper Implications<\/strong><\/span> for current national reform efforts<\/strong>\u2026 and possibly for the Harvard School of Business itself.<\/p>\n

***********<\/p>\n

(To be published in the February 2010 issue of The School Administrator<\/span>)<\/p>\n

\"SA_BookReviews_Feb10c\"<\/a><\/p>\n

************<\/p>\n

The Rest of The Story\u2026<\/span><\/h4>\n

(What I would have liked to have published\u2026)<\/p>\n

\u201cBy Jove\u2026they got it\u2026 they really got it!<\/em>\u201d While reading this book I kept hearing that refrain from My Fair Lady<\/span>. But when finished I had a different realization: \u201cWhy\u2026. How could that be?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u2022\tHow could the Washington Post in a front page article claim that
\n\u201c\u2018Leading for Equity,\u2019 \u2026 presents \u2026 Montgomery as a model for other school districts to follow,\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u2026and David Gergen, in the book\u2019s introduction say that the
\n\u201cauthors \u2026 Call to Action \u2026 is grounded in their research in Montgomery County but is aimed at the larger national conversation about transforming public education\u2026\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u2022 \u2026while the Post\u2019s own longtime and respected education reporter criticized it and its Harvard Business School authors, (\u201c6 Lessons From Montgomery County Public Schools That Mostly Missed the Point<\/span>\u201d) for looking
\n\u201cat Montgomery’s remarkable success in raising student achievement as if they were analyzing Wal-Mart’s marketing triumphs. It is all about process. People who deal with this sort of stuff in their own jobs will be intrigued. \u2026\u2026I, however, write about teachers, and I am not quite as thrilled with the book as the folks hanging around the business school’s soda machine might be.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u2022\tAnd how could Secretary of Education Arne Duncan believe that \u201cMontgomery County is \u201cone of the examples of whole district transformation that shows us the way<\/em>,\u201d while several major reform and research organizations studied the same school district and left with few learnings they felt applicable to the immediate and long-range concerns of America\u2019s most needy students in its most needy schools?<\/p>\n

For me, I found the answers in the concept that \u201cwhile content may be king, context is the kingdom<\/em>.\u201d This book\u2019s content is important, but the context (or way-of-thinking) from which it emerged is what gives it unique meaning and significance for the entangled problems of leadership that characterize today\u2019s schooling and the failed attempts to improve it.
\nIn particular, what can this bigger picture tell us about why these \u201cnon-educator\u201d researchers \u201cgot\u201d what their \u201ceducator\u201d peers seemingly did not?\u00a0 And what are its implications for systemic reform?<\/p>\n

Benchmarking a way-of-thinking<\/h4>\n

Initial responses to this book make it clear that this school district\u2019s behavior doesn\u2019t fit the \u201ctheories\u201d of what school systems are \u201csupposed\u201d to do. That’s why it helps that this book\u2019s authors\u2019 have a \u201cdifferent\u201d way of understanding and thinking about schools as organizations.<\/p>\n

While other observers had focused on, and tried to benchmark MCPS\u2019 What\u2019s<\/em> and How\u2019s<\/em>, the Harvard Business School<\/span> authors concentrated on the Why<\/em> \u2013 a deeper level of organizational understanding that is important because it is common to all<\/span> work settings in both education and business. From this perspective they\u2019ve attempted to benchmark the MCPS way-of-thinking, and the roles a superintendent plays as a shaper of other\u2019s thinking. Or as the MCPS superintendent calls it \u2013 as a Teacher-on-Special-Assignment<\/em>.<\/p>\n

This has been the authors\u2019 lens. And to the extent that your experience leads you to share their beliefs, you\u2019ll find much of value. But, ironically, it may contribute most to those who don\u2019t believe<\/span> effective improvement of a large, complex school system is possible<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Why? Because a Possibility Paradox<\/em> stands in the way of scaling up and sustaining \u201cwhat works\u201d possibilities. When time and resources are in short supply, it is what we don\u2019t believe possible<\/em> to do “today” that has the power to trump the \u201csomeday\u201d hopes of the soundest teaching and learning theories and practices.<\/p>\n

As a consequence, culture-creating \u201cimpossibility beliefs\u201d frame the \u201cbox\u201d that we\u2019re supposed to “think outside of.\u201d Yet the scale and nature of this district\u2019s work over 10 years was changing that box for those working inside it. Through epiphany-generating work experiences that proved that the impossible was<\/span> possible<\/em>, it was influencing the beliefs and thinking that underlie \u201cculture.\u201d For example,<\/p>\n

1. While we believe in the \u201cpossibility\u201d that every child can<\/em> learn, we often don\u2019t accept at the same level of assurance that all children already are<\/em> learning; every child comes pre-wired to learn. That is until, as in this district, we see support for that belief demonstrated in ways that can be sustained for every child, not just some.<\/p>\n

2. We believe that \u201cteaching\u201d is the interaction of a single teacher<\/span> with a student. We don\u2019t accept at the same level of assurance that teaching<\/span> actually is a collaborative process<\/em> whose success requires the active involvement of more than one person \u2026 until we can see what happens when the \u201cdots\u201d outside the classroom in the building and district connect to support each<\/em> teacher\u2019s vital interactions with each <\/em>child.<\/p>\n

