The Human Side of Changing Education

How to Lead Change With Clarity, Conviction, and Courage

Julie Margretta Jungalwala

• Publisher: Corwin
• Year: 2018
• ISBN:
  9781506398518
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Leadership in Education

Make change humanly possible

Today's schools know they must make problem solving, collaboration, self-directed learning and creativity an integral part of the school's DNA, but they don't always know how.

When we ask schools to change, we are asking human beings to change. This requires special tools and a human-centered approach. In The Human Side of Changing Education, leaders will learn to make sense of their challenging change journeys and accelerate effective implementation. With this practical framework that includes human-centered tools, resources and mini case studies, readers will learn to navigate and succeed on their unique path of change.

• Understand why resistance is to be expected and how to get through it.
• Discover three different kinds of change strategies and when to use which one
• Learn how to use the "messy middle" of change, where real transformation happens

Change the heart of the system by enabling the hearts and minds of those who make schools work.

"Julie Wilson is both a visionary and a pragmatist. Her book is a wonderfully clear and concise guide for leaders who seek to navigate the road to educational transformation."
Tony Wagner, Author
The Global Achievement Gap and Creating Innovators

"If you want to understand what it takes to create innovative and lasting change, then forge ahead withThe Human Side of Changing Education, and bravely create your own hero?s journey. This is a valuable guide, with practical advice and real-life examples to support you in this very complicated and challenging work."
Ann Koufman-Frederick, Chief Academic Officer
LearnLaunch Institute, MAPLE

"If everyone working in U.S. K-12 education were to read this book and put even half of its thinking into practice, we would be well on our way to a far better society. It is timely, visionary, and relentlessly practical – a rare combination. Discover what our future could look like if enough of us dare to make it happen."
Andy Calkins, Director
Next Generation Learning Challenges at EDUCAUSE

Chapter 1 What’s Worth Learning? Your North Star

“We are preparing our students for success in their century, not mine.”

—Pam Moran, Superintendent, Albemarle District, Virginia

“What’s Worth Learning?”

David Perkins kicked off his 2006 course, Educating for the Unknown, with this question.

The question has followed me around ever since.

My answer to the question has been distilled over the years, working with adults as a leadership trainer and coach; helping them learn the skills to build, lead, and be part of teams; navigate change; and the core of it all, to build and lead a life of their own choosing. After almost two decades of working with adults as they build the skills necessary to thrive at work and in life, I notice the same themes coming up time and time again. These used to be called “soft skills,” a misnomer, as they are among the most challenging to learn and master as adults. I call them worthy skills: the skills that are neither easy nor soft, AND are worth learning.

Figure 1.1 describes the skills and habits of mind that we need in order to thrive as adults in our volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous (VUCA) world. For many of us, entering adulthood involves unlearning what we learned through a standardized system of education and learning a host of new skills essentially from scratch, skills that we could have been building much earlier as children. The World Economic Forum “The Future of Jobs” report (2016) cites the top three skills needed to thrive in 2020 as complex problem solving, critical thinking, and creativity. These same skills were identified over a decade ago by the Partnership for 21st Century Learning in Washington, DC—skills that are required for success at work—and, I would argue, in life as well.

A Rising Tide of Consensus

While there is much debate on what ails our education system, we are witnessing a rising tide of consensus regarding our collective answer to the “What’s Worth Learning?” question. There is widespread agreement that the basic literacy requirements of the industrial model of education are the floor, not the ceiling, and that we need to set our sights higher for our children. Tony Wagner’s book, The Global Achievement Gap (2014), describes the seven survival skills, and Sir Ken Robinson and Lou Aronica’s book, Creative Schools (2016), describes eight core competencies. The Deeper Learning Network at the Hewlett Foundation (2013) focuses on six competencies and the Partnership for 21st Century Skills describes a framework for 21st century learning (2017) (see Figure 1.2).

Figure 1.1 • What’s Worth Learning?

Source: Illustration by Kelvy Bird.

As you can see from Figure 1.2, there is significant overlap and consensus. There is much more that binds us than separates us when it comes to our individual and collective answer to the question “What’s Worth Learning?”

Amid this growing consensus, it is vital for schools and communities to come together and to ask themselves, “What’s Worth Learning?” Our answer to this question should be the North Star that directs the work of a school or district as it embarks on its journey of change. Figure 1.2 is helpful as a jumping-off point, but it is important for communities to ask themselves this question from first principles in order to orient the process of redesigning the system accordingly.

