Welcome to Change and Transitions

1. Welcome to Change and Transitions As you are getting settled, please do the following: Read through the historical quotes concerning change (the green sheet in your handouts immediately behind the powerpoint slides). Select the one quote that most closely represents your current feelings about leading change Jot down a couple thoughts as to why you selected that particular quote

2. MANAGING CHANGE AND TRANSITIONS TO IMPROVE STUDENT LEARNING A focus on RtI John Vail, Ed.S. Kalamazoo RESA September 10, 2009 jvail@kresa.org

3. Primary Sources • “Diffusion of Innovations – Fifth Edition” • Everett M. Rogers, 2003. • “Managing Transitions – 2nd Edition: Making the Most of Change” • William Bridges, 2003. • Balanced Leadership “School Leadership that Works” • Mid-continent Research for Education and Learning (McREL), 2006. • “Professional Learning Communities at Work: Best Practices for Enhancing Student Achievement” • Richard DuFour & Robert Eaker, 1998. • “Influencer: The Power to Change Anything” • Patterson, Grenny, Maxfield, McMillan, & Switzler, 2008

4. What changes and initiatives have you experienced during your careers in education?

5. The change moved too fast The change lacked strong principal leadership The change was too big The change was top-down without buy-in from the staff Gains were celebrated too soon – urgency was lost Schools were unwilling to change Leaders failed to develop a critical level of support The change moved too slow The change relied too heavily on a strong principal The change was too small The change was bottom-up without the support of central admin. Gains were not celebrated and momentum was lost Schools took on every change that came along Leaders mistakenly insisted on overwhelming support Reasons for failure? Based on ideas from DuFour & Eaker

6. Social Competence, Academic Achievement, and Safety Outcomes clearly defined & Communicated OUTCOMES Supporting Decision Making Information Supporting Staff Performance SYSTEMS Formative Assessments Goals, decision rules Time, PD, Collaboration PRACTICES Researchedand Evidence Based practices Supporting Student Performance

7. A Brief Overview • Change is a way of life • Change is hard • Not all change is for the better • Not all change is possible • Even the best of changes often have unintended consequences • There is a predictability to change • in terms of process • in terms of people’s response • There are things you can do as leadership to increase the likelihood of success and sustainability of change

8. Change is Hard! “Faced with the choice between changing one’s mind and proving that there is no need to do so, almost everybody gets busy on the proof.” John Kenneth Galbraith, American Economist

9. Activity- Change is Hard! Scurvy and the British Navy

10. Processing Question • Scurvy • Why do you think it took so long for a change that clearly produced desirable outcomes to become a way of doing business?

11. The rest of the story … • Why were the authorities so slow to adopt the idea of citrus for scurvy prevention? Other, competing remedies for scurvy were also being proposed, and each such cure had its champions. For example, Captain Cook’s reports from his voyages in the Pacific did not provide support for curing scurvy with citrus fruits. Further, Dr. Lind was not a prominent figure in the field of naval medicine, and so his experimental findings did not get much attention. While scurvy prevention was generally resisted for years by the British Navy, other innovation, such as new ships and new guns, were readily accepted. So the Admiralty did not resist all innovations. Obviously, more than just the relative advantages of an innovation, even when its benefits are clearly demonstrated, is necessary for its diffusion and adoption.

12. A little closer to home • The are numerous varied schools across the country who are being extremely successful substantially improving the learning of all of their students (especially the at-risk populations). • These schools have all made similar substantive changes in the way they do business. • Leaders in these buildings have succeeded because of an intense and unrelenting focus.

14. What hill are you willing to die upon? "The credit belongs to those who are actually in the arena, who strive valiantly, who know the great enthusiams, the great devotions, and spend themselves in a worthy cause; who, at the best, know the triumph of high achievement and who, at the worst, if they fail, fail while daring greatly so that their place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat." Theodore Roosevelt

15. The “Hill” that is RtI • Write the title or a brief description in your own words that describes RtI on the worksheet provided

16. Not all change is beneficial • Any given change or initiative might • focus on the wrong thing • propose practices that are inefficient or ineffective

17. InterventionEff. Size Match Instruction with aud/vis strengths +.03 Focus on right brain- left brain processing +.04 Instruction based on cultural learning sty. +.00 InterventionEff. Size Explicit instruction and prob. Solving +.70 – 1.50 Comprehension Strategies +1.00 Formative assessment and graphing +1.00 Example from the world of special education services Information compiled from Daniel J. Reschly, Ph.D., Vanderbilt Univ.

18. “You’re kidding! You count MEAPs!”

19. What do we know about RtI? • Is RtI necessary? • What’s the evidence? • Is RtI effective? • What is the evidence? • Is RtI efficient? • What is the evidence? In small groups, please discuss and develop the answers to the questions above on your worksheet.

20. Not all change is possible • Any given change or initiative might • not be supported/communicated/held accountable to results • be one more in a series or combination of initiatives (Christmas Tree Schools)

21. Not all change is possible. “Changes of any sort – even though they may be justified in economic or technological terms – finally succeed or fail on the basis of whether the people affected do things differently.” Bridges, 2003

22. Does RtI • Have commitment from leadership? • Have the resources (or at least the potential for the resources) to be successful? Take a few minutes to identify the evidence that the commitment and resources exist. Identify any competing initiatives that may detract. If the answer is “no” to either, how might you set the stage for success?

23. Howdy Pardner“This school ain’t big enuf for the both of them.” Dealing with the issue of competing intiatives. Find a partner from another district or location. Use the question guide to “interview” your partner. Take notes to share.