But then\u2026
\n3. We don\u2019t yet believe in the possibility that the school district already is a system<\/em> in which effective teaching and learning can happen in each of its classrooms, in every one of its school buildings everyday.<\/p>\n

And we won\u2019t \u2026until we have a way to see and experience a district creating and sustaining the interconnecting processes that enable that to happen regardless of changes in personnel, community politics and resources. Understanding the what\u2019s<\/em> and how\u2019s<\/em> of that systemic experience is what makes the MCPS story significant.<\/p>\n

Whether or not this district\u2019s story can provide \u201ca model for other school districts to follow,\u201d<\/em> or influence \u201cthe larger national conversation about transforming public education\u201d<\/em> or even fulfill Secretary of Education Arne Duncan\u2019s belief that \u201cMontgomery County is \u201cone of the examples of whole district transformation that shows us the way<\/em>\u201d will depend upon overriding the underlying power of that deeper third \u201cimpossibility belief.\u201d<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, there have been few epiphany-producing experiences (in education<\/span>) to counter that 3rd disbelief and demonstrate why this understanding provides the only sustainable context for the possibilities that are created by the first two beliefs. For decades epiphanies similar to the first two have driven reformer’s and practitioners support of many classroom and building improvements. But in the end, those improvements faded away with the departure of the teachers and principals who held the beliefs.<\/p>\n

And, over time, this seeming inability for effective practices to remain rooted, scale up and spread to others has, in itself, produced the most powerful and limiting impossibility belief — public schools are systemically unchangeable as presently structured.<\/em><\/p>\n

Without ways to experience how that 3rd belief about the district-as-a-system plays out in practice, policymakers will continue to seek non-systemic alternatives. Their options: break the system into separate and supposedly more manageable pieces, outsource many of its functions, or get rid of it completely.<\/p>\n

In this small book the Harvard authors haven\u2019t been able to tell the full story and they struggle with how to connect leadership to learning without making it seem to be (as they put it) the story of the exploits of a \u201csuper\u201d superintendent. They defaulted to the phrase \u201cWeast and his team\u201d which, while accurate, doesn\u2019t really get to the critical story of the development of that team, the scope and nature of its \u201cteamness\u201d and the developing understanding of the processes of systemic governance<\/em> and systemic management<\/em> that sustain it.<\/p>\n

It attempts, more successfully, to present the story of a district that has been closing the gap between methods and mindset that is a daunting barrier to systemic improvements in the core work of schools and classrooms.\u00a0 The authors\u2019 conclusion is that it\u2019s about a different \u201cmindset\u201d \u2013 a way-of-thinking that can give practical meaning to the \u201cmethods.\u201d<\/p>\n

It’s a mindset critically needed by national leaders \u201cracing to the top\u201d without an adequate road map of the mountain they must navigate.\u00a0 And without methods that can\u00a0 <\/em>work systemicall<\/em>y…now.<\/p>\n

************<\/p>\n

Continuing the Story\u2026<\/span><\/h4>\n

Published or not, the telling of the MCPS story hasn\u2019t ended. It seems clear to the Harvard authors (as it is to me) that the lessons that already can be drawn from this continuing experience are directly applicable to the problems of today\u2019s urban schools. But it apparently isn\u2019t to others who have the potential to act comprehensively on it.<\/p>\n

This creates a new problem — those of us who have been \u201clearners\u2019 must now be \u201cteachers.\u201d This can be a \u201dteachable moment,\u201d but it may be missed if it can\u2019t connect to \u201dlearnable moments\u201d for those currently seeking to make more immediate large-scale differences.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Where might be there be learners whose readiness-to-learn is backed up by a realistic sense of urgency and who already have the knowledge and resources to act meaningfully on it? \u00a0\u00a0 (In subsequent postings we will address three that come to mind who seek short-term systematic tactics that fit with their long-term systemic strategies: the Obama administration<\/span>, the Gates Foundation<\/span> and the Harvard Business School <\/span>itself.)<\/p>\n

\u2022 How can knowledge based on what has been learned from MCPS\u2019 lessons be applied in ways that enable it to show up in sustainable<\/em> school district \u201cperformance\u201d – the only criterion that suggests its been learned?<\/p>\n

Recognizing these needs, after the book\u2019s publication the Harvard Business School authors extended their thoughts with two articles that homed in on their concluding \u201cSix Lessons\u201d which they saw as a \u201cCall to Action\u201d for the rest of the country\u2019s urban schools.<\/p>\n

1.\tIn an Education Week<\/span> Commentary, \u201cMoving Beyond the Conventional Wisdom of Whole District Reform<\/a>,\u201d\u00a0Stacey Childress accurately described the nature and scope of the problem of whole district reform, and the problem\u2019s source — the seldom-challenged conventional wisdom.<\/p>\n

The nature<\/span>: \u201cschool districts must take on two difficult tasks at once: raising the outcomes of top performing students while at the same time<\/span> accelerating the learning of students who are behind.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