There is an additional level to the question “What’s Worth Learning?” that speaks to the process of redesigning the system and of the change process itself, and it is one that I see rarely discussed or made explicit. Children cannot learn these skills and habits of mind if the adults are not given the opportunity to learn them as well—and it is these very same skills and habits of mind that are necessary to lead and implement change. Change that is human centered. Change that recognizes we are not widgets on a manufacturing line, but rather complex human beings with natural cycles of development that can be structured, nurtured, and supported—not as an afterthought to a change management plan, but as the very means by which the change will be realized.

Figure 1.2 • Growing Consensus

Sources: Adapted from Wagner (2014), Robinson & Aronica (2016), Hewlett Foundation (2013), and Partnership for 21st Century Skills (2017).

Adults and institutions need to unlearn old habits and learn postindustrial-era skills in parallel fashion with the students. The skills in Figure 1.1, while not an exhaustive list, are skills that adults need to be able to lead and implement a more human-centered change process in our schools. These are the skills that not only help us thrive in the workplace, but thrive as human beings as well. If we agree with Einstein that “[w]e cannot solve our problems with the same thinking that created them,” we need to equip our children with the skills, knowledge, and habits of mind that will enable them to address the problems that we created—and we, the adults, are playing catch-up in learning those same skills.

To help bring the skills in Figure 1.1 to life, I describe each of them below through both of these lenses, that is, student and adult: Emmy Ryder, graduate of Kent Innovation High in Grand Rapids, Michigan, describes her experience learning these skills in high school, while Lisa Abel Palmieri, Head of School and Chief Learning Officer at Holy Family Academy in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, describes the skills from the perspective of a school leader supporting adults and leading change.

As we explore the skills, you will notice how interrelated and interdependent the skills are, for example, questions are the genesis of creativity—the more those questions come from the learner, and the more they are directly linked to helping the learner build awareness of her strengths, the more powerful the learning experience. When solving a problem in a team, it is important to build relationships, manage conflict, and remain adaptable in the face of changing information and circumstances. So while these skills are described separately, they become even more powerful as a unified whole.

As you reflect on these skills, think about your own school or district. What is worth learning for your children? How might your answer be similar or different? How do those skills, knowledge, and habits of mind correlate to the skills, knowledge, and habits of mind that the adults will be invited to learn as part of your change process?

Worthy Skill 1: Self-Directed Learning

What are your questions?

The power of any learning endeavor is to nurture and grow the learner’s innate desire and ability to learn. We are all born curious. Each of us peppered our parents in our early years with relentless questions. Tom Barrett describes his son George’s questions in hilarious and awe-inspiring fashion in his book, Can Computers Keep Secrets? How a Six-Year-Old’s Curiosity Could Change the World (2013):

“In times of change learners inherit the earth; while the learned find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists.”

—Eric Hoffer

• “Why do brains work at night?”
• “What is the crumbliest thing in the world?”
• “If you had superpowers, how would you control them?”
• “Do pigs think in human, but talk in pig?”
• “What would defeat electricity?”

We live our life in the direction of our questions. Ideally our questions engage, inspire, and stretch us. We have the opportunity to follow our questions as adults—and those inspirational teachers, teachers such as Tom Barrett, invite their students to do so on a daily basis.

Questions are the starting point of creativity, and questions are at the heart of effective learning. In kindergarten we followed the trail of our questions, but as we progressed through the system, our questions became second-rate citizens to the questions in the textbook. Students and teachers who have the temerity to follow their own questions, in spite of this conditioning, too often find themselves in defiance of the system that should be supporting that seed of learning.

Emmy Ryder’s story is an example of what happens when a student is invited to ask her own questions and is given ownership of her learning in a meaningful way. I first met Emmy during her junior year in high school through her writing on the New Tech Network blog where she described in clear terms “playing the game of school” and its deleterious impact on her intrinsic motivation to learn. In an excerpt from her blog (2013), Emmy wisely notes how, at age 14, she didn’t care about learning; she cared about the grade. You can see in Emmy’s writing how that shifted for her as she was given more and more ownership of her learning:

When I was in 8th grade, grades and being on top were a big deal to me. I was that kid who constantly checked the online gradebook. I always finished homework and stressed over tests. . . . Even if I understood the content, I did the worksheet anyway.