24. Unintended consequences • Technology • Snowmobiles, computers, and cell phones • Environment • Tortillas, eggs, and global warming • Education • Your examples

25. Unintended Consequences and what to do • Before committing to an initiative, do your homework • Invite multiple perspectives • Try to think in terms of secondary impacts • Perform cost-benefit analyses • Determine proven effectiveness for your specific needs • Once decided, move decisively but realize that unforeseen consequences are just that…unforeseen. Be flexible.

26. Looking ahead • What are the possible “unintended consequences” of implementing RtI? Take a few minutes to jot down anything you might have to watch out for.

27. The Good News There is reliable predictability to change.

28. Predictability in the Change Process Stages of Innovation-Decision (Rogers, 2003) People who are a part of the change need … 1. Knowledge 2. Persuasion 3. Decision 4. Implementation 5. Confirmation

29. Knowledge Individuals consciously or unconsciously avoid messages that are in conflict with their existing predispositions… Selective Exposure (Individuals) seldom expose themselves to messages about an innovation unless they first feel a need for the innovation … perceive it as relevant and consistent with their attitudes and beliefs. Selective Perception Rogers, 2003

30. Knowledge • Awareness Knowledge – information that an innovation exists • How-to Knowledge – information necessary to use an innovation properly • Principles Knowledge – information dealing with the functioning principles underlying how a principle works

31. Knowledge “Change agents could perhaps play their most distinctive and important role in the innovation-decision process if they concentrate on the how-to knowledge.” “Consideration of a new idea does not go beyond the knowledge function if an individual does not define the information as relevant to his or her situation, or if sufficient knowledge is not obtained…” Rogers, 2003

32. Persuasion • At the persuasion stage, people seek messages that reduce uncertainty about an innovation’s expected consequences. (Rogers, 2003) • Sometimes it is necessary for change agents to create a demand for the change by creating a discontent with the current reality and developing a vision of a more attractive reality. (McREL, 2006)

33. Decision • Individual or group engages in activities that lead to a choice to adopt or reject an innovation • Most individuals do not adopt an innovation without first trying it out on a probationary basis to determine its usefulness in their own situation. • A demonstration or pilot site can be quite effective in speeding up the diffusion process.

34. Implementation • Involves overt behavior change as the new idea is actually put into practice • Reinvention (changes or modifications to an innovation by the users) • Pros • Faster rate of adoption • Higher degree of sustainability • Cons • Loss of integrity of implementation • Could lead to ineffective practice in terms of outcomes

35. Confirmation • Humans often seek to get rid of the discomfort of change by confirming their new direction or behavior. • Data can serve as the evidence that the change was either positive or negative.

36. Activity – The Principal as the Change Agent Read the scenario. Find evidence of each of the five stages of the innovation-decision process. • Knowledge • Persuasion • Decision • Implementation • Confirmation

37. What is needed for RtI? What knowledge will people need in order to accept and implement an RtI model in your schools?

38. What is needed for RtI? • Who will need persuasion and what will that persuasion look like?

39. What is needed for RtI? • What is needed to support a decision to try? • What possibilities can you create for trial runs or pilot sites

40. What is needed for RtI? • How much reinvention is allowed?

41. What is needed for RtI? • What kinds of data/information will be needed to confirm the effectiveness of the change?

42. Predictability in the people:People and Their Responses to Change The Innovators The Early Adopters The Early Majority The Late Majority The Laggards

43. Categories by Rate of AdoptionEverett M. Rogers Early Majority Late Majority 34% 34% Early Adopters Laggards Innovators 16% 13.5% 2.5% TIME

44. Brief Characteristics by Innovator Type • Innovators – venturesome, tend to be out of the local circle of peer networks, able to work with a high degree of uncertainty about an innovation at the time they adopt • Early Adopters – considered by many to be the “person to check with”, respected by peers, role model, maintains central position in the communication networks of the system, listen to and seeks out research and experts.

45. Brief Characteristics by Innovator Type • Early Majority – deliberate, interact frequently with their peers but seldom hold positions of opinion leadership. • Late Majority – skeptical, pressure of peers is necessary to motivate adoption, system norms must favor an innovation before they are convinced to adopt. • Laggards – traditional, tend to possess almost no leadership opinion, point of reference is what has been done in the past, tend to be suspicious of changes and change agents.

46. Things to keep in mind • Categories are specific to the innovation being initiated. People can change categories for different innovations. • Innovators and Early Adopters tend to seek out experts and listen to research. • The early and late majority look to the early adopters, and not the experts, for their reasons to change.

47. Where are You? On the Graph provided, identify where you would place yourself at this point in time in regards to RtI.

48. Magnitude of change • A change is defined by the implications it has for the people expected to implement it and/or those who will be impacted by it. • Important!! • The same change can be perceived differently by different stakeholders! • Leaders sometimes underestimate the impact and reaction to change or do not manage the transitions well.

49. Order of Change (McREL, 2006) • First order changes are changes that are perceived to be a continuation and refinement of existing beliefs and practices. They can be implemented with current knowledge, skills, and resources. • Second order changes are changes that are perceived to be a significant break from current practices and will require new knowledge, skills, beliefs and/or resources.

50. First or Second Order? • Based on the list created at the beginning, can you identify people for which your particular change would be… • A first-order change (i.e. an extension of what they already do, are, believe in …)? Why? • A second-order change (i.e. a significant break from what they already do, are, believe in …)? Why? Add this information to your worksheet.