Establishing a Framework for Educational Change

    A.  Definition:  transforming schools into caring communities of learners

• Educational change requires, in part, a transformation of schools into caring communities of teachers, administrators, and parents, as well
• It's hard to act caringly when not feeling cared about

• Nature of human beings
• Human beings are inherently capable of learning, curious, and capable of learning enormous amounts of information, skills, etc.
• Learning difficulties (result of distress; recoverable)

• Political (laws, regulations, policies, organization)
• Economic (allocation of resources)
• Curricular (content, pedagogy, assessment)
• Social (relationships between institutions, constituencies, people)
• Psychological (people?s beliefs, feelings and attitudes...about each other, learning, children, and the proposed changes)

• Necessary but not sufficient

• Challenging our beliefs, attitudes, and assumptions
• Admitting and working through the feelings that get in our way of acting on our best thinking…
• Rather than settling for comfort (“I’ll do what the administration says and be happy with getting tenure”) or
• Quitting in despair (“burnout”)
• Taking the steps necessary (personally, structurally, and in terms of policy) to create the kind of relationships that will encourage growth, promote learning, and build unity

• Understanding how our childhood experiences, with respect to learning and schools, impact our current attitudes and actions
• Learning to listen to each other (across and within groups)
• In the end, telling personal stories and encouraging emotional release are not goals in themselves
• We need to make decisions about the changes we want (in the big and small picture), set goals, develop strategies for change, and take action

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