The Education

Challenge
CHANGE
and
How to Cope
Copyright © 2009, PWR Associates
 Change is the One Constant
 Public’sexpectations of the performance
from public education have grown
dramatically.
 Worldwide competitive situation is starting
to catch us unprepared.
 Demographic shifts are leading to a more
challenging and diversified populace.
 Aging of populace (baby boomers) will
cause reduction in supply of experienced
education professionals.
 Public Expectations
 Allchildren must be educated to a
competent level.
 American children must compete
favorably with their foreign
counterparts.
 Schools will be run more efficiently
with less waste.
 Power groups should not push for
selfish advantage at the expense of
the mission of a quality education for
children.
 Worldwide Competition

 TheInternational Math and Science Study

Percentile rankings
4th grade math/science 54/88
8th grade math/science 32/59
12th grade math/science 10/24
12th grade adv math/science 6/0
 Worldwide Competition

 Quotefrom R.E. Smalley, Nobel Prize-

winning scientist from Rice University

“By 2010, 90% of all Ph.D. physical

scientists and engineers in the world
will be Asian living in Asia.”
 Demographic Shifts and Aging
Populace
 Must learn to provide quality educations to
minorities as they will be the majority in a
few decades and must contribute fully to
national competitiveness.
 Aging of America putting pressure on
government entitlement programs (e.g.
Soc. Sec., Medicare, Medicaid).
 The transfer of jobs to overseas locations
because our populace isn’t competitive is
very harmful.
 The Formula for Success
Classroom Instruction Change Leadership

 Track Assessment Data  Establish positive “can do,

through the year must do” environment
 Train on proven teaching  Use Walkthroughs and
methods MBWA to nip problems in
 Train principals to lead the bud and keep
collaborative teams that initiatives on track to the
review the assessment desired results
data and decide what  Refuse to accept poor,
interventions are status quo performance
necessary to improve  Train leaders in the
learning foundational concepts
 Favor Results over Process prerequisite to the change
 Value Intellectual Honesty leadership training
 Train leaders in how to
effectively manage
change.
 PWR Associates
A Tailored Approach
 Assessment-we detail the reality of your current
situation to determine what effort in what places
will have the biggest and quickest positive impact
on your student learning results.
 Based on the assessment, we structure a training
and coaching program to address the areas of
opportunity identified in the assessment.
 The importance of the follow-on coaching cannot
be overstated. “Seat time” in a training class will
not have any benefit if the concepts are not
implemented. Coaching overcomes this
reticence. It is easier to learn and make the
inevitable, initial mistakes in front of an outside
consultant than in front of your internal
administrator.
 PWR Associates
Tailored Approach (continued)

 The benefit of the tailored approach we

favor is that you only spend time learning
and implementing those techniques that
will have quickly the most favorable
impact on your performance.
 A continuous improvement approach
requires a continuous learning
environment.
 PWR Associates
Background of the Problem
 Currently educators feel the victims
of “unreasonable expectations” put
on them for massive performance
improvement.
 This leads to a search for “reasons”
why “it can’t be done.” These
excuses focus attention away from
the very real positive impact that can
be achieved if you know what to do
and how to do it.
 PWR Associates
The Background of the Problem (cont)
A flurry of activity of initiating “new, gee
whiz” techniques is common in most
districts across the nation. However, this
amounts to overloading already busy
teachers and thus, while lip-service is paid
to the new techniques, nothing beneficial
really happens.
 Educators are hanging on to Linus Blanket
habits because they have always done it
that way, to the exclusion of new,
research-based techniques proven to be
more effective.
 Educators fear data because it represents
the unknown to them.
 PWR Associates
Leading Change is Difficult. It Requires Passion, Skill and
Experience.

 Asking people if they would like to

change the way they do their job will
get you a consistent response from
the majority. NO!
 This is especially true if it means real
change as opposed to the “cosmetic
change” that is often put in place to
placate education critics.
 Leading change is difficult and
rewarding.
 PWR Associates
Benefits of Our Approach

 Immediate improvements in
performance
 Improving community image and
credibility
 Improving morale among educators
 Improving morale and performance
among students no matter
socioeconomic, ethnic, or learning
disabilities represented
 PWR Associates
Where From Here?
 Contact us to set up an initial consultation
on your unique situation.

 If we can help, we will tell you how.

 If we can’t help, we will tell you that.

 Call 719-598-2100, You will be glad you

did.