And the scope<\/span>: \u201cAnd they must find ways to do this in every school, not just a few exemplars.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

The seldom-challenged conventional advice<\/span>: \u201cHire great principals and teachers, make data-driven decisions, hold everyone accountable, build a strong culture, and engage stakeholders\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u2026all seemingly-sensible strategies which strangely had not yet responded to the scope, nature and time demands of the problem — \u201cfew were delivering excellence and equity for all of their students.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

In MCPS, on the other hand, they had found a school system functioning at a \u201cdeeper level than conventional advice\u201d<\/em> and offered \u201csix lessons<\/em>\u201d from their story to help make sense of it.<\/p>\n

2.\tThe Harvard authors then turned to what could be learned from MCPS\u2019 attacking the problem of scale and inclusiveness at this deeper<\/em> level. In a November \u201809 KAPPAN article, Six Lessons for Pursuing Excellence and Equity at Scale: Efforts in Montgomery County, Maryland to \u201craise the bar and close the gap<\/a><\/span>,<\/span>\u201d they attempted to connect what they had seen to these deep changes. <\/span><\/p>\n

Again noting that the unquestioned common advice from academics, consultants, and foundations (hire great principals and teachers, make data-driven decisions, hold everyone accountable, build a strong culture, and engage stakeholders) did not deliver<\/span> their promised systemic results for all students today<\/em>, they looked at the unique progress MCPS had already been making as a system, and what they had learned about how they did it.<\/p>\n

What was distinctive, they asked, about MCPS\u2019 focus on the same few core ideas? Digging deeper beneath what the district did, they looked across their implementation to better understand how they did it and why it was working.<\/p>\n

Here they captured stories that supported the learnings from each of the lessons. But in the end, they acknowledged their problem in \u201ccapturing the complexity of the work in Montgomery County.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, Montgomery County made data-driven decisions, engaged stakeholders, and hired great people in its efforts to provide excellence and equity for all of its students. But such pithy phrases as \u201chire great people\u201d fail to capture the complexity of the work in Montgomery County. Like many districts, MCPS had plenty of great people back when there were 35-point achievement gaps.
\nGreat people thrive in healthy organizations that enlist them in the pursuit of ambitious, meaningful goals and provide them with the powerful strategies and support systems necessary to reach those goals.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Their \u201csix lessons\u201d capture some of how the leadership team in Montgomery County has been developing a \u201chealthy\u201d organization connected by \u201cpowerful\u201d strategic support systems that engage their staff in fulfilling simultaneously their own and the system\u2019s goals.<\/p>\n

3. \t But as every good teacher knows, even with the best of lessons, learning isn\u2019t guaranteed.<\/p>\n

Therefore, since this site\u2019s dual intentions are to influence:<\/p>\n

\u2022\thow<\/span> we think about schools… by offering a different lens through which to view what we see people doing every day in schools , and<\/p>\n

\u2022\twhat<\/span> we think about those actions… by focusing that lens on a coherent, ten-year body of systemic wisdom<\/em> (knowledge woven on the loom of experience)<\/p>\n

\u2026we\u2019ll be using this site\u2019s perspective and content to more deeply explore this unique resource that external research by itself cannot usually access (and which usually falls through the cracks as it\u2019s carriers move on).\u00a0 And then to suggest the relevance of both the content and context of the MCPS story for addressing urban education\u2019s present conditions.<\/p>\n

Therefore, in the next posting — The Lesson<\/em> of the Lessons\u2026 and its Deeper Implications<\/strong> — we\u2019ll focus on that lesson’s prerequisite \u201dlearning\u201d for those committed to sustained systemic change\u00a0 — that while Content is king\u2026 Context is the kingdom.<\/em><\/p>\n

We\u2019ll outline a case for why and how what\u2019s been learned from this district\u2019s experiences can offer a unique opportunity to advance two major systemic reform initiatives, the current national reform efforts of the Obama Administration<\/span> and the Gates Foundation<\/span> and will suggest two potential strategies to do it.<\/p>\n

\u2022<\/strong> A Teaching<\/span> for America<\/em><\/strong> strategy to understand why<\/span> systemic school system transformation must<\/em> be done, and<\/p>\n

\u2022\tA Rosetta Stone<\/strong> <\/em>strategy to understand how<\/span> it can<\/em> be done.<\/p>\n

Then, as it is now, the site will be open for discussion by those who want to join in this way of thinking about what can<\/span> be done today<\/em>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

HARVARD\u2026 AND SABU Find a \u201cClassroom\u201d Teaching DIFFERENT Lessons Several months ago I was asked by AASA\u2019s journal The School Administrator to review a new Harvard Business School publication — \u201cLeading for Equity: The Pursuit of Excellence in Montgomery County Public Schools\u201d by Stacey Childress, Denis Doyle, and David Thomas. This presented an interesting challenge […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sabusense.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/497"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sabusense.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sabusense.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sabusense.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sabusense.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=497"}],"version-history":[{"count":25,"href":"http:\/\/www.sabusense.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/497\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":511,"href":"http:\/\/www.sabusense.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/497\/revisions\/511"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sabusense.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=497"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sabusense.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=497"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sabusense.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=497"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}