Adaptive Change
The first key idea of the Change Leadership Group’s “Ecology of Change” is the development of “Communities of Practice.” The unrecognized key to educational improvement is the reconstitution of leadership teams, at the school and district levels, from a cooperating group of separately responsible individuals to a genuinely collaborative team supporting a single, system-wide process of instructional improvement.
In an article published in Education Week magazine in October 2004, Tony Wagner reflects on these communities of practice, “Transforming education from a craft to a profession is the greatest challenge school and district leaders face. Above all, ‘professionalizing’ education means creating ongoing opportunities for discussion of problems of practice at every level in the organization. It is only through such discussion that we can collaboratively create new knowledge about how to continuously improve learning, teaching and leadership.”
You can read the entire article by going to The Challenge of Change Leadership. Next week we will look at the “7 Disciplines of Improving Instruction.”
Summer Learning
Research demonstrates that all children are at risk of experiencing learning loss over the summer months when they do not have access to high-quality learning opportunities. Making the Most of Summer is a resource for providers who want to improve their summer programs by meeting the academic and youth development needs of their participants.
Intended for a wide range of providers including schools, community-based organizations and others that run summer programs, the handbook brings together the most current research and practices designed to transform summer into a season for learning for young people across the country.
eLearning Kentucky
eLearning Kentucky will offer 19 high-quality, facilitated and interactive online PD courses during the 2007 summer session. These are all FREE to Kentucky public school educators and offer from 6 to 24 hours of PD or EILA credit. Registration runs May 7 - June 8. Seven-week courses open June 20 and end August 8. For more information, call (866) 432-0008, ext. 4541, or e-mail elearningkyinquiry@education.ky.gov. A complete course catalog can be found at e-Learning Kentucky Course Catalog. To register for courses, please go to Register for e-Learning Kentucky Professional Development.
Summer Trip to Germany
The Kentucky Department of Education, in cooperation with *Atlantik-Brücke (Atlantic-Bridge), announces an opportunity for high school social studies teachers and university professors who prepare high school social studies teachers to apply for an all-expense-paid study tour of Germany from September 30-October 12. Twelve educators and two alternates will be selected to participate in the study tour. Upon completion of the trip, attendees will be expected to create a unit/lesson that incorporates the knowledge they have gained from this experience and submit it to the Kentucky Department of Education.
Attendees also are encouraged to share the knowledge they have gained with their schools and/or districts in terms of informal and/or formal professional development sessions. Please visit Germany Study Trip - 2007 for more information and links to the application and permission form. You may also e-mail Mark Kopp or call him at (502) 564-2106.
Quotable Quotes
“Transforming education from a craft to a profession is the greatest challenge school and district leaders face. Above all, “professionalizing” education means creating ongoing opportunities for discussion of problems of practice at every level in the organization. It is only through such discussion that we can collaboratively create new knowledge about how to continuously improve learning, teaching and leadership.”
Tony Wagner