The Implementation Gap

After reading March's Educational Leadership: Closing the Implementation Gap, I began to look at my own school's goals in a new light. Last semester, I had to decipher the culture of my school based on interviews and surveys that I had given the teachers. What was so surprising is that the teachers had a very different opinion about the school than the administrators. I wonder if this is often the case. The administrators are seen as the visionaries and change agents and the teachers resist the change and make decisions from day to day. Does the difficulty in our schools lie in miscommunication between teachers and administrators or teachers and students? Are we all really working toward the same goal?

I tried to look a little deeper at this situation. As a teacher, I set goals for my students every day, week, and month. I look for assessments that match my goals, and these assessments are usually attainable (as are the goals). When you take this to the school level, principals set goals for the year. Should administrators start to focus on short term goals? This article discusses strategies that can be used to "bring implementation closer to reality."
The first strategy is to create "short-term wins". In other words, create a plan that can be completed in the first few weeks of school. The second suggestion is to "recognize effective practices simply and clearly throughout the year." The final two strategies include "emphasizing effectiveness, not popularity" and "appeal to the values" of teachers. As I read this, I started to realize that this is more like the way teachers plan lessons or units of study.

Teachers create situations that enable "short-term wins". For example, I will give students an easier problem to start with before trying the more challenging ones. I want them to feel what success is before they give up completely. Teachers also recognize "effective practices" within the classroom. I have often heard myself saying "I like the way you are showing your work Bobby," or "That work looks great, Sue." As a teacher I will even "emphasize effectiveness", emphasizing what makes the classroom run in the most efficient manner. This is sometimes different than what students are used to in a traditional classroom, and can cause some resistance. And I always try to "appeal to the values" of the students in my class. If they feel a connection with the material they are vested in learning more. This article really reflects what teachers do everyday, at least what I do every day in the classroom. I think sometimes administrators lose sight of what it was like as a teacher. But the really great administrators never forget.