Why? For the grade.

I never really questioned the content. I just scrambled to write down all the notes. I never cared if I was going to use it in 10 years. . . . I cared about the grade.

I wanted high grades. I wanted As. I was pretty close minded. Not because I chose this path, but because this is how I had been trained since kindergarten. Grades are everything. . . . I was a narrow-minded student, with one goal, grades (not learning: grades). Basically, the steps I took were sit down, shut up, and listen, then go home and study.

[Since joining Kent Innovation High] Now I question nearly everything. Why IS the sky blue? The great thing is I don’t receive science facts. I get my question answered with a question. Which leaves me room to explore myself, interpret the information myself and learn the information in a way which suits me. Projects usually focus on SWLO [schoolwide learning outcomes] more than content. This means I can take the content I do need to include and incorporate it as I feel necessary. I feel that when we create projects, I focus more on what I am taking out of the project, what others will take away, and what work I put into it. I want to create a product that I am satisfied with. Not just something that will get me a good grade.

I want to change the world with the projects I produce. Whether it’s the whole world, my community or even just one person’s life. I want to make that difference.

Source: Ryder (2013).

When Emmy joined Kent Innovation High, she found herself in a rich learning environment where students were not spoon-fed questions to ensure a predetermined outcome, but rather encouraged to dig into their own questions, find their own answers, and wrestle with messy problems. It is this process that enables those students to become active participants in their own learning, and, ultimately, to become self-directed learners.

For adults, how much of the learning and professional development is directed by the teachers’ and administrators’ learning goals? How might you begin to unleash the talent in your school? Lisa Abel Palmieri (5 Qualities of Prepared Leaders in a Project-Based World, 2017) describes her approach to directing her own learning. It includes everything from leveraging social media, working with mentors and trusted advisers, attending workshops and conferences—and the core of it all—the importance of knowing herself:

Leadership is developed daily, not in a few days. Successful school leaders are learners first and foremost; they have the capacity to develop and improve their own skills, and practice demonstrating perseverance and the mindset necessary for a project-based world. As a learner, I regularly attend professional development events like the Deeper Learning Summit, SXSWedu, and many local events through Pittsburgh’s amazing Remake Learning Network.

Additionally, social media is a place where I connect with others to learn new practices, receive support, or share ideas—and it’s open 24/7/365. As one of the founders of #DTK12CHAT, a weekly chat on design thinking in education, I have built a global PLN (personal learning network) that is available for support and to challenge my thinking.

Source: 5 Qualities of Prepared Leaders in a Project-Based World, http://www.gettingsmart.com/2017/03/5-qualities-prepared-leaders-project-based-world, by Lisa Abel Palmieri was originally published on Getting Smart (gettingsmart.com)

Lisa’s reflections are a great example of how we have the opportunity to design our own personalized learning plan and the many low- or no-cost development opportunities that are available to us. When I spoke with Lisa directly regarding her experience of self-directed learning, she highlighted the importance of knowing oneself,

Being aware of your personality and strengths and your opportunities for partnership is important—stay humble, ask for others’ opinions and support. A huge piece of self-directed learning is to know yourself—and knowing when to ask others for help.

As a leader of change, as a teacher, as an adult working in education, what are your personal development goals? What does the next level of mastery in your field of practice look like? How are you tracking your progress and what kind of support are you surrounding yourself with?

When you reflect on the change that you are seeking in your school, how much autonomy are you building into the system for adults and children alike to direct their own learning and to follow the wisdom and wonder of their own questions? Are the adults and students following a predetermined path or do they have the opportunity to exercise choice and autonomy? Self-directed learning lies at the heart of shifting from a culture of compliance and consumption to a culture of independent thought and creativity.

Worthy Skill 2: Creativity and Innovation

What are your dreams? What will you create?

In kindergarten, we created on a daily basis. As we moved through middle school and high school, too often “creativity” became something we did only in art class and something that was optional. Many of the post–No Child Left Behind (NCLB) reform efforts served to strip the arts and creativity across multiple content areas from many schools’ curricula—all in pursuit of improving test scores. While many of these reforms were designed by people with good intentions, they served to take us further away from a core skill that we need to thrive as children and adults alike. If we lose our ability to dream, and if we lose the practice of courage in creating something and putting it out there, we lose our ability to follow our gut and take risks. This is one of the most challenging aspects of creativity as ...