The Moral Imperative Realized by Fullan Michael;

Author:Fullan, Michael;
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 1051562
Publisher: Corwin Press
Published: 2012-08-15T00:00:00+00:00

SANGER UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT

Sanger is a sprawling rural district in the valley just east of Fresno, where the population of the district has changed dramatically over the past decade. At present, 70% of its students are Hispanic, 18% white, and 10% Asian. More than 75% of the students qualify for free or reduced lunch. The majority of students are English language learners. In 2003–2004, Sanger was designated by the state of California as a Program Improvement district, which meant that it was a failing district—a district “in dire straits,” said the superintendent, Marc Johnson.

In 2003–2004, the percentages of students at or above proficiency in math and language arts were 31% and 27%, respectively. By 2007–2008, the corresponding figures were 59% and 50%. This short and powerful journey is a story of the moral imperative in action districtwide.

In broad strokes and drawing from our motion leadership movie story, the flow of success went along the following lines. First, the Program Improvement designation was treated as a timely wake-up call. The district was preparing for action at the time, but the negative label created a greater sense of urgency.

Second, as in all cases of successful moral imperative, the superintendent began to establish a guiding coalition at the central level—a focused team that mirrored and reinforced the new direction. Because Sanger is small, the core team consisted of Superintendent Johnson; Deputy Superintendent Rich Smith, who heads curriculum and instruction; and an associate superintendent of human resources.

Third, again similar to other examples, the district emphasized a small number of inspiring priorities and pursued them relentlessly. There were three in particular: hope is not a strategy, don’t blame the kids, and it’s about learning—simple, powerful, and memorable. Everyone in the system at all levels can tell you about the big three. Notice also that these priorities capture purpose and strategy.

Fourth, the district leadership began to make personnel changes, particularly at the school leadership level. It now became crystal clear that to be a principal in Sanger meant that you had to be a deep instructional leader.

Fifth, the district began to systematically invest in team-based capacity building, beginning with teams getting immersed in professional learning communities, taking advantage of regional professional development with the DuFours, and adding and integrating “response to intervention” and direct instruction. These three elements became closely integrated as the instructional core of the district’s work.

Finally, Sanger established transparency and openness about practice and results. In what I have called learning is the work (Fullan, 2008), the district created means by which learning from each other and accountability became built into daily, weekly, and annual routines.

I will furnish more detail in a moment, but note that this list of six elements of the strategy is not mysterious. It captures what I call “the skinny of change”—the smallest number of key things that you have to do well and in concert (Fullan, 2010b, 2010c).

DuFour and his colleagues (2010) give us more detail. They identify five key elements: systems of intervention, developing principals as leaders, the very powerful annual Sanger Summits, administrative retreats, and ongoing support and focus.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.