Professional Development Topics
By Robert Evans, Ed.D.
Coping with the Real-life
Problems of Change
“Change” and “innovation” have been the twin watchwords of school improvement for more than 30 years. Schools are widely seen as needing both specific changes—in curriculum, pedagogy, assessment, and so on—and, more fundamentally, a changed mindset, a permanent openness to innovation. But the advocates of these changes frequently ignore real-life problems of implementation. Even when a school has adequate resources, the culture of schooling and the nature of educators make schools—for good reasons—harder to change than most other organizations.
This program first explores the psychology of change, outlining the normal sources of resistance and the special factors that intensify this resistance in schools. It traces the disconnect between external architects of school improvement and the actual experience of those who work in schools, including the impact of unplanned changes in the non-school lives of students that affect their readiness to learn.
The program then presents strategies for successful coping, both at the individual practitioner level and at the school-wide institutional level. It argues against pie-in-the-sky prescriptions and calls for clarity and focus in the improvement agenda, and for balancing reach—high standards and strivings—with realism—a frank acknowledgment of the actual baseline where the school is. It closes by showing how educators, even when they can’t always feel optimistic, can remain hopeful and thus sustain their morale and effort.
The program is offered as a full-day or a half-day workshop and as a keynote. Both workshop formats include a mixture of presentation, large group Q & A, discussions in pairs and small groups. The full-day permits more sharing, discussion, and role-playing and practicing. Rob always likes to tailor programs to meet the specific needs and interests of a school or a district and is glad to discuss this.