Systemic Change.pdf

Systemic change in education requires a comprehensive approach, addressing both the vision and action. The vision involves 25 principles organized into six core ideas:
1. Competency-Based Education: includes competency-based learning targets, student assessments, student progress, and student records.
2. Learner-Centered Instruction: encompasses learning by doing, instructional support, personalized learning, and collaborative learning.
3. Restructured Curriculum: focuses on relevance to students' lives, whole-child education, balance of universal content and individual strengths, and sound progressions in content.
4. New Roles: redefines roles of teachers, students, parents, and technology.
5. A Nurturing Culture: emphasizes strong relationships, multi-year mentoring, motivational learning, and family services.
6. New Organizational Structures: includes small school size, professional organizational structure, and student choice, incentives, and accountability.

The action involves a change process with sequential and continuous activities, which differ for school districts and independent schools. Key aspects of the action include values, principles, and activities that support the creation and implementation of the vision.

The 25 principles are systemically interdependent and incompatible with traditional teacher-centered schools, requiring a paradigm change. Systems thinking is crucial for redesigning a school system to meet the educational needs of a digital, post-industrial society.

Competency-based education is a critical component, requiring aligned parts, including learning targets, student assessments, student progress, and student records. Criterion-referenced assessment and student progress based on learning, rather than time, are essential for effective competency-based education.

Ultimately, the vision and action must be integrated to achieve systemic change in educational systems, leading to improved learning outcomes and better meeting the needs of students and communities.