A r c h i v e d  I n f o r m a t i o n

Section III
Planning Schoolwide Program Change

Step 6:
Finalizing the Schoolwide Plan

Ideally, with enough time and adequate assistance, the planning process has stimulated collaboration and commitment within the school and across the community. The final step in planning is to submit the agreed-on draft to these new or strengthened partners to elicit comments from as many stakeholders as possible. Faculty, school support teams, and district or state officials should be asked whether any components are missing. A summary of the plan can go out to parents and community members who will help in its implementation. Members of the planning team can personally contact anyone who asks questions about the plan or offers a suggestion.

Two important lessons about the change process in schools are worth remembering as you finalize your plan:

• The core of teaching and learning is extremely difficult to change.

• Teaching for more effective learning requires a major transformation in the culture of the school and in the relationship of the school to other agencies (Fullan, 1994).

It is no simple matter to reform teaching, learning, and the supporting conditions that "fuel and refuel the moral purpose of teaching" (Fullan, 1994, p. 79). Colorado's Brian McNulty cautions educators to set demanding goals, but to let the process take the time it requires:

This is a new kind of work and it requires a greater level of communication across the whole school. Our premise is that everyone is responsible for the success of all kids...That's the cornerstone of what we're all about...But if that's true, the teacher needs to know that there is a support system immediately available to them, [and that may not] be something that will happen next year...[Becoming a schoolwide] takes a significant amount of time and energy...You're really talking about reconfiguring the whole role and mission of these schools.

As educators within schools move beyond the borders of their offices and classrooms to create a new kind of collaboration on behalf of every student,there will be anxiety, uncertainty, and some mistakes. But in opening opportunities for every student to achieve academic success, the risk—of making mistakes—pales against the risk of failing to try.

[Step 5-Writing the Schoolwide Plan]

[Section IV-High-Quality Technical Assistance and Support